Serengetti and Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

Sporting a pair of cheap sunglasses - these glasses were less than one week old - ahh, Africa
Mama lion and cub in the Serengetti
Lion with his zebra kill in the Serengetti
Amanda and I in front of the Ngorongoro Crater
Close encounters with an elephant in Lake Manyara, Tanzania
An African Christmas tree - gotta love it!


I think it's fair to say that I left Africa with a bang! We went on a 4-day, 3-night camping safari in Lake Manyara, the Serengetti and Ngorongoro Crater. There were five of us in the vehicle and we had a great group. Although our guide was lacking in his knowledge and didn't provide us with much information - we made the best of it and managed to see an enormous amount of wildlife. The highlights of the trip in Lake Manyara were the baboons - at one point, we were surrounded my them in our vehicle and they just all stopped (around 50 or more) and sat down and started grooming each other. It was quite a sight to see. There were newborn babies hanging on to their mothers' bellies and riding on their backs and they just kept coming out of the trees and crossing the road. We also had the opportunity to see lots of elephants up close, along with hippos, an array of birdlife and lions. The real absolute treat however was the Serengetti - a lifelong dream of mine that I never thought I'd have the opportunity to do. I feel extremely grateful and lucky for the opportunities that I have in this life - especially after visiting a place like Africa where people can't even imagine having the opportunity or freedom to travel as freely as us. Most Africans that I met have never even been to the Serengetti or even far from where they've lived all of their life. The Serengetti was everything that I imagined and more. The mere size of it is astonishing and the abundance of wildlife that moves through there is unimaginable. We happened to be there during the wildebeest migration and saw literally hundreds of thousands of them grazing and passing through. Most times that we saw them, they were accompanied by thousands of zebras as well. In addition to that, we saw so many lions that I lost count - and a lot of males which was my dream come true. We saw females sleeping lazily in the hot sun while their cubs played cheerfully around them. I never imagined that I would see lion cubs - it was a real treat. We spotted cheetahs from a far distance as they stealthily crouched in the grass to plan their next attack. I was holding out for a kill but didn't get to see one. We did approach a lion and lioness on the side of the road after a zebra kill and they looked extremely exhausted and had already devoured most of the zebra by the time that we caught up with them. On the last day, we visited the Ngorongoro Crater which was also very spectacular - as it is the fourth largest caldera in the world. It's immense and due to the topography, it allows for great wildlife viewing because all of the animals are condensed into the caldera. We saw a lot more of the same animals there - except we saw hundreds of flamingos in the lake which was quite a spectacular backdrop. We spotted 3 male lions together - one of which was right on the road next to our safari vehicle. The only animal missing from the Big 5 was the leopard, which we, unfortunately, did not get to see - next time. Overall, the safari was outstanding and very glad to have done it. I spent New Years Eve in Arusha and we whooped it up at a local hostel with the people that we met no the safari. The next morning, we arose bright and early to catch our shuttle to Nairobi and all went very smoothly. We were cutting things very short but it all worked out. Not sure if anyone has been following the news but things in Nairobi are pretty bad at the moment. They just had elections there and the elections were rigged and people are really up in arms - burning down houses, cars, killing each other - lots of violence. We were glad that we ended up spending New Years Eve in Arusha and not in Nairobi, as originally planned. Flights went smoothly and I am now in Bombay, India. Not too much to write at the moment - it's a sensory overload and I'm still trying to adjust to being in a completely new place. I've been here for a few days and looking forward to hopping on a train tommorrow and heading north. Look forward to updating you on my travels here.