Serengeti

Echoes of David Attenborough in my head as we set off into the Serengeti today.

My last minute extravagant decision to take myself and the younger two on another safari started off with a glorious flight. Not a teeny tiny plane, but small enough to give us amazing views of both Mount Kilimanjaro & Mount Meru at the same time.

B's delighted cry shortly after take off from Kilimanjaro airport was - we've just climbed to the top of Kilimanjaro, it was so easy - brought a few smiles from our fellow passengers. I spent the entire flight with ants in my pants (metaphorically speaking, in case you were concerned I'd picked up a few fire ants!). Each girl had a window seat with equally amazing sights for me to keep crossing the aisle as we passed Lake Natron, Lake Manyara, the Ngorogoro crater and the enormous expanse of Serengeti. Such luck for completely clear skies, it was like flying over a geographical map of Tanzania. We finished off with a descent towards Lake Victoria (which is one of the largest lakes in the world) and Mwanza, also known as rock city. It's name very evident as we flew over strange towers of boulders scattered around the landscape and through the buildings. Huge towering rocks as if a giant had been playing with toy blocks.

To be honest my rapid research into Serengeti safaris was brief, but having ruled out driving 12 hrs from Arusha to get to the Serengeti, a flight seemed the least painful option. I was swung on this option with the chance to see the huge lake. The camp we are staying in sits 2km outside the Serengeti on the edge of multitudes of channels leading to the big water. It's aptly called Little Okavango Camp for obvious reasons, but it took all my persuasion to get L to agree to a canoe trip out on the waterways.

A hefty dose of crocodile fear eventually gave way to enjoyment. We even ended up saving two turtles who had become trapped in the local fishermen's wires.

B was in slight crazy over tired mode for our elegant dinner overlooking the weaver birds, cue a lot of 'pole sana' to our attentive cook. We were the only guests for our first night, so luckily L and I made up for it by eating our 3 courses with gusto. Doesn't help that B also has a streaming cold at the moment so looks even more a grubby urchin than usual.

Today was spectacular. African Savannah just as imagined. Plenty of Lion King songs trailing out of our safari vehicle.

Our car was essentially a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang version of a 4WD which quickly evapourated our concerns about close encounter with wildlife. We had seen a few lower slung versions on our last safari and had been concerned for the passengers welfare as they went through a troop of baboons, as well as the glare of the hot African sun. Ours was much higher up and amazingly cool, somehow the shade managing to cover us at all angles, though that may have had something to do with the fact we had 3 rows of seating to choose from!

Lion viewing had an added dimension of tension with a 5 year old wanting to ask loud questions watched with lazy eyes by the semi dozing pride.

We particularly enjoyed the river bursting to the seams with roly poly hippo and our first sighting of crocodiles.

Gerry the giraffe made a short bid for freedom in sight of the river, but thankfully avoided a swim, and a quick thinking driver who jumped out to get him instead of the appetising small child who had started to climb down the sides of the car. We did manage to lose one sunhat, and attempted to lose another after a rare encounter with cheetahs. L & I were unanimous in our relief that it was a distant viewing, having both recently watched the youtube clip of safari tourist sitting with a cheetah in the seat next to him. According to our guide this is not that uncommon as the cheetah are very curious, although supposedly not dangerous!!!

We barely saw another car on this trip, compared to the Ngorogoro where it was like a safari drive through. Both experiences completely awesome, but definitely something magical about being on our own in the middle of the bush. We shall be watching wildlife programs with renewed interest for quite some time.

Tomorrow we fly back to Moshi to meet up with M & R at the other end of the weekend. Not quite sure of our plans yet but suspect may involve visiting a Masai and his goats....