A perfect end to our first Serengeti day

As our safari continued, we saw:

• Tawny eagles
• Five lions sleeping under a tree
• A den of hyenas (a pair with their pups)
• A male lion, sleeping
• Several Coke’s hartebeest (this was a new species for us)
• A leopard and her cub up a tree. Unfortunately, she came down and disappeared into the bush before we had chance to take photos.
• A lilac-breasted roller – the national bird of Kenya
• A group of ground hornbill
• A leopard in a tree with her kill – a small gazelle
• A leopard walking through long grass close to the road

The last two sightings were incredible, but they caused some friction between our driver, Mankinga, and Nash. Despite Mankinga’s explanations over the radio, Nash couldn’t find us. Amos, the driver of the other 4x4, was less experienced than Mankinga and didn’t know the names of all of the small roads and tracks in the Serengeti. Nash wanted Mankinga to give up and go straight to our campsite. Mankinga is passionate about what he does and wanted to give us (his clients) the best possible experience, so he continued to where he knew the animals were. Nash wasn’t impressed, but we were very grateful as we saw the animals and those in the other vehicle didn’t!

We got to the campsite after dark, so we had to get sorted out using our head lamps. Luckily, the guy who drove Ibrahim to camp had put our tents up for us! Dinner was mushroom soup followed by lamb stew with mashed potato. Both were very good. Mark was on washing-up duty, and I was on flapping and packing. It was 9.30pm by the time we’d finished. The facilities were none too clever, so we skipped a shower and went straight to bed, knowing we would only have a few hours before we had to be up again!Read more