The big five and more...

Although we had done a few game drives previously, this really felt like our first 'real' safari. We had booked a 5 day/4 night trip to Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater. There were 5 of us on the trip, an Italian (Paulo) who was traveling for one week whilst his wife and child stayed at home and an engaged couple from the Netherlands who were here on a three week holiday (spending as much in 3 weeks, as we have in 3 months).

The food on the trip was amazing! We had our own cook, Isaac, who kept even Jason full (although it only took the group one day to start teasing Jason about how much he eats!!) We ate better on this trip, than we have at any other point in Africa.

The parks were all very different. The scenery in Lake Manyara was beautiful and we saw large numbers of animals all together. Beautiful and green, lush forests with lots of little creeks running through it. Serengeti was amazingly empty, which surprised us. The sheer expanse of grassy plains as far as the eye can see, broken by the occasional acacia tree. The highlight of the serengeti was definitely the leopard that walked so close to the car that we could touch it (don't worry, we didn't). It was amazingly graceful and beautiful... the photos just don't do it justice. We also saw a three cheetahs, the first we saw was a mother with 4 cubs, who were playing, jumping and leaping. At one point they decided to have a little run, and boy do they turn into blurs!! Lastly we went to Ngorongoro crater, where we completed the big 5 by seeing a rhino. We also came across a pride of lions (2 females and 5 cubs) sitting in the middle of the road. Unfortunately the driver was not happy to sit and wait with them (which we wanted to do), as when we came back 30 minutes later they had killed a warthog and were happily munching away. Well, the cubs were eating anyway, with much snarling and growling as they fought over the best bits.

We enjoyed the safari so much, we are now debating whether to go to the Masai Mara as well in the hope of seeing the migration. Ah, decisions, decisions.