Savannah, green hills and lots of wildlife
From the Masai Mara in Kenya on the way to the Serengeti and the Ngorogoro Crater in Tanzania. The Serengeti with endless savannah, the wildebeest that pull through and many more wild animals. We are ready for Tanzania and its overwhelming nature.
Border posts always a party
The border post is going to be a little less flexible this time. Roel and the official get into a discussion about the price of the road tax. Of course they want us to pay more than necessary and Roel insists that the official seeks the rule. The official, of course, thinks he is right, but his colleague decides to help search the book with the laws. Unfortunately the mzungus are right! After a friendly Ýou pay there !! “we are outside and ready to go. Then again a serious discussion, because the village had thought to ask for a road tax and unfortunately we lost here. Haha sometimes it’s okay, sometimes it’s disappointing, but we are back in Tanzania again.
The Serengeti; a mix of wash plates, wild animals and savannah
From the west in Serengeti we drive to the middle to spend the night there. With our tjeetjee fly proof window barricade we begin our adventure. Within 20 minutes we are already pointed to a tree. It takes a few minutes before we finally see the 3 lions in the tree. Thank local guides, because without them we were driven past this way 😉
En route elephants, giraffes, wildebeest, hippos really everything is over. Pretty good to see so much because to survive the roads in the Serengeti with your car, you have to drive over washboards with low tire pressure and about 70 km / h. You slow down everything vibrates through the ribs in the road. Windshield wipers turn on, screws loosen, everything falls out of the cupboards. It was 245 vibrating kilometers in those few days, but our car has survived again!
Elephants for the car and Hyenas next to the tent
In Seronera (in the middle of Serengeti) we decide to drive to the HQ to hear where the best spots are. Again we come across helpful guides who decide to take us there after a drawing in the sand with an explanation of the lions and leopard! We drive after him and yes, lions and a leopard, top! At the campsite, when everyone is in his tent, we see the hyenas running. Really cool to view these animals with a flashlight from the roof tent. In the morning we encounter a huge group of elephants. Impressive to see how smart those animals are. A few men protect the rest of the group when they pass us. Again we are lucky (this time ourselves 😉 lions who lie lazing in the sun on a few stones.
From savannah to the green hills of the Ngorogoro Crater
The road to the Ngorongoro Crater is fantastic, the landscape changed from savanna to drought with acacia trees, sand and stones, to suddenly green plains and hills. Everywhere Masai walk with their herds dressed in red robes. The crater is the largest intact caldera in the world. The crater bottom has a surface of approximately 260 square kilometers and the edge of the crater is about 600 meters above the crater bottom. There are so many animals that have never been out of the crater.
Please cash in first
Upon arrival in the nature reservoir of the crater it is first cashing. We can dedicate 550, – dollar for 2 days of touring, camping and driving into the crater. Auw does that very well and of course it must all be settled in cash. Hmmmmmmm so we come on with our last dollars, euros and a little shilling, but we just got lucky enough!
Ngorogoro Crater: Above expectation nice
High expectations of what we were going to see and wow it was also incredibly beautiful. What a special place. We camp on the rim with a view over the crater. In the night thunderstorm, but this time we were on time in the car 😉 In the morning through the dark and very thick the 12 kilometers to the gate. An hour later we drove down the steep road. The mist disappeared, the sun rose and the first lion was already stretching out. We have seen everything that day. The black rhinoceros, a group of lions so close to the car that I had to close the window 😉 Hyenas with babies, elephants, wildebeest with babies and everywhere lions lying in the sun. It was so special to be the only one in the crater at noon on the day. All morning game drives are ready, the afternoon groups have not started yet, so you have the whole nature for yourself!
34 hyenas, a lion and 1 zebra
At the end of the day also a cherry on the cake. A lion had just caught a Zebra. The first hyenas were immediately on site and started to whine. This was followed by hyenas from every nook and cranny. Within a half hour there were 34 hyenas around the lion and its prey! Unbelievably special to see. the game, the lion that always uses the attack to keep hyenas out of the neighborhood.
Satisfied with all the beautiful things we have seen that day, we drive back up to the crater rim. Our road continues via the mountains to the coast of Tanzania and Kenya where we will relax and meet with Babu and Robert whom we met in Nairobi.
