Out of Africa ....part three

We arrived at the Serengeti after a long, dusty, bumpy ride, it was completely different to the other parks, vast planes studded with remnants of volcanic rock, as soon as we entered I was blown away by the sheer number of animals, there were hundreds of gazelle, hartbeast, zebra, buffalo. Within ten minutes we had struck gold, right by the side of the road a family of lions, male sleeping fast on his back with his legs in the air, one female and two cubs, we were so close it was brilliant, we watched the cubs for ages getting some great photo's.


Not long after we came across a tree that was covered in storks, there were over 20 of them, what amazed me was the fact that the tree branches held their weight, we had arrived late at Serengeti and before long the sun began to set so we proceeded through the reserve to our lodge, but not before we saw the most beautiful giraffe, he was an adolescent male with the most gorgeous markings.

We arrived at our Serena lodge, as with the other lodges this one was wonderful, another amazing view and little hobbit huts to sleep in, again we were greeted with a white damp towel, again after I had wiped my face I was ashamed to hand it back due to the fact it was covered in red dust. We went to our room, watched the sun set set from our balcony, showered and went to dinner. We met a lovely Australian couple who were on their honeymoon, so after dinner we chatted and had a couple of drinks, but we didn't stay up too late as the next morning we were going on the hot air balloon flight over the Serengeti and we had to be up at 4am.

The one thing about the Serengeti lodge was after 7.30pm you were not allowed to walk outside alone in case of an animal attack, so you had to call reception to be escorted by a nice person with a large torch and a gun. We set the alarm for 4am, got ready, called for our escort and got taken to the breakfast room for coffee and cookies to get us going. We got into the jeep and began our trip, the drive itself was fabulous, because it was so dark (as we were in the middle of nowhere and of course there was no artificial light) the stars were unbelievable, there were so many and they were so bright. We saw eyes catching the headlights, one was the most beautiful leopard who walked right past the jeep, so at last we had made it to the famous big five, next a mother and baby hippo the first time we had seen one out of the water it was too dark for photo's but that sight is etched in my memory. All of a sudden the stars started to fade and a pink tinge hit the sky, only the very brightest stars and the moon remained we arrived at the "take off" site just as the sun began to rise.

There were two huge balloons, green and white stripes, half inflated each with a huge basket underneath lying on the side, each basket held 16 people plus the pilot so you can imagine just how big they were. We watched while the balloons were inflated, and while they were we had a briefing from the pilot, telling us how to get in and out of the basket, and which section we should get into, there were 8 little cubby holes each held 2 people, so you had to climb in feet first while the basket was on the side hold onto the ropes and then they would pull the basket upright by using a jeep, we all managed to do this apart from Esther who managed to climb in head first, so had they pulled the basket up she would have been standing on her head. Although the balloon was inflated it had only been filled with cold air from fans, so once we were all in it was time to light the burners, as the pilot hit the burner it felt like a winter night in front of a log fire, your face got that warm rosy glow, and then with a small bump we were up, as we took off a hundred or so gazelles ran underneath us, but as far as the animals go that was all we saw, they must of been hiding that day.

Although we didn't see any more animals (other than gazelle) it didn't spoil the flight at all, as there was nothing to see we went higher and further than a usual flight so it was fabulous. Then it just got better, after a very smooth landing we were presented with a champagne glass and a story from the pilot of how the first ever balloon flight had taken place over some farm land in France, the farmers had never seen anything in the sky other than birds, so in fright they tried to shoot it down but the pilot held a bottle of champagne over the side so the farmers knew they were friendly. Now bear in mind it was still only 8am, and they kept topping up our glasses, by 8.30am I had drank three glasses of champagne! We were then loaded back into the jeep and driven a short way to a clearing where there was a long table with a crisp white cloth, silver cutlery and more champagne glasses, we were treated to a full breakfast cooked in the open, more champagne, orange juice, coffee etc. As we sat eating and drinking a beautiful giraffe walked past us, I can't describe how wonderful it was. We had done so much already and it was only 9.30am (and five glasses of champers!)

We met back up with our guide Kavishe, we saw a hyrax, a flame headed lizard, some dwarf mongoose all while we were waiting to get back into the jeep, we then set off for another drive around the Serengeti. The morning started off quite poorly on the animal spotting front, we saw the odd gazelle, waterbuck, a blue crane but finally in the distance a sitting under a tree, enjoying the shade a beautiful cheetah.

We stopped for lunch, as it happened it was the same spot we had eaten breakfast, the giraffe had long gone, but we saw lots of wild mice, and golden crested starling. We finished our packed lunch and drove on, more lions under a tree, another herd of elephants more than 10 walking across the planes. We stopped by a watering hole, and found another family of lions, this time one male, two female and two cubs, they had put themselves under a tree right by the water, in the distance a line of Zebra waiting for a drink, but not coming any closer, what a clever idea any animal that comes for a drink is dinner for the lions. We watched the lions for over half an hour before continuing our drive up towards the hippo pool. We saw more buffalo on the way with tiny birds all over them picking off the insects. Then a few more giraffe, then for a long time we saw nothing, well I say nothing, of course the scenery was wonderful. The drive was long and very bumpy and I was starting to think if these hippo didn't get out of the water I would be really miffed! Then a fabulous sight, another jeep had stopped in front of us and pointed to a tree in the distance there was the most gorgeous leopard asleep in the tree. We took a couple of pictures and drove on, not two minutes later and this time right by the side of the road another leopard asleep in the tree.

His tail was wrapped around a branch and legs hanging down, we watched as it changed position. We finally arrived at the hippo pool, they did what hippos do best, snorted, rolled over in the mud and flicked water over their backs, none of them got out but I didn't mind, the sight of the leopard had appeased me. On the way back to the hotel we saw the arrival of the migration, animals that had walked up from Kenya to escape the dry season, row upon row of zebra hundreds of them all walking in lines into the Serengeti, next hundreds of wildebeest, then giraffe 10 in a row, then elephant, like they were taking it in turns, I could hardly believe my eyes.

Another game drive over, another wonderful day, you would think that we would have been tired seen as we have been up since 4am, but we were too excited. We got back to the hotel, Larry & Esther went back to their room, but Cath and I fancied a Kilimanjaro (lager) so walked over to the pool and patio area for a beer, we found an amazing patio area built into the side of the mountain, so we sat watching the sun set over the Serengeti drinking our beer. We went back to our hobbit hut to shower and get ready for dinner. As we arrived at the restaurant the waiter said to us "oh you have a bush dinner tonight" Now I had visions of I'm a celebrity get me out of here, but it was amazing we were led out into the bush, there was a big fire, a Masai group playing drums and singing, we were greeted with yet another glass of champagne and led to seats by the fire, we enjoyed the music and champagne for a while, and were taken to a table just the four of us, across the way a chef cooking BBQ for us, the food tasted better eaten under the stars, it was a perfect end to a wonderful day. ..........more to come but you'll have to wait.