15 October 2010 - Serengeti National Park

·        Morning and afternoon game drives

·        Again plenty of animals seen – lion, elephant, hippos, giraffes, buffalo, zebra, baby wathogs

·        Camped at the top of Ngorogoro Crater.

·        The food has been amazing on the trip so far and the cooks we had on this trip have been no exception

·        The elephants also liked the ease of access to a cool water supply!

14 October 2010 - Serengeti National Park

·        Today saw us swap the big overland truck for 4x4’s again for our trek to the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater

·        After stopping briefly at the Ngorogoro Crater viewpoint we headed off for an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti

·        The highlight without questions was spotting two sleeping leopards
·        Campsite was unfenced and in the middle of the Serengeti. Clare slept with one eye open

13 October 2010 - Driving Day

• Nairobi to Arusha. Driving all day, dirt tracks and potholes.
• Arrived at our campsite (Snake Park) just before sunset
• The campsite has a Snake Zoo attached where the Masai people come to identify what snake they have been bitten by before obtaining treatment in the on-site clinic.
• We had a braai for dinner as it was one of the Kiwi’s birthdays (Tracey). The night degenerated quickly with all of us doing one of the most vile shots ever – Ma’s Revenge (90% Austrian rum, tequila and Tabasco Sauce). Disgusting!

12 October 2010 - Masai Mara Game Reserve

• Morning game drive followed by the long drive (5 hrs) back to Nairobi on bumpy dirt roads
• First night assembling our own tent – Clare took on a ‘supervisory role’
• Still getting used to the 9pm bedtime and 5am wake up calls!

  

11 October 2010 - Masai Mara National Reserve

• Full day game drive. The morning drive saw plenty of activity – giraffes, elephants gazelle and the ubiquitous wildebeest
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• We had picnic lunch near the river where the wildebeest have to cross to head south for the migration in a few weeks time – there were plenty of crocodiles waiting patiently if they happened to survive going down or coming up the stupidly steep cliffs on either side

• Just after lunch we saw two lions resting in the shade of the tree – closer inspection revealed some decent battle scars

• Massive afternoon thunderstorm kept us campsite bound following our return – a few beers were had

10 October 2010 - Masai Mara National Reserve

Clare and her new love 'camping'

• Bumpy road to the Masai Mara National Reserve – home of the Masai tribe.
• Easy introduction to the camping aspects of the trip as we had our own bed inside a massive tent
• Afternoon game drive, saw lots of Gazelles, Zebras and Wildebeest (as they haven’t started the migration to the Serengeti yet)
• Then one of our 4x4’s spotted a lion so we moved a bit closer - at one stage I could have put my hand out of the window and patted his head!
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• Campsite wasn’t fenced and animals were free to roam. The Masai warriors were on patrol all night, spears in hand, to keep any animals away from the tents

9 October 2010 - Nairobi

• Pretty hectic city.
• Met a few of the others at the pre departure meeting (ahead of setting off on our 24 day overland tour) and got things underway by testing some of the local beer – Tusker “100% African Inspiration”