And a few other animals and birds we saw today on our first game drive in Serengeti

I could hardly believe all the sightings of Lions today. I believe there were 5 groups of 3 or more!

Next we saw a family of 3 females, 2 young brothers, and 9 cubs from probably all 3 moms.

Soon they started to walk along the road

The vehicle parked a bit ahead of them and as they passed, they laid down in the shade. Right under Emmett’s window!

Then the largest female, the matriarch, did the same thing!

We traveled a bit farther and saw 2 sets of 3 lions

We also saw several gorgeous birds and a couple animals

We were out about 5 hours, and the sightings were spectacular! There are very few cars compared to Masai, and there are more cats! And our camp is more rustic, but very modern!

We have had a long day of driving, visiting the masai village,   crossing the border,  meeting our new driver Casey, and arriving at our tent camp! The distance from our last lodging and the new one is really short!

But the official border crossing took much longer.   It was 4 hours to the border plus a short stop at the village

No pictures at the border,  but a long 4 hour drive still

This is the first of our 2 eco tent camps,  Sereni AngA’ta camp,  in the center of Serengeti

Out tent lodging

Our views

Bert with our guides, Casey and Antony

On our way to Tanzania, we visited a typical Masai village,  living in the traditional type of society they have continued for centuries

Men are leaders in this culture,  and women are the caretakers.    The chief’s son was our guide and spoke quite good English.   The children now have mandated education and so they don’t have to walk the 8 km to the school,  the 5 local villages have built a school.   Our Monetary gift to visit is used for the schooling and community.

The Men demonstrated lighting a fire with 2 pieces of wood, 1 hard and 1 soft, and a bundle of dried grass.

They also danced for us, demonstrating their jumping skill. After we tours the village, the women also sang for us.

We brought some gifts for the children and some colored pencils and pens for the school and a small gift for the women.

We traveling into the Masai Mara Triangle to see more of the herd of wildebeest or Gnu on the migration.   The grasses are green enough however so none were crossing the river.   The only disappointment of the trip is that the animals weren’t crossing while we were near the Mara River

You can not explain the scope of the scene .  It’s impossible to capture the expanse of the animals,  but here is a panorama from our vehicle

Saw other animals in the Triangle too.  Zebra and some antelop also migrate.  We saw beautiful family of elephants and several birds

Some water lilies and birds

Amazing! They said thanks for the long stay! We were here 4 nights!

One of those experiences that you can’t put into words! 

The view from above is spectacular

After skimming the plains and flying high,  we landed, celebrated surviving, thanked the team, and enjoyed a champagne bush breakfast

Defined years ago as the 5 most dangerous in Africa, the 5 that you must kill on the first shot or they will hunt you!

Early safari gets the cats!

Our quest for the day and our 5th of the big 5

Serendipitous sightings are wonderful. These 2 brother Cheetahs were resting, then went after a topi, an antelop, but missed

We didn’t video the sprint, they are quite fast! But it was spectacular to watch.

Alas…. another miss

And this young male lion was just chilling

And costumes