Africa Safari – Day 24 – Tamu Tamu – Serengeti Big Cat Drive today

Early start, 6am breakfast, today is big cat safari day. Not sure how Dennis can top the last few days though.

We’re all a bit doughy starting the day at sunrise, the hard safari travelling takes it out of you, even if you are doing it in the style we are. Shadows of Africa and their properties and staff have been wonderful, they make sure your days are full, you are fed well, are very comfortable and are safe.

Our Masai warriors who walk us to and from our tents

We drive east then south into Serengeti National Park, exotic birds, zebra’s, wildebeast, elephants, Thompsons Gazelle, topi’s, impala, a jackal and other animals are out looking for food, water and safety. Lion’s, cheetahs and leopards are looking for lunch.

There are hippos galore, in their stinking shit filled water holes, snorting, breathing loudly looking fat and innocent, they are fat but they ain’t innocent.

We find a few prides of lions over the day, some with kills, some looking for a kill. One lioness with cubs (we don’t see) hunts some Thompson Gazelle, they are flitty little antelope with constantly swishing tails bit when they spot the lion they bolt in all directions. We follow the lion for a while. One pride of lions is in a windy dusty spot and my new camera seizes up, the lens has locked, possibly grit or dust but nothing I do fixes it so I’ll be relying on phone photos and The Dancers good digital SLR shots.

Some cheetahs with fat bellies from kill, sleep near a tree, occasionally opening an eye.

A leopard, the last of our targeted big 3 cats for the day, lounges lazily high in a tree, his head in a fork in a branch lazily casting his eyes over us.

Lunch is on a hill with tables and toilets. Dennis has more food than we can ever hope to eat.

A long day, we’re tired and dusty, but Dennis has done well again.

Dinner and a few drinks finish the day. The food here is exceptional. A last attempt to fix the camera fails, looks like a warranty job when I get home.