Simiyu

After spending a night in Arusha, we were picked up early to begin our safari in Tanzania and Kenya. The first stop was the Serengeti. We were travelling in a large Land Cruiser and had three other people in our group - two Italians and one French guy. It took all day to get to the Serengeti, but we arrived just in time to have an afternoon game drive.
As soon as we entered the park, we saw a beautiful cheetah, herds of elephants and a large family of lions. We drove for around three hour before returning to camp for dinner. The camp site was very basic and didn’t have any hot water. We were warned about wild animals in the night (including lions and hyenas) at the campsite and we had a buffalo sleeping near our tents. Throughout night you could hear lions roaring and also wild dogs.

After an early breakfast the next morning, we headed out at sunrise for a morning game drive. Our first sighting was of a hunting lion. We watched him stalk through the long grass and across the river. Suddenly, he leapt on a Thomson’s Gazelle, which we didn’t even know was there. It was so fast and the animal died instantly. That day we saw a mother cheetah with a group of cubs. She seemed to be also looking to hunt, but unfortunately we didn’t see her at full speed. It was so cute to see the cubs annoy and play with each other. We saw many of the common game including a river with hundreds of hippos, lots of giraffes, elephants, zebras and birds. We spent some time watching a huge leopard who was relaxing between rock cliffs. I was surprised at how big the leopard was compared to the cheetah. Before we left the park, we found a male and female lion lying right beside the road. We pulled up right beside them and the lion was staring right at us. They are such beautiful and grand animals.

After our game drive, we visited a Maasai village. We learnt about their culture and how they lived. Maasai people keep a lot of livestock, which they use to eat and trade with (including for marriage). They don’t eat vegetables or drink much water. Instead, they get their required nutrients from the milk and blood of cows. Some of the people in the village have never been to the city. They use their own medicine and even have their babies at home. They bring their animals into their village every evening to protect them from the wild predators. We also got to see their school and were told that when a child is eight, they will do an exam to see whether or not they will continue their education at a local school. The Massai people performed a dance with us and also showed us their jumping. We all joined in the dancing.

Unfortunately, many Maasai people are being forced off their lands due to the government selling it to foreign investors. The land which they are forced to move to is incompatible with agriculture and is causing big problems for the Maasai people.

In the evening we headed to a new camp site near Ngorongoro Crater. This s campsite was nicer and we had lots of zebras near our tents. We woke up the following morning to a huge elephant walking through our tents!Read more