Sunday 22nd June, 2014
Left lodge at 8 am this morning and back at 6 pm...another long day of being in the vehicle all day and being thrown around...also our pop top up all day for viewing the animals so one has a permanent look of a scare crow! We went on an animal hunt until 1 pm and then we stopped at a picnic area to have our box lunches which were dreadful considering the good food this lodge produces and we have just learned it's box lunches again tomorrow! The Serengeti Park is 14,673 sq kms...the land size of Ireland they tell us...it is vast open plains of long grass and great for the lions to hide in and wet areas and water holes..lots of trees and shrubs....some oasis areas with palm trees growing and of course this is where the hippos are and there were lots of them....lots of elephants, giraffes and hundreds and hundreds of wilder beast and zebra all on their migration....but for us the Serengeti has been about the lions and today there was a giant puddle on the road and here was a whole pride of lions drinking water....we stayed with them for a while as they weren't going to move for anyone...eventually there were so many vehicles there that the lions wandered off into the grass...the traffic jams and dust have been horrendous today...we would hate to be here in the high season which starts next month....just too many vehicles.....then later we came across a big male lion and a female that wanted him to play...we watched them for a while but the male was real grumpy and he didn't want any part of the female today...we had to cross water several times today and oh the smell..the hippos and elephants have surely left many deposits there but oh the smells!! The Serengeti is vast and we have been driving in it all day on the goat track roads and many times going off road but if you want to see the animals, this is what you have to do...the only animal eluding us is the leopard and coming back to the lodge tonight we stopped as word was out there was one in the area but we couldn't see it and we had all had enough and just wanted to get back to the lodge to put our bodies together again!  My bottom left the seat many times again today!  The drivers all talk on their radios in Swaheli and you get tired of that too as you never know what is going on....Dafar, our driver/guide is pretty useless after our Joseph in Kenya who was marvellous...reflecting back on our lunch spot today, they also had an interesting walk around the place with boards giving all sorts of info on the Serengeti and the boulder outcrops that I mentioned yesterday, they say are some of the oldest rocks on earth in that they are over 2.5 billion years old.....on the goat track roads tomorrow for more African massage but it has been nice to have the same bed for 2 nights...M & F