Serengeti first full day

Slept well last night, I didn't hear any lions, but do remember hearing a zebra at some point. I guess there were lots of Hyenas around as well, but I missed that too. I do hope I hear a lion roar from far away one night, we have 4 more nights in tents so a good chance my wish will come true.

Beautiful sunrise this morning

Our tent at Kati Kati, notice the chairs tucked between the top of the tent and the canopy, they are put here overnight so the Hyena don't eat them!

At supper last night I told Felix that I didn't really like all the traffic that was around yesterday, so I think he took that into consideration when he planned our day today. I think in the first 4 hours we only saw 2 cars. We went to Moru in the South and saw some fabulous scenery. 

 We stopped at a great watering hole and a lake to watch for a while.

Grey Heron

Egyptian Geese

You can see the landscape starting to change

Black Shouldered Kite

African Fish Eagle

Very busy oxpeckers

White Bellied Bustard

So many outcroppings of rocks as we traveled further, and the lions seemed to really like to relax on top of these, we saw 3 different ones. 

Spot the lion?  I have no idea how Felix saw this, plus an elephant?

Closer up of lion on rocks

This is the elephant that chased the lion off the rock

Another sleeping lion on the rocks

We also passed thousands and thousands of gazelle, as far as the eye could see. 

Fighting Gazelle

All the dots in the distance are gazelle

This is also the morning of elephants I guess. So so many, and the newest baby we have seen so far. We did see one of the elephants in the rocks chase a lion, very funny.

We visited a Masai rock painting and Ngong rock which the Masai at one time used to bang on to gather everyone for meetings. There are no longer Masai around here, since it was made a national park they can no longer move through this area. There are walking pathways around both of these attractions, but Felix said he saw a Black Mamba snake here, and a lion one time and since then will no longer do the walks. We were also the only car here, so I certainly didn't want to get out. Felix said if there were lots of jeeps around we could discuss getting out, but no other jeeps, so no thanks.

 

Masai Rock Painting

Ngong Rock

Ngong Rock

We had our box lunch at a little picnic area that is on a bit of a hill again with nice views. Right before our lunch stop we saw 2 cheetah under a tree, the gazelles were so far away there would be no action for a while. 

2 beautiful Cheetah

Box lunch stop

Another Serengeti Landscape, so different depending on what part you are in

 

After lunch we circled around and went to the same spot we saw the pride of 13 lions yesterday. Today there is half a zebra there, evidence they are somewhere around still. There are some beautiful eagles close by, and a vulture close by as well. While we were watching the birds along comes one of the lions, looking very very full, she climbs onto the dead broken tree where the birds had been perched and chased them all away, then settled in for a rest right in front of us. Wow, another amazing sight. 

Lappet-faced vulture and a Tawny Eagle

Look how full her belly is, no wonder she needs a nap!

 

Also a line of zebras as far as the eye could see. We had a few laughs as it seemed to be red light green light when the crossed over the road in front of us. I cannot even imagine how many zebras we saw today, and why were so many in such a straight line?

 

zebra crossing traffic jam

We are now back at camp. We left at 6:30 this morning and got back at 4:30, a long 10 hour safari day, but longer for Felix I am sure. We have had our bucket shower, which consists of them filling a canvas bag with 10 gallons of water and they hoist it up and you control the flow from inside. It actually works very well, and feels great after a dusty day out on safari. 

Preparing for bucket shower

They just tell you when the warm water is ready and you control the flow from inside, it actually works really great

 We have also done a load of laundry by hand. It is quite windy so we hope that everything will be dry by bed time, if not we will bring it inside and put it out tomorrow to finish drying. Off to supper in about an hour, we will see if the lions are here again...... 

Laundry time

 

We hung this outside until dark, then moved it in as we were afraid of the hyenas getting it

A fun night around the camp fire meeting with other people that are staying here. 

There are still a few people from France, a new couple from Czechoslovakia, a couple from Holland, and a few others we didn't meet. The camp is full tonight, and sounds like everyone is having a great time. Off to bed early again tonight, we just can't say awake past 9!

Docking station for recharging batteries in the main tent

Main dining tent at Kati Kati, no lions seen tonight...

 

Fun pic of the day, we saw this guy a couple of times, full camouflage, great for sneaking up on the animals in a jeep?  No clothes envy, but a tiny bit of lens envy from Andre again.