Sleeping in the Serengeti!

The following morning we were picked up by Moses and Zulu (our guide and cook for the trip, more on them later), and began the 6 hour drive into the Serengeti. Nicole and Allison were feeling pretty motion sick, which we attributed to the malaria pills we had started taking the day before, but we all made it there in one piece. We entered the Serengeti in the early afternoon, and Moses suggested a 'small game drive' before getting to the campsite. This did NOT disappoint, as we saw a pride of lions with several cubs ("very rare", by Moses' standards), a leopard in a tree with his previous kill, two cheetahs (also rare), and a glimpse of the great migration (a yearly event where thousands of zebras and wildebeasts migrate together to Kenya to follow the rain and food supply). At this point, we were certain we had made the right decision to include the Serengeti. We headed to the campsite and were very well fed (thanks to Zulu and his legendary soups and popcorn appetizers), and slept to the sounds of wildebeasts, hyenas and warthogs (oh my!).

Our next day started promptly at 6am (Moses takes safari very seriously), and proceeded to drive through the Serengeti all day. The day was amazing and hard to capture in words, but highlights include: lions inches from our jeep, leopards in trees and hunting, giraffes, zebras crossing the road in front of us, gazelles, wildebeasts, elephants, warthogs, hyenas, dik diks, a pool of hippos, crocodiles and pretty little lovebirds (pictures to come upon our return home that will capture this better). This day came with two very important safari lessons: 1) Moses was exploding with personality, and seems to have superhuman eyesight - especially for leopard sighting and 2) the profile of an average safari-goer is: retired, dressed in head to toe khaki, sporting a camera that rivals the Hubble telescope. Needless to say, we didn't really blend in.

The morning of our third day was spent in the Serengeti again, where Moses' animal intuition continued to amaze us. We swear he knew where animals were going before they did! After our succesful animal spotting the day before, we started to get picky with our safari requests. We asked Moses to arrange a viewing of a birth and a kill (our goal was to see the entire circle of life, both relatively unheard of on safari, but with Moses, we thought it possible). We were close to seeing a kill when a pack of zebras approached three seemingly docile lions, but after a 45 minute stake-out Moses announced that the lions would not hunt because they had "full stomachs", and we were done. We then spent the afternoon driving to the rim of the Ngorogoro Crater where we would spend our last night.

Our fourth and final day of safari was spent in the crater, which had a strikingly different landscape from the "endless plains" of the Serengeti. While the animals were similar, the main difference was the sheer numbers we saw in the crater. We did however finally see a rhino, which completed "the Big Five" of animals to see in Africa - the rest being elephant, lion, leopard and buffalo. Safari success!! And just in time, because we were sufficiently safari'd out. Or so we thought, until we arrived back at camp to pick up our tent and found an elephant IN our campsite!! This phased none of the locals, but we were happy for both the photo-op, and that our night would be spent back in the safety of L'Oasis. Back in Arusha, we were greeted by our favourite moustached friend who offered us a wealth of information for the rest of our trip. Thank you Achmed for this unforgettable experience and all your help!!

Today we met up with the company we'll be climbing Kili with - starting TOMORROW! We met with our guide, rented our gear, and are getting super pumped to start!! Stay tuned for an update in a week when we're back!