The Wildest Place On Earth

Greetings readers : )

I have returned from safari and I am now going to fill you all in on the many adventures we had this week so I hope you enjoy it.

On Monday we departed from camp bright and early at 6 o'clock. We had 3 jeeps to travel the 5 hours to the Serengeti camp, 2 5-seaters, and 1 7-seater (I was in the 7 seater with Sarah, Alex, Chris, Jenny, Lena and Fiona) was a wicked jeep. So after packing all our luggage onto the jeep we set off for the Serengeti. It was a long trip, but we stopped off at a super market to pick up some snacks, and soon after we were entering Lake Manyara National Park which is on the way to the Ngorongoro, and then the Serengeti. In Manyara we got our first taste of safari, as giraffe and zebra appeared from nowhere to make eyes bulge as we saw so many giraffe! We then continued driving and had another jaw dropping view as we began to ascend the side of the Rift Valley, which is MASSIVE!! and towers above Lake Manyara that looks like the sea its so big! After this we soon arrived at the Ngorongoro National Park Gate, where we had to wait for about 20 minutes for permits to be signed for the drivers. Whilst we were here lazing around, about 20 jeeps pulled up, some with very well dressed people and others with army people in. We were curious to find out what was going on, so me and Dunc, and Sarah went to investigate and it was none other than the Prime Minister of Finland come for a safari whilst on an official visit. He was a very nice man, as was the Finnish ambassador, who was the one who told us what was going on.

Soon after this, and the Fins had moved on we could begin are safari as we went through the gate to the Ngorongoro. Immediately, baboons appeared and started fighting  next to our car, which was pretty cool. We spent about an hour journeying up the side of the Crater, to begin our journey round the rim, and down the other side to get to the Serengeti. We eventually made it to the top after many close corners, and dirt tracks, and the view was amazing. The crater just lay there before you in all its glory, and it is HUGE! One of the most amazing views I have ever seen in my life. After standing there with our mouths hanging open for about 10 minutes, we continued our journey, and soon saw many animals, such as giraffe, zebra and wildebeest. We then began the long drive across the plains to the Serengeti Gate, and then to our camp for the night. We soon saw how many animals there were on the plains, and we weren't even in the Serengeti yet. Animals as far as your eye could see, everywhere you looked, and you could see all the way to the horizon. I cannot explain the scale of how many animals there were, or how vast the plains were. Truly colossal.

We arrived at the gate for another short toilet break, and we trekked it up to a view point on top of a kopje (a random piece of massive rock, scattered around the Serengeti left over from a vast mountain range from millions and millions of years ago) and surveyed our majestic surroundings, that stretched for miles, and miles, and miles all around us. We were in a sea of grass, and animals, and sky. That's all there was around us.

We then continued our journey to the camp, now standing up in the jeep looking through the roof hatches, and so consequently caught a lot of the sun, and we saw, even more zebra, wildebeest, Thompsons Gazelles, loads of birds of prey, hippopotamus, and a lone female lion just before we arrived in camp which was awesome. We arrived in camp, and set about setting up our tents. I was in a tent with Alex, and Duncan, and after thinking we had picked the best tent, as you could see out of it at night, but couldn't see in, so we could see the animals, we realised we had no porch to store our bags, and that our zip couldn't zip all the way down. We obviously didn't tell the rangers about this and slept in it anyway. The rangers told us that you could NOT go to the toilet once you zipped up your tents, due to lions, buffalo, and hyaena coming into camp, however all of us 'tough' (don't laugh) guys said we would go anyway. However, the moment we settled down to sleep, we heard the eerie whooping cry of hyaena's around the entire camp, so we changed our minds, especially after, the deep throbbing roar of lions, that you didn't only hear, but felt in your chest, was added the night. Then to top it off, lying in my sleeping bag on the right side of the tent and looking out of the see through canvas, I heard a sniffing, snuffling behind me. I then woke up Alex, and Duncan as quietly as I could, as down the side of the tent came a hyaena, sniffing about an inch away from, through a thin sheet of canvas. We did not move, speak, blink, or breathe for about a minute, as it journeyed on to the next tent. I lay awake the entire night desperate for the toilet, but also not wanting to get eaten by a curious hyaena.

So we woke up at 6, having had about 4 hours sleep, to begin our first ever game drive in the Serengeti. We quickly saw some antelope, and buffalo, and also a small family of elephant grazing, with a bigger herd of mature adults a way off. We then journeyed on to see more zebra, wildebeest, monkeys, and to top it off, a lion standing in a tree. Our driver, Jon, got the call over the radio and stepped on the gas, and we rocketed past about 4 jeeps to be the first to arrive and see the lion. There ended up about 6 jeeps looking at the lion, but she wasn't fussed, and casually fell asleep in the tree in front of us. We then got a call that a leopard was close by in another tree so we then bombed it off to see another big cat, however we were too slow, as the leopard had dissapeared in to the long grass by the time we arrived. However, all of these sightings were to be overshadowed that day by a meeting we had with an adult female elephant, and an adolescent. We had journeyed a way in front of the other 2 jeeps, and so drove closer to the female than the others, while they stayed about 20 feet back behind us. The female was about 12 feet away from us, looking at us, and then let out a low elephant rumble, and moved to then cake herself in mud, and was soon joined by her calf, although he wasn't so small anymore. After this the adolescent came to the back of the truck where me, Sarah, and Fiona were standing, and decided to cake us in mud, so he shook himself in front of us, totally covering us in mud. Satisfied with himself, he moved off. Now it was Mum's turn. She came very close to the back, and rumbled again. Her ears came out, and she seemed to get bigger, and Fiona and Sarah shrank back, but I stayed (not because I was brave, but because I couldn't move) and she towered over me, and looked me straight in the face, in easy touching distance of me, about 3 feet. She then rumbled again at me, and moved off. It was the most amazing, scariest, most exhilarating experience of my life so far. I was giddy with it all day afterwards. After this we went back to camp, to pack up the tents, and move on to our camp on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater. This trip took about 2 hours, and we saw even more wildebeest, and zebra, and gazelle. There were even more than the day before when we drove through. We asked Jon how many wildebeest there were around us at the moment, and he told us that there were 3 million!!! and soon 1 million will move off to begin the migration south, and then back north to Kenya and the Masai Mara.

We arrived at Simba camp late in the evening, and had a great dinner of chicken and chips (at least we were told it was chicken, not sure it was though) and then we settled down for the night. Again animals were to intrude on our camp. Soon after going to bed me, and Duncan were looking outside when we saw what we thought was a person standing next to our tent, as all we could see were 2 legs silhouetted against the tent. Then we realised it was a buffalo right outside our tent, and it was MASSIVE!! It's like a cow thats been on steroids. It is so BIG. Even more so when your lying on the ground next to it, and there wasn't just 1. There were 4 around camp. To add to this an elephant arrived, and a wild pig, that chewed a hole in to Ellie, Jo, and Jenny's tent, and proceeded to have a tug of war with Jo for possession of her bag, as it liked the sun cream in it. To top this night off we were visited by the King of the Jungle himself, a lion. The first we knew of it was a heavy panting outside our tent. Then the most terrifying thing was the shadow that moved past our tent, of a massive lioness. Then she moved off back to the crater. It was the briefest encounter, but it was amazing to experience.

We awoke to the most beautiful view of the sun rising over the Crater rim, which was like a scene from Lion King, had a breakfast of pancakes, jam, and toast, and began our descent of the 658m in to the Crater. Firstly, we stopped at a view point where a Masai tried to persuade each of us to swap our i-pods for his bush knife. We said no. We then continued to go down the side of the Crater, and the first animal we saw after reaching the bottom, after literally 10 minutes driving, was a massive, fully grown, glorious, male lion, not 20 feet from our jeep. He was prowling around, until some Masai appeared up the hill, so he turned walked between our jeep and another, and disappeared in to the long grass. It was amazing how magnificent he looked, and how big. We the saw in quick succession, hyaena, zebra, buffalo, wildebeest, flamingo in the soda lake in the middle of the lake, some eland, which are the worlds biggest antelope about the size of a cow, and then a small family of lions. 5 lionesses, and 2 cubs. Jon thought the male we saw was the pride male of this pride. It was lovely to watch them not 10 feet away next to the road, rolling around, with the females sleeping, rolling over just like domestic cats do. However, one female was on the alert, as not 20 metres away were 4 hyaena, who were taking a lot of interest in the cubs, so the female gave a bit of a growl, and there was a slight stand off until, the lioness just went back to sleep, and so did the hyaenas.

We left the small family, and saw one of the rarest animals in Africa, with only 15 in the Ngorongoro Crater, and none in the Serengeti. A Black Rhino. It was to prove to be our day for rhino's in the crater, as Jon told us that most tourists only see 1 when they come to the crater. We ended up seeing 9 of the 15 in one day. Was brilliant! We then saw way off (after an amazing spot by Alex) a cheetah walking through the long grass. You couldn't see her very well, but you could see her. We then began our ascent out of the crater, after about 6 hours driving, at 12, and began our drive to our final camp site, Twiga, next to Lake Manyara. It was not in the National Park, and was right next to a huge craft place, full of fly catchers. We went for a walk to see, and got absolutely bombarded. However, a man took a liking to my clothes and offered to swap a painting for my t-shirt. I asked which one, and he said take your pick, so I chose the biggest one. He then said give me money, so I said no. He then said do you have anything else to trade, and so I got a pair of trousers, and said trousers for the painting. He said ok, plus 5000 Tsh, so I said ok, thus I swapped my trousers for a painting. I was quite proud of myself. We then got treated to some acrobatics in the camp site, and some traditional dancing, and go eaten alive by MOSQUITOS!! 32 bites on one foot!! Bug spray did nothing, to deter them, so I got out of our tent that wouldn't zip up at 5, and read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, by the pool in the hotel next door. Later we journeyed back to camp in Moshi, and after thanking Jon for his amazing guide services, our safari experience was over.

On Tuesday, I go off to Zanzibar for a week, and then up the coast to Kenya. It feels so weird that after so long, with all of these wonderful people, and experiences, I'm leaving them in 2 weeks, and have to start all over again, which is awesome, but very sad, as I've definitely made some friends for life on this trip. It's sad, exciting, and tough, as everyone else is talking about going home, whereas I have another 2 months to go. It will be ok though, as I'm very excited about Zanzibar, and scuba diving, and all the stuff I'm going to do in Kenya, but I can wait just a little bit longer, so I can stay with the amazing people I've met here.

Much Love

Josh