Serengeti and Nrongogoro Crater

As soon as we left Nairobi we drove across the border to Tanzania and camped at the town of Arusha. From here I went on a 3 day two night camping trip to the Serengeti. Serengeti is a Swahili word being dry plains. The plains are certainly vast, they stretched on and on as far as the eye could see. As soon as the jeep crossed into the Serengeti my eyes were swamped with visions of thousands upon thousands of Wildebeasts. It is not the time of the annual migration so their numbers are not in the millions but there was still plenty. I also saw herds and herds of Zebras, lots of Masai Giraffe, impalas, thomson gazelles, buffalo and alot of huge birds including wild ostrich. Thaio that a leopard had ben spotted close by so we raced off. Leopards are the most difficult animal to t first eveningI was fortunate to see a herd of elephant with a handful of babies with them. One elephant was seperated from the others and we came across her later. She got that close to the jeep I was in that at one point the dirt she was flicking about her head landed in the jeep. I must admit when she was only around 3 metres away I did get a little aprehensive but she only scowled at us and walked by. Late in the afternoon a call came over the radio that a leopard had been spotted, so we raced off. Leopards are the most difficult of all the animals in Africa to find and the majority of people do not see them. We were incredibly lucky. The leopard was sunning itself on a big rock, hidden within the overhang of the rock but as we watched, she climbed out and perched herself in full sight. It was amazing. Everyone was lost for words.
We didn't think anything could top that but the following morning at sunset we came across a pair of cheetahs sunbathing then mock hunting. We followed them for ages, they are so graceful. This was followed by seeing a pair of lion cubs playing and shortly after that we came across a large male lion complete with large mane. He was laying down so we didn't have a good view but as we turned to leave he got up and we saw him and his mane in its full impressive glory. These two days in the Serengeti were simply too fantastic and awe inspiring to convey properly.
On the third day we ventured down into the Nrongogoro crater which is next to the Serengeti. It is an old volcanic crater with large grass plains inside. We desended 6oo metres and saw more and more animals, this time in such a spectacular setting. A lioness was laying next to the road, we could have reached out of the window and stroked her, but we all valued our arms more! There were black rhinos here but alas they stayed in the distance. It made no difference to the amazingness of the entire experience though. These past three days I will never forget.
From here we drive onwards to Dar Es Salem and catch the ferry across to Zanzibar where I will spend christmas.