Phase 4 Safari Days 3 - 7

Ngorongoro Crater and Sopa Lodge.  After a long day on the road, we arrived at the rim of the crater very late...but we decided to head in, even though we only had an hour or so to stay before they closed the gate.  We were so glad that we did.  The crater is a very unique setting.  The volcano collapsed in on itself and left this luscious environment that is rich for wildlife year round.  We found lions, hippos, cape buffalo, wildebeast, zebras, gazelles, hippos, pink flamingos, basically everything except giraffes (they are unable to handle to steep journey down to the floor of the crater).  On the way to the crater, we even saw a leopard, who crossed the road in front of our jeep.  Then, we went to Sopa Lodge...and we were so happy.  A hot shower and I don't think any of us wanted to get out of the shower.  We had the best food yet and really enjoyed the service as well.  After Boundry Hill, it was a real treat.

This is a baboon...who should be warned about Heather
...who kicked a female baboon and her baby in the head
when she tried to get into the jeep!

The next morning we departed for the crater at 6:00 a.m.  I think we were the only car inside the crater for quite a while.  We had an amazing morning game viewing and early afternoon we headed off to our next destination, Lemala Ndutu in Serengeti.  A little glitch delayed us a bit...as we had to wait for a letter to be delivered authorizing our visit...something like that...James wasn't very forthcoming with information.  After a couple of hours we were on our way.

As we travelled toward and through the Serengeti, it was apparent that we were about to experience something incredible...The Great Migration...thousands upon thousands of wildebeests...sprinkled with a few zebras, heartebeasts, wart hogs, gazelles, jackels, bat eared foxes, giraffes, vultures and of course the odd cheetah, lion...and even a leopard. We arrive at Lemala Ndutu and are greeted by Felix who handed us cold towels to wipe our hands and faces and offered us drinks...G & T...and we couldn't have been happier.  We were shown to our tents and told that Swalahe would be available to take care of our every need...ok, apparently we could be happier.  He brought us hot chocolate in the morning, prepared the hot water for our showers, did our laundry, escorted us to and from our tent at night, cleaned our room when we were out...amazing.  This tented camp outdid everyone else in terms of service and quality.  The beds were the most comfortable, their food was the tastiest and their service was spectacular.  We were very happy.  

Each day we headed out on a game drive at 8:00 a.m until early afternoon and then had lunch and a break before heading out again at 4:00.  One day we went in search of the leopard.  We had two other cars with us.  We

spotted the leopard in the tree and were watching as it descended the tree and hid in the bushes.  After a few minutes of watching the bush
James decided to reposition the car.  We went around the bushes to the other side and just a few minutes later the leopard came out of the bush toward the car and snarled at us as he passed by...needless to say we screamed...including James...although his story is that he swore at the leopard in Swahili to save the girls.  We ducked in case he pounced at the car, so we have no pictures or video...except of us laughing nervously after the fact.  We may have flinched.  We did go back the next day and have fabulous photos of the leopard leaving the tree and going into the bush...this time we did not tick him off.  Other highlights included watching a lioness finish eating her kill and the vultures and storks afterward, watching a cheetah mom and her cubs, a pride of 7 lions, cheetahs posing on dead trees and marking their territory.

We also enjoyed bush t.v. which involved visiting with other travellers and sharing stories in the evenings around a fire.

Rain...we only had one day without rain since arriving in Arusha.  Fortunately the timing of the rain did not negatively impact us at all.  We were usually under cover/travelling/between activities/asleep...it did make for some interesting jeep rides.  These "short" rains lasted way longer than the locals were used to.  We were supposed to have been here during the short dry season...oh well.  Everything was green and made for great game viewing...just a bit harder to locate some of the animals.