Tanzanina, Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Lake Tarangire

Thursday 28th April. Up at 6am again for another early start on a safari of Lake Manyara game

park. This park is allegedly famous for tree living lions, well we didn't saw any but did have some
nice encounters with the usual suspects, elephants, giraffes, baboons and velvet monkeys
Back to hotel for lunch and then afternoon drive to Serengeti. Long 6 hour drive, 5hours on 4WD
track. First hour through various little towns fascinating.
Then we entered Ngorongoro park and the view from the top of crater was sensational.
 The descent into the Serengeti was dotted with Maasai villages and their large herds of cattle.

They only eat beef and lamb, no vegetables and women drink milk and the

men bleed the cattle and drink blood.

Then we reached the Serengeti and saw

the sight we came here for, the huge herds of wildebeests, they estimate 2.5 million in the area

before the migration starts.
It was wildebeests to the horizon in any direction. I can only imagine the sight of the migration
that starts in June.
I have seen videos but I would have loved to see it live.

Velvet monkey proctologist

Accommodation at Lake Manayara

Maasai village

Wilderbeest as far as you can see, estimate 2.5 million in Serengeti and Maasai
 

Friday 29th April. A more reasonable 8am start with great hopes for a Leopard. Within the first 30
mins we came upon one in a tree, my first sighting. He was asleep as they are nocturnal but I think
all the cameras awoke him and we got some great shots of him or her awake, very lucky.
The rest of the day two more Leopards, two female lions, a male in a pride with cubs and mums and the first
leopard again on the way home. Also plenty of the other usual animals of the area.

The little Dikdik, one of our favourite

Saturday 30th April. It rained heavily all night and I was thinking that the road we came in on would

be impassable to get out. So it proved to be and we had to take the long way that was still pretty
hard driving in deep water and mud, lots of fun. Just to add to the day we saw 2 leopards in a tree
together. Leopards live alone and are only seen together if they are ready to mate. So they were
obviously a male and a female. They must be going to mate as they were already sleeping
together.
Once they mate they separate and she will have one or two cubs and sometimes three.
She will feed and look after them for about 18 months and then one day she will kill a feed and
hang it in a tree for the cubs. While they are eating she will sneak off and make sure she leaves no
scent for them to find her, they are then on their own. After a long 8 hour drive on a very rough and
wet roads we reached the spectacular Ngorongoro crater. Great view from magnificent game
lodge.

If we are sleeping together what is the next move

The Maasai school house

Ger back in the classroom

Sunday 1st May. Into the crater. We started well when we came across a male and female lion

together and that can only mean one thing and it did. He had taken to a bed of flowers to support
his plans and it worked. Not long before we stopped they were at it. Not great for them as each
mating last only about 4 seconds. But as they go at it a lot during the day for about 3 days I guess
it's not too bad. We saw four of the big five, buffalo, rhino, elephant and lions. We saw altogether 3
pairs of lions so I guess this is the week they are all at it. Did see a couple of young females who
may have been the children of the first mating pair as they were nearby. Guess they had been
sent of for a while to give mum and dad some free time. Stopped for lunch at the hippo pool, which
was pleasant. Got some good shots of a big bull elephant in field of yellow flowers. Hard to get
close to rhino's but got a few shots.

Just stay there mum

How do  you like the flowers I organised for our outing

I know you have a motive

Has the flowers move for your too?

Time to recover after my performance

No you will stay here until mum and dad are finished your to young to look

Wharthog on a mission

Baby only 15 mins old and could not find the milk supply, mum sorted her out in a few minutes.

Mr Grumpy, they are nasty lot these Buffalos

Saturday 2nd May. Departed at 7am but it was worth it for what may have been the most special

moment of the trip. 5 mins after leaving the lodge we came across a leopard walking on the road.
They are very shy and are nocturnal and hard to find. But this one walked along the road and every
20 metres it marked the territory in search of a mate. We followed him at a very close distance for
20 mins, unheard of encounter. Our guide of 20 years experience and raised in a tribal village said
he had not only never experienced anything like it but had not heard of anyone else having a
moment like this. It was sensational and a time to never forget. He was so close and was not
concerned about us. Looked at us a number of times but kept on with his job. I guess his urge
was greater than his concern with us. We were so lucky, even locals of the area were astounded
when they saw our photos and learnt of our encounter.
Long drive to Lake Tarangire for the night.

Sunday 3rd May. Tour of the park was marred by the most vicious flies I have ever experienced,

their bite was painful. But that was not the worst this drive. We had a couple of concerning
moments with the elephants. One young male was showing how tough he was by fronting us on
the track but that was nothing to the big bull who pursued us for quite a while and in turning around
to get away the vehicle got stuck for a while. We got going before he got to close but still was a
worry as we were side on to him and if he charged we would have been in trouble. We then came
across another female who would not let us pass, so now a bull behind and female in front. With
much revving of the engine and moving forward slowly she moved off the road but as we drove
past she let us know of her disapproval.

Monday 4th May off to Arsuha and the commencement of our return to Australia via a night in

Zanzibar and Doha.  We have had 12 air flights, 11 countries, 18 different accommodations made up of one ship, 8 safari camps and 9 hotels. We had toured 19 different ancient sites and 16 safari drives and far too many buffet breakfast and far too much food in general but we have loved every moment of trip  

Our relaxing day in Zanzibar before trip home in the biggest bed we have seen.

I'll drink to that