Day 4 - Serengeti

Another early rise today at 5.30am, had tea and biscuits at 6, and on the road by 6.30. We had a two hour morning game drive, and we couldn't have asked for more action! Even the guides were excited by how good the morning was and they do this everyday. We saw every animal there is to see except for the rhino and flamingos. We saw lions, hyenas, zebras, elephants, hippos, giraffes, baboons, monkeys, buffalo, leopards, cheetas, jackyls, heartbeast, impala, gazelles, lots of birds, and many more. Some of what we saw was absolutely fantastic. Firstly, we saw a lion eating a zebra and sharing it with her cubs. The babies were eating the head and were dragging it around all over the place. They were fighting each other for it and growling. The whole time there were hyenas and vultures waiting around for the lions to finish so they could take the rest. It was sad for the poor zebra and the noise was disgusting but it was interesting to watch!

Next on the amazing things we saw were the leopards. The guides had explained that they were very difficult to find and so we might not see one, but our guide found four! Two adults and two cubs. One of the adults was in a tree, and we realised he was up there eating the remains of a gazelle. Not sure how he got it up there but it was fascinating to watch. The mother and cubs were shy from the people watching and were hiding behind bushes, so we were hoping for some action from the leopard in the tree. Ww didn't expect much, but the leopard decided to come out and leapt from the tree. It was an amazing sight and we were all glad we had watched for so long to see.
Finally, we stopped at an open area where two cheetas were walking. Many other cars joined too. The cheetas spotted a lone gazelle and began crouching and getting ready to pounce. Everyone was very excited to see this but the gazelle quickly noticed and ran away. The cheetas decided not to follow and started to cross between the cars. Everyone was standing in the cars, which are open roofed, taking pictures as they crossed. But one of the cheetas jumped onto the roof of one car. The people inside were cowering down inside the car with the cheeta standing above looking inside. Everyone was screaming but the guides said cheetas are just nosy and there was nothing to worry about. The guides themselves were taking photos though so it must be an unusual sight! The cheeta stayed there for a few minutes while the other one lay down in the shade between cars, then it jumped down and they both walked off. It was funny to see the people in the car pop their heads back out again looking very relieved, everyone clapped them for surviving! We later saw two lions sleeping in the shade of a tree. We hadn't saw any male lions yet so the guide set off to find the pair of the females who were sleeping. We found them close by and we were able to get very close. They are so huge! They just lay there not taking any notice of is at all.
All that's left on the list now is rhinos and hopefully some lions hunting!
After this we headed back on the road to the ngorongoro crater. Our campsite here is amazing! We are on top of a hill with an amazing view. As soon as we arrived about 6pm there were four zebras grazing beside the tents. Our tour leader Pete said this is a common place for zebras and hyenas. We all had showers for the first time since the tour began. By the time I was first in line there was no hot water left but it still felt nice to get rid of the dust! We went to have dinner and after having our pumpkin soup and bread starter we heard some excitement outside. We heard people talking about an elephant so rushed out to see. There was a huge elephant drinking from the water tanks for the showers! It was amazing but so scary. When there are no barriers between you and an elephant it all of a sudden seems much much bigger! We went back to finish off our dinner then headed out to sit around a campfire. It is very cold up on top of the hill at night so the fire was nice. One Norwegian and one Swedish guy from the tour drank a bottle of tanzanian liquor each and so we had a good laugh listening to them talk rubbish! I went to go to the toilet with my head torch on because it was dark. On the walk there I heard rustling in the bushes, turned round and saw my light reflect off two eyes! I turned and ran without looking again to see what it was but from the size I guess it was a hyena. I ran back to the campfire and told Pete, who came round with me and whatever it was had gone. Then, again, in bed at 9 for our 5am start!