The wonders of the Serengeti

The dawn broke beautifully across the savanna and graced us with a gentle palate of colours and bird song. 

It seemed like a blink of an eye, but we were off and running after a good breakfast. The staff at Simba camp wished us a good safari and were particularly interested in saying good-bye to Teddy. He was quite popular, unsurprisingly. The plan was to spend the morning in the Serengeti and then head over towards Ndutu Lake in the afternoon. Simba Camp is aptly named as simba is Swahili for lion. As we fell asleep the night before, we could hear the lions' rumbles in the nearby bush. We probably should have been frightened with apex predators that close, but it was strangely soothing. 

As we zipped up the Swala (Swahili for Impala) tent, bags in hand, we found ourselves wishing that we could stay another night, but it was not to be, the safari jeep called and adventure awaited.

We went on our wildlife drive and it was beautiful. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. Here it is:

Up close and personal

 

Herd of elephants

Herd of giraffe

Marshlands and savana

Hippo wallow

Look at that tusk!

Not sure what he is except pretty!

Warthog or pumba in Swahili

Warthog aka Serengeti Express

 

I wish I had video of warthogs running. Look it up. They're really quite dainty for such heavy topped animals. When they run, their tail is always up, like a tour guide with  a flag.

Herd of Wildebeest & their calves

Nom nom nom

Chillin' with a cheetah

Lioness looking coy

Herd of impalas or antelope

Some sort of sand piper

Our first land hippo

Flamingo looking fabulous

And at the end of the day, we arrived at Serengeti Bush Camps Ndutu camp, where we would be spending four nights

A bonded pair of Dik-Diks near our camp

 

This guy saying hello before we enter
the camping zone.

Our tent unit in English and Swahili

View from our tent

Maribu storks making our camp home

Front porch...it really is a tent.

Our home away from home

We decided to wash off the dust and found the water to be very slippery. (We had been warned, but didn't completely understand.) The water comes from the nearby alkaline lake which is very salt heavy, which makes the water feel like soap that no amount of rinsing could diminish. Obviously, the day had been full and we enjoyed dinner and a glass of wine, before settling down for the night. Tomorrow would be our 30th anniversary and we hoped for a great day. Next up: discovering Ndutu National Park.