Today we are up early to head towards Serengeti National Park. During our breakfast, we are treated to a wonderful sunrise over the crater rim. After breakfast we pack up the truck and we head off.
On our drive along the rim of Ngorongoro Crater we are rewarded with some excellent views of the crater in the early morning light. Much of the haze from the day before has cleared.
It is such a nice view, we stop in two different spots to take photos.
We left the rim of the crater and drove through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area towards the Serengeti National Park. On our drive to the entrance to Serengeti (we were on the roof seats at this time), we saw many animals, including zebra, giraffe, Thomson's gazelle, wilde beest (thousands of them), vultures feeding on some carcass, black-backed jackals, ...
... giraffes hanging out with zebras and two hyenas. We arrive at the official gateway to Serengeti National Park shortly after 11 AM. We stop here for lunch and to pay for the park fees. Serengeti National Park is Tanzania's largest national park covering almost 15,000 km². It's name means endless plains and it is full of up to 2 million wildebeest and other herbivores, along with lots of lions and other carnivores that feed on all these animals. The wildebeest go through an annual migration through the area that is one of the last great land animal migrations in the world. The wildebeest are in constant search for water and food as the rains come and go. While we are getting lunch ready, it started to rain and it rained quite heavy with thunder and lightning. Lunch was sausages, eggs, bacon and toast. The rain stopped as we started to get ready to head on into the park.
On our drive to our camp site inside the park, we are fortunate to see a number of additional animals. The first thing we see is a lion in the grass, followed by ...
... black-backed jackal, giraffes, hippos wallowing in a pond, hartebeest, wart hogs, topi and impalas. We arrive at the camp site shortly before 4 PM and get set up. Once we have gotten things sorted out, we drive out to the Seronera Lodge for a pre-dinner drink.
At the bar and terrace at the lodge we get an excellent view over the plains, the animals that wander along and the birds in the trees. We have a nice time watching the sun set as we work on our journals.
As we head back to the camp site, it begins to rain, but luckily it stops when we get back. Dinner is prepared and we hang out around the camp fire listening to the sounds from the wild. The campsite is right in the middle of the national park with no fences so animals can come and go. In fact, we could see their tracks in the dirt going right through the middle of the camp - including lion and hyena tracks.
While we sat around the fire, we could hear the lion's and hyena's roar and yelp from all around us. We went to bed early and could continue to hear the animals as we went to sleep. As a side note, going to take a pee was an experience in the middle of the night - you were always wondering if there was a lion or hyena lurking out there in the dark.