The one with the uninvited evening guests

Day 22

In the immortal words of Noddy Holder, it’s Christmaaaas (you’re welcome for that, Dad)! We wake in our lovely bungalow and head down to the camping ground where Nash has made epic pancakes for breakfast, henceforth to be known as Nashcakes. Everyone’s in good spirits for the day ahead, which has no planned activities until a group dinner at an actual restaurant this evening. For the first time in Sara’s life, and the second in mine, we have to wear Mazungu Magic (aka sun cream) on Christmas Day. 

Sara and I decide to go into central Kigali with some of the others to see the Hotel des Mille Collines, which is the real hotel made famous in the film Hotel Rwanda where the manager sheltered and saved over 1,000 Tutsis during the genocide. One of the staff there kindly gives us a tour of the hotel and tells us some of the back story, and shows us the memorial in the hotel’s grounds to the staff who were murdered in the genocide. Seeing the swimming pool which people had to drink when there was no other water; walking through the hallways where families cooked; standing in one of the small rooms which would have accommodated 20 people at once; and taking in the now beautiful view of the city from the top floor restaurant, which during the genocide provided a clear view of the horrors happening outside the hotel’s gates: as with the churches yesterday, being physically in the hotel is an intense, sobering and emotional experience. 

After leaving the hotel, Ryan, Taylor, Sara and I head to the Century Cinema to meet up with Rich, Jamila, Stefan, Sam, Mike, Luke, Carlo and Abebe to watch Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It’s so good to sit and be entertained for a couple of hours, and air conditioning is a novel change at this stage! 

Christmas 2019 at the cinema in Kigali, Rwanda

Following the movie, Ryan, Taylor, Sara and I head back to a street market we saw on the way to the cinema to have a look around and do some souvenir shopping. We manage to find a Rwanda fridge magnet, which we’d been actively seeking, and a set of coasters that we don’t need and will be expensive to post home but love nonetheless. Whereas Sara and I are enablers, we learn that Ryan and Taylor are the opposite as, despite much back and forth between stalls, they ultimately talk each other out of any purchases. 

Sara and I also turn out to be very popular with the locals at the market on account of the Santa hats we’re wearing, and quite a few take photos of us or ask to have photos taken with us. Perhaps we’ll be coming to you soon on the cover of a D-list Rwandan magazine!

We’re meeting the rest of our group at a restaurant, Soy Table, at 6pm for Christmas dinner, and we decide to walk the 4km there as we have sufficient time. Now Rwanda is known as the land of 1,000 hills, and Kigali itself lies over some of those 1,000, so our walk winds down one hill and up another on the other side of the valley to get to the restaurant. We are the first to arrive so head to the bar to order some drinks: Sara and I both opt for a Tom Yummy cocktail and it’s a spicy, tangy wonder of a beverage. If they had these in the UK, I’d be drinking it often. 

The rest of our group arrives and we order. Given the name of the place is Soy, it’s no surprise that the food is Asian based, and we order some calamari and vegetable tempura to share for starters, and a prawn Pad Thai and Szechuan tofu also to share for mains. As we’re waiting for the food to arrive, the heavens open, and it’s no exaggeration to say I’ve never seen rain like it. The layout of the restaurant is a sort of quadrangle under roof cover but with one wall open to a central garden which is open to the elements. When the rain starts, and then continues for some time, the restaurant slowly begins to flood, and the stairs to the garden become a small cascading waterfall into the main restaurant. The staff valiantly try to limit the impact, sweeping water into the drains, even standing the table legs in metal takeaway containers to protect the wood and handing us all blankets to keep us warm and dry(ish) - necessary as the force of the rain leads to a steady fine spray of water which reaches us at the tables a couple of meters under the roof cover. We hear from the restaurant staff that rain like this is very uncommon for the area. 

The food eventually comes and it’s okay but nothing special and not the style of Asian food we’re accustomed to in the UK and US. It’s a bit of a shame as we were both really excited for the meal but it’s still nice to have something different. After the meal, we all rush into the bus Melissa organised for us trying to avoid getting too wet, and back at the campsite it turns out that some of the tents were left with the rain covers open which meant that a number of people’s belongings, including sleeping mats and sleeping bags, are soaking wet. Some people therefore have no real option but to upgrade for the night, and Sara and I are grateful to have avoided the potential for a flooded tent by having already upgraded. We head back to our bungalow to get everything ready for the morning, when we’ll be back on the road again. 

Day 23

Today we wave goodbye to Lisette, Bettina, Toby, Shelly, Air, Dave, Andrew and Ross, whose time with the truck ends in Kigali. The remaining 19 of us pack up the truck and head out into our last few hours in Rwanda before we move into Tanzania later today.

A damp farewell to Toby, Lisette and Bettina

It’s a couple of hours’ drive to the border and when we arrive there are the bag checks again. This time though the checks only affect the men as women are waved through without inspection due to the lack of a female to check through women’s bags. We then all have to leave our passports with the immigration office while they process the paperwork, and in the absence of any timetable for the passports coming back, Nash takes us into Tanzania on foot to a local restaurant for lunch. Interesting that we’re allowed into Tanzania without any visa or passport, but I guess they know we won’t get far on foot. 

The slightly underwhelming Rwanda-Tanzania border crossing

The restaurant is very basic but we like it a lot. The only things on offer are rice and beans with cabbage, or rice and beans and goat with cabbage. We both go with the veggie option which costs around $1 each, and when it comes it’s absolutely delicious. My only feedback would be that more beans and cabbage would have been welcome. 

After lunch, we head back to the border and find our passports are all stamped and good to go so it’s back into the truck and onto the road en route to our first stop in Tanzania. 

We arrive at Saywari Guesthouse in Nykhanazi and learn that we’re all in rooms tonight rather than tents. Sara and I manage to secure a room for ourselves with an en suite which pleases us greatly. 

The guesthouse has cooked for us (we’re being completely spoiled by not having to do cooking chores) and we eat an okay meal with a Serengeti beer before heading to bed. 

Day 24

Today is mostly a drive day as we’re heading to Mwanza on the banks of Lake Victoria. We set off after breakfast and drive a few hours to Busisi where we’ll catch a local ferry across the channel to Kigongo and then drive north to Mwanza. 

There’s a market just outside the ferry terminal and Nash shows us where we can get some local food for lunch. The vast majority of us opt for chips mayai (pronounced my-eye), which is essentially a chip omelette. It’s cooked in front of us and is seasoned so well that it’s absolutely delicious and tastes less simple than it is. Mark my words, we’ll be having a lot more chips mayai before we leave Tanzania!

On to the ferry and the crossing takes around 20-30 minutes, and the views across and around the channel are lovely. Once landed, we disembark the boat and wait for Steve to collect us at the roadside in the truck before we head onwards for Mwanza. 

Crossing the channel from Busisi to Kigongo, Tanzania

A couple of hours later and we’re there, first stopping in town to change some money at a bank and do some food shopping, and then on to our campsite, Tunza Lodge, at a beach right on the shores of Lake Victoria. Sara and I set up our tent to look straight out onto the lake and spend a little time enjoying being on the beachfront before we have to report in for cooking duties. Of all places, this is the single most scenic place we’ve had to cook so far and it makes the chore a lot more enjoyable. 

The A Team on cooking duty on the beaches in Mwanza, Tanzania. Photo credit @ryan_t95 (on Rich’s camera)

Sunset over Lake Victoria in Mwanza, Tanzania

After tea, we sit on the beach in the half-light for a while, drinking box wine and listening to music (including a rendition of Do You Hear The People Sing from Les Miserables by Rich and Sam) until deciding its time for sleep. 

Nash briefs us on the next day in Mwanza, Tanzania. Photo credit: @jam.ila www.preparefortake-off.com

Day 25

This morning we pack up our tents and head back into Mwanza to get some more groceries and local SIM cards before heading onwards. It’s a drive day and there’s little of note other than that Nash solves the question of what the truly beautiful bug that landed on Sara during a comfort stop at the side of the road yesterday was: the answer is the Picasso bug. 

The Picasso bug on Sara’s leg

We arrive at our campsite, Temben Mara Camp, at the base of the Balili Hills surrounded by cool volcanic rock formations and some more baboons. 

A bush stop en route to Mwanza, Tanzania

We’ve been on the move so much recently that there isn’t really time to do anything more than some laundry and a shower before dinner. We go to the bar to use the WiFi for a short while and then head for bed. 

Day 26

We are up at an ungodly hour today, ironically because of the church bells at 4am signalling the early services beginning soon, and after breakfast set our course for the Serengeti! 

The morning drive is uneventful and we stop in a town for another local lunch, which Nash gets off the truck to order for us. While we’re waiting for the food to be ready, a man Emily calls “the local nutter” starts putting on what we assume was meant to be a martial arts show at the side of the road. Partway through at the end of what we decide must be Act 1, he goes to change his outfit for Act 2. He’s clearly hoping for an audience and, some of us film the show and take photographs. Despite the fact he knew that people were filming, he continues without concern, and once finished comes over the road, climbs into our truck, and threatens that the police will be called because we didn’t ask permission to film him. It’s clearly an attempt at being paid off for not calling the police, so Nash tells him to get off our truck as he didn’t ask permission to come aboard either. The nutter then goes to change costume for a second time and we see him a little later looking very respectable in chinos and a button up shirt. It’s genuinely bizarre. 

Anyway lunch comes and it’s more chips mayai for me and Sara (and most of the truck!) before we head off again. The drive takes us through the Grumeti Reserve and a Batwa village before we arrive at the Serengeti and check into the park for the afternoon. 

A group photo taken just after the nutter left!

We have a game drive this afternoon, but this time in the big yellow truck, and Nash tells us that there are five biomes in the Serengeti: savannah, grassland, riverine forest, woodlands, and kopje (rocky outcrops), and our drive is within the grassland and savannah biomes. 

Us at the entrance to the Serengeti, Tanzania

Along the way, we see sausage trees. The fruits are not for human consumption: elephants can draw water from them, and the tree has red flowers which drop to the ground for impala to eat. This means leopards like to hang out in the trees to have a good shot at the impala eating the flowers. 

The sausage tree, taken in the Serengeti, Tanzania

During the drive we see antelope, zebra, eland, topi, superb starlings, marabou storks, eagles, grant gazelle, warthogs, giraffes, elephants, lions (with darker manes, which means that they’re older), Cape buffalo, hornbills (Zazu!!), dikdik (the teeny tiny antelope with big eyes), hippo, buffalo weavers, and crocodiles. 

At one point, we see a couple of cheetah which are weirdly popular and there’s a huge queue of vehicles vying to see them. We learn later that cheetah are rare in the Serengeti hence the number of cars there. Our frame of reference for cheetah is the Maasai Mara where we saw them many times with ease. The cheetah here are pretty relaxed, until a giraffe wanders a bit too close and the cheetah start stalking it. The giraffe clocks what’s happening pretty quickly and takes off at a run, and the cheetah go back to lounging in the grass. It’s the first semblance of a chase we’ve seen, even although no actual chase takes place, and it reminds everyone that we hope to see more at some point. 

A surprising jostle of trucks to see the cheetah in the Serengeti, Tanzania

We head to the visitor centre to check those of us doing a hot air balloon Safari tomorrow in. From our group, it’s me, Sara, Ryan, Taylor, Abebe and Mandy, and Trina and Carlo both take a spontaneous decision to come too and sign up at the visitor centre. 

An adorable rock hyrax in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Outside the centre are dozens of rock hyrax lounging in the sun as well as some black faced vervet monkeys. The monkeys are known as the blue ball monkeys for obvious reasons…!

A black-faced vervet monkey, aka blue ball monkey, in the Serengeti, Tanzania

After checking in, we head to our campsite, Seronera camp, which is in the middle of the Serengeti with no fences and no security of any sort to protect us from the animals. As dark falls, calls go up that there are hyena in camp, and we venture out to see them walking past. There are a few but not many, and enough of us for them not to consider us a target. 

Sara and I head over to our tent to get a few things and when Sara enters the tent, I scan around with my torch to make sure there’s nothing around that might pose a threat. As I scan, my torch picks up two red eyes around 15m away behind the tents. “Uh, Sara … I can see red prowling eyes over there”. She asks if I want to get into the tent and after a moment’s pause I realise that I definitely do and clamber in as quickly as possible. Stefan and Jamila are in the next tent and after a short time has passed we agree there’s safety in numbers and venture out of our tents to walk back to the cooking area together. I ask Nash what animals have red eyes - was it a lion or something? No, says Nash; red eyes are probably from a deer as cats have green eyes in the light. Phew!

Bush camping in the Serengeti, Tanzania

After dinner, we go to have an early bed as we’re up at 4 for the hot air balloon tomorrow. Sara, Emily and I go to the toilets, checking all around for animals on the way, and moments after we’re indoors the skies open and it begins to tip down. We, unfortunately, do not have our waterproofs with us, and after waiting a short period to see if it’ll stop (it doesn’t) decide to make a run for it to our tents. I get there first and, mindful of Sara getting wet, unzip only the vertical zip and then somehow dive headfirst into the tent. Neither Sara nor I is quite sure how I managed it!

I fell asleep immediately and sleep well. Sara sleeps terribly. The reason for including this is that Sara is therefore awake and hears hyenas cackling and lions roaring in our campsite in the night. I, however, sleep right through it all, which is a bit disappointing!

Day 27

We wake and get ready in the tent and are ready to get out at around 4.30am. Early morning is prime hunting time for predators so we obviously have to be very careful. We tentatively get out of the tent and can hear a sort of loud panting / breathing nearby but can’t see anything. The panting passes and we decide it’s all fine so start to head to the truck. “Did you hear the lion passing through the camp just there,” asks Ryan? Apparently yes. 

The car picks us up just after 5am to drive us to the launch site. On the drive, the driver has to stop suddenly when a hippo steps out of the savannah to cross the road just in front of us. We then stop again for two jackals sitting in the road a little further down. 

We eventually we arrive at the launch site where four or five balloons are set out ready to be inflated. The sun rises as we’re given our briefing by Farrel, our America balloon pilot, and split into four groups of four to sit together in each of the balloon’s compartments. 

Our balloon inflates in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

Our balloon is then cold inflated, and Farrel instructs us to get into our compartments in the basket, which is currently on its side. The balloon, which is 110ft tall, the size of a 10 story building, will then have the hot air added to bring the basket upright and send us into the air. 

Ready for take-off at our balloon ride in the Serengeti, Tanzania

Within a few minutes, we’re off, and we’re all surprised to find that we don’t rise high into the air but instead fly low to the ground, so low at points that the basket skims the tips of the long grass. 

The silence of the early morning savannah is interrupted only by the occasional spurt of fire to heat the balloon and the narrative by Farrel about the savannah. We learn that Serengeti means “endless plain” and from the balloon, particularly when we do rise much higher in the air, we can see that to be true: the park stretches on indefinitely in an endless stretch of green. 

Our view of another balloon flying low over the Serengeti, Tanzania

We’re higher in the air for the hippo pools where we see first a couple of hippos from above, and then later, much higher, dozens and dozens of them. Farrel estimates there are around 40 - 60 below us, large dots in the river below. From above we can also clearly see the hippo trails which aren’t visible at all from a safari vehicle at ground level. 

A Kingfisher and a hippo from above, Serengeti, Tanzania

Ballooning in the Serengeti, Tanzania

About 20mins in, I start to feel very unwell, and it quickly becomes apparent that I urgently need to get out of the balloon. Sara asks Farrel what we can do and he tells us it’s usually impossible to land the balloon but in view of our current height he can do so for a few minutes. We land in a patch of long grass and I leap out, followed quickly by Sara, to head to a hump of ground a very short distance away. I assume Farrel checked for predators as we were landing, but the presence of lions and leopards was very secondary to the immediate concern in that moment. Fortunately none were around and Sara and I were back in the balloon a few minutes later safely, me feeling very much better and grateful to Farrel for making the unscheduled landing. 

Over the course of the balloon ride we saw elephants and buffalo in the far distance, reedbuk, a tower (the collective noun) of giraffe, hartebeest, spring hare (also known as the Serengeti kangaroo), and a dazzle of zebras. 

Farrel was hilarious throughout. “Are we going to go higher?” asked a passenger early on. “No, I’m scared of heights,” the hot air balloon pilot replies deadpan. “How much gas is left in the canisters?” another passenger asks while we’re at height. “We have about 5 minutes left,” Farrel replies with a twinkle in his eye. 

All too soon we’re coming into the landing site known as Bowling Alley for its apparently bumpy landings. Ahead and directly in our path are a few zebras, and as we descend and it’s clear we’re on course to hit them, Sara jokes that she didn’t realise it’s called Bowling Alley because we’re the bowl and zebras would be the pins!

Zebra-shaped bowling pins, the Serengeti, Tanzania

We’re instructed to sit and brace for landing and expect a bumpy one. Farrel however brings it in smoothly with only one bump as we hit the road (not the zebras, thankfully), and the basket slowly tips backward as the balloon deflates. 

Happy faces post-balloon flight, Serengeti, Tanzania

It’s been a wonderful experience (illness notwithstanding) and we’re greeted with glasses of cold champagne which we learn is traditional for hot air balloon rides and has been since the very first one in the 18th century. 

Farrel toasting our balloon successes, Serengeti, Tanzania

Serengeti champagne (actually South African sparkling) after the balloon flight in the Serengeti

Our driver, Steven, who’s Maasai (note: not to be confused with our truck driver Steve who’s half Maasai), then takes us to the breakfast site. On the way there, we see a troop of baboons in a tree, half see a leopard in a tree, and from a distance see a lioness in a tree. We get on very well with Steven and he helpfully tells us how to distinguish between male and female zebras: male zebras are apparently white with black stripes and female zebras are black with white stripes. Obviously. 

Breakfast is the most decadent experience we’ve had since arriving. Two long tables are set up under a flat-topped acacia tree in the middle of the savannah, with various servers in uniforms to pour warm water for us to wash our hands, bring us fruit and coffee, pour our champagne etc, as well as serve us a “full English breakfast” of bacon bits, scrambly eggs, beans, sausage and fried potato chunks. There’s also a “loo with a view” set up down the hill, with a tent to shelter us from the dining area and an open view over the Serengeti to the front as you use the facilities. 

Champagne breakfast under an Acacia tree in the Serengeti after our hot air balloon ride

We eat and drink our fill and are each presented with a certificate commemorating our balloon ride before it’s back in the 4x4s to return to the visitor centre where we meet everyone else on the truck. We then set off on a morning game drive and Steve (our truck driver, not the 4x4 driver), legend that he is, takes us to see the lioness in a tree much closer up than we were able to see before breakfast. 

Just a lion in a tree, no biggy - Serengeti, Tanzania

Over the course of the drive, we see a school of hippos with a teeny tiny baby hipp(o), lots of hartebeest, ostriches, and topi. 

Later, as we drive, Steve passes a road to the right then stops, reverses, and turns down it. We assume the satnav has made an error, but Steve is driving much more slowly down the road than before. Some distance down, we realise it’s because his bush eyes spotted two lionesses in the far distance. We watch them for a short period and then all of a sudden one of the lionesses gives chase and catches and kills a bat eared fox which it carries in its mouth for a while. Nash tells us it won’t eat the fox, the lioness is simply reducing the competition from other predators. 

A lioness with a bat eared fox it killed in the Serengeti, Tanzania

We stop for lunch at Nabi Gate where we check out of the Serengeti and into the Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area. We decide to try a local soft drink called Stoney Tangawizi which we’ve seen advertised everywhere since Kenya. Given our previous experiences with local soft drinks being undrinkably terrible (Kinnie in Malta, for example), we have few expectations here but are delighted to find it’s ginger beer and really very good! 

After lunch, we drive past the gate into our final stretch of Serengeti (there’s another gate further up which is the official exit from the park). About 15mins after we set off, I have a sudden recurrence of feeling very unwell out of nowhere. It’s illegal to stop in the parks but there’s no option for me except to do so, and Nash and Steve make sure we stop in an area with lots of zebras and wildebeest so that I’m much less of a target if there’s a predator around than if we were to stop somewhere with no prey animals and therefore would be the only meal around for a hungry lioness or pack of hyenas. Nash gives Sara his Maasai blanket to help protect my privacy which is hugely appreciated, and again a few minutes later everything is much better and I’m back on the truck. Luckily no rangers come along while we’re out of the truck, but you’d hope they’d be understanding given the circumstances if they had found us. 

Back on the road again and we’re overwhelmed by the number of wildebeest and zebra we see. During the main game drives in the central park areas we saw very few zebra and wildebeest, apparently because they’re all here, and there are hundreds upon hundreds of them on the plains on either side of the road. We also see lots of hyena lounging by pools of water near the roadside, presumably waiting for the right time to strike the prey animals in the immediate vicinity. 

Wildebeest grazing under the casual gaze of a hyena, Serengeti, Tanzania

As we enter the Ngorogoro Conservation Area, the landscape changes into hilly and then mountainous terrain populated by Maasai villages with villagers and children who wave as we pass. We slowly climb up to the rim of the crater to Simba Camp where we’re staying for the night. 

The camp is busy, but as night falls it becomes clear that humans are not the only inhabitants. Shortly after dusk, Nash comes over to the group and tells us that there are cape buffalo in the camp and, as is now becoming the norm, we have to be extremely careful not to be charged and injured / trampled by the animals. We turn and shine our light towards our tents and see the silhouettes and shining eyes of multiple grazing buffalo close by. It’s a new animal to be worried about but in numbers by the truck we’ll be fine. 

Cape buffalo by our tents in Ngorogoro Crater Conservation Area, Tanzania. Photo credit: @jam.ila www.preparefortake-off.com

Just before tea, Sara and I head across the field to the ladies’ loos, carefully avoiding the buffalo. However, a few minutes later when we’re leaving, there are more buffalo, including one mother and her very young calf, and they’ve moved between us and the truck and we’ve no clear path back to safety. We decide the safest thing is to navigate tent to tent, checking all directions before moving, and staying well away from the calf. Partway over the field though we realise we’re surrounded by buffalo with no obvious path out. I start to send a plea for help to the group WhatsApp but fortunately at just that moment Nash notices that we’re not at dinner and shouts for us. “We’re surrounded by buffalo! Help?!” we yell, and Nash, our fearless hero, sets straight out in the direction of our headlights to rescue us and accompany us back to the truck! 

After dinner, we hear the sound of an elephant trumpet and learn that there’s a bush elephant by the ladies’ loos on the other side of camp. A short while later, Sara, Trina and I decide to head that way to see if we can see the elephant from a distance but there’s no sign of the elephant or anyone watching it when we get there. We use the loos in disappointment but by the time we step out of the building the elephant has returned and is standing not more than 5m from the exit to the ladies. It’s a bit of a shock stepping out the door to be confronted by a giant bush elephant right in front of you, let me tell you! We stand still and the elephant moves slowly away, eating leaves from the nearby trees and bushes, until it’s out of sight. Exhilarated we move back to our campsite to tell of our experience to those still awake. 

The elephant outside the ladies’, Ngorogoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

We sit around the fire box with Nash, Trina, Ted, and Miryam for a little while before tentatively making our way over the field to our tent for bed, carefully checking in all directions for buffalo along the way. 

In the night, I again sleep through all animal noises. Sara reports in the morning that buffalo were grazing right beside her side of the tent in the night and the sound of chomping was so loud that it was difficult to believe they were just eating normal grass. Again, I’m disappointed to miss out on the experience, although happy to have slept well!

Day 28

It’s New Year’s Eve! We’re up well before dawn to have breakfast and pack up tents before being picked up by 4x4s for a morning game drive in the Ngorogoro Crater. Sara and I are with Emily, Ryan, Taylor and Trina with our guide called Frank. Nash and Steve will meet us at lunch in a town about 15km away where the 4x4s will drop us after the drive. 

We head down from our camp to the entrance gate to the crater and check in at the gate before descending into the crater itself. It’s impossible to guess the scale of the park from the rim, but Frank tells us it’s around 260 square kilometres and as we descend we can see better how far the land stretches ahead before the side of the crater rises again. 

We’re immediately overwhelmed by the number of zebra and wildebeest, and in the largest groupings to date. We see lots of baby zebras in particular, some Frank estimates are maybe 3 weeks old, and plenty of pregnant zebras too who must be due to give birth any time. We also see a couple of instances of a few lions in the long grass, two of which are enjoying the sun by the side of the road entirely unconcerned by our presence. I assume they’d just eaten and were in food bliss. 

Our 4x4 in the Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania

As we drive along the road nearest the lake, we see dozens and dozens of flamingo, way more then we saw at Lake Nakuru, and these ones are pink rather than white! We can’t get very close as the road doesn’t go by the lakeside and it’s illegal to off-road, but as we drive the lakeside horizon fills with flamingos and it’s quite a sight!

Flamingoes in the lake in Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania

Frank tells us he’s just heard on the radio that there’s a group of 7 black rhino some distance away and we’re all excited to see them as the only other black rhino we saw was solitary and a few weeks ago in the Maasai Mara. Black rhino are also notoriously grumpy and usually found alone, so to see a group is something special and new. However, after driving for a while to see them, we’re disappointed to find that they’re far from the road, just specks in the distance, and only really distinguishable as rhino with high power binoculars. I guess it’s still cool to see them but I think we’ve been spoiled with a lot of instances of animals, including white rhino, being very close up and now have unreasonable expectations of how close we’ll be able to be. 

Us at the Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania

Over the course of the drive we see a African fish eagle, hippos, lots of grant gazelle, buffalo (of the type that terrorised us last night), social weavers, crowned cranes, pumbas, eland, Thompson’s gazelle, secretary birds, spoonbills, jackals, ibis, elephants, and waterbuck. We also are treated (?) to a mating display by a couple of ostriches, from mating dance through to the slightly disturbing act itself, which ends our time in the Ngorogoro crater with a bang (props to Abebe for the joke). 

The mating dance of the ostriches, Serengeti, Tanzania

We drive in the 4x4s to the town and meet up with Nash, Steve and Pluto (the truck). Nash has pre-ordered our lunches and Sara and I tuck into fish and chips, which is a full fried fish and not a british style fillet. It’s okay, nice for different, and more satisfying than I’d have anticipated. 

Me spoiling (or enhancing!) Myriam’s pano of Ngorogoro Crater, Tanzania

After lunch we’re back in the truck and drive to Arusha about 140km away. We stop at a supermarket with a crafts shop next door, and Sara and I buy our ornament for the travel tree, a small Maasai hut on a string 

After the shopping is done, we head to Maasai Camp where we’re staying for the night. When we arrive we find that upgrades are available and for only $11 total for the two of us, so we decide to take one as it’s New Year’s Eve.  

Also at the camp is another Absolute Africa truck, Tokoloshe, with which we’ll be travelling for a couple of days until the remaining passengers from that truck join ours. Their tour leader, Johannes, used to be a cook and has done all of their cooking so far and has kindly done a barbecue for both trucks for the night. I say barbecue but mean has barbecued some chicken which is served with a weird guacamole type thing and some mash. The food’s okay - nothing special - but it’s nice not to have to cook again!

After dinner, we crack out the box wine and Trina’s game, Skip-Bo, which Sara and I have at home but haven’t really played (because apparently I didn’t really like it the one time we tried it). We spend the evening playing the game with Taylor, Ryan and Trina with a couple of glasses of wine, and when it’s time for the bells we get up to see the fireworks through the trees. It’s a perfect way to spend New Years in our view and when we eventually go to bed we both sleep like logs without moving for the entire night!