I slept really well last night - I went to bed about 9:00pm and read for a little while, woke up once in the night and took a little while to go back to sleep at 2:30am but then slept until about 6:45am - bonus! Jay had a good sleep too, he slept through until about 5:30am and said that he heard Elephants close by, not directly behind out tent but behind the tents behind our tent.
We aren't meeting Abraham until 9:00am this morning so we decided to meet for breakfast at 8:00am which gave me time to read a little bit, answer emails and catch up in the morning. I had a shower in the outdoor shower, which I think is also a first for me - we had an outdoor shower in the Maldives but I used the inside one.
We had laundry done yesterday, it was $1 per item so we just washed everything that we've worn - $23 and everything we have is now clean. I packed REALLY light - we all came in a carry-on luggage and a 2nd bag but I know I could pack even lighter - like 3-4 days worth of clothes next time and then I might not even need the 2nd bag. I bought a travel CPAP before my Mom and I went to England this past summer and so the unit is really small, about the size of a toiletries case (in fact that's what I'm using) including the hose and mask - that's my biggest item needed to pack, along with my jacket (which is a MUST) and sandals on top of the hiking shoes that I wore to travel. But, I could have gotten away with 3 tank tops and a T-Shirt, 2 shorts and 2 pants, 2 long sleeve medium weight and 1 long sleeve UV light weight and that's it. When we come back I'll come back to refer to this list!! I didn't bring THAT much extra, I have 4 tanks, 4 T-Shirts, 3 shorts, 3 pants, 2 medium weight sweaters and 1 light weight UV shirt and then my bathing suit and a cover up (which I would also bring again because I think I'll use it at this hotel, the pool area is really nice) and a belt.
Before breakfast we got our picture taken again, we're all dressed for the longer drive today (9am to about 3pm) to Central Serengeti.
Breakfast I had an Omelet with 2 eggs, carrot, cheese, peppers, tomatoes, hot chili peppers and onions. Rather than toast I had it with a crepe and just broke of bits of the crepe and scooped the omelet into it. Then we made a take away lunch for later, mine included a little rice, some stir fry chicken, a pc of curry chicken thigh and then I added extra shredded carrot and onion (which were meant for the sandwich options but I added it to my bowl). I didn't pack anything else but Jay and my Mom both got a yogurt and a water to take as well.
As we were eating breakfast Jay told Mom about seeing the Elephants (strange noises didn't alarm her last night) and he said "if you were in the outdoor shower you could see the Elephants they were that close". I told them "I can't see over that thing" (meaning the wall surrounding the shower for privacy) and Jay said "What can I say, not all of us are genetically gifted". lol
We went back to the room to finish the last of the packing up, grab our bags and go and meet Abraham at little early, 8:30am. We said to one of the Porters "we're a little early so if he's not there we will just leave our bags by the car" and he said "We want you to stay so we tell him to Hide!" I think I already mentioned all the staff here are fantastic, but they really are - everywhere we have been.
Our drive is always off to a quick start. Right away we see a large Giraffe and then we see the group of Elephants from yesterday (likely) but there were a total of 17 of them! The baby Abraham says is less than a year old.
Jay started his Strava when we were looking for a lion that someone said they had seen but we didn't find it. But you can see that Abraham kind of loops around and through the area to try to spot it.
But, a little later we did find a male and 2 female lions in the long vegetation and this is the only picture I could get!
It's hard to tell, but this is Ngorogoro Crater in the distance, before the volcano collapsed it was another 1,000M tall.
That also shows you how far the Plains extend because it's flat flat all the way to there.
When we entered the Serengeti Park we stopped to use the bathroom. To this point every bathroom has had full toilets (maybe one stall with just a porcelain hole in the floor) and toilet paper readily available. This one had full toilets but no paper in ANY of the 20 stalls (I'm sure you're supposed to buy it from an attendant but there was no attendant in sight) so Mom went back to the car to get toilet paper she had brought for just such an occasion. As I was waiting outside a mother, daughter and grandmother entered the washroom and I said "there's no paper, if you need some you'll have to bring some" and the mother said "is there a hose?". Now, in Canada we don't often use a bidet and here there is usually just a hose with a spray nozzle beside the toilet so I said "I'm not sure, I didn't check for a hose". She went in and then poked her head back out at me and said "It's ok, there is a hose" like that was going to encourage me to go ahead and use the bathroom because I could spray my you know what off with a sprayer - I'd be more f*in wet than if I just went to the bathroom and drip dried. So I waited for the tissue and went pee without the extra drama of a hose gone wrong.
As we were driving these mounds started popping up everywhere so I asked what they were. They're termite mounds and they show up here, further into the Serengeti, because the soil is deeper and they have room to excavate.
A lot of times when we are driving Jay and I are standing up in the first back seat row with our heads out the top of the vehicle. And every time I'm taking photos I am. Many, many times we have commented during the last few days that 4 people would be the max you would want in any given car - there are 3 rows of 2 but the 3rd row is very tight (I wouldn't even put the girls back there) and has limited ability to stand up tall. If we ever came back with more people we would definitely split into multiple vehicles to make sure it wasn't too crowded. The best seats are the front two seats, thankfully Mom is happy in the middle row but if we came with the girls we'd be a rotating side show (with some arguments and compromises I'm sure!). Mom just commented, 5 mins ago, that we haven't seen any cars - it makes sense, every vehicle is a Land Cruiser (95%+), some pick up trucks and I saw one Ford SUV, but cars weren't made for these bumpy, rutted roads (sometimes with big puddles or small water to cross on the road). 5 minutes later...
As we were passing over a culvert Abraham stopped and backed up - eagle eye Guide again! Can you spot it?
This is what is inside:
Abraham said within the Central Serengeti area here are 200 mobile camps and 20 lodges. Four Seasons is Black Chariot he said which we figured means it's like the gold standard, 5 stars.
As we continued into the Central Serengeti area there started to be outcroppings of rocks, which he called Koptes which has Greek origin meaning island. They're made of Granite and may house lizards, lions and pythons.
There are a number of different Stork here and we have seen a few. This one is a Saddlebill Stork but we've also seen White Stork.
As we continued driving we saw a young male lion, Abraham estimates 5-7yrs who has likely been pushed out of the pride. He would be a solitary nomadic male. Jay asked if he would find another Pride and Abraham said that he may fight at some point and find a female. Hunting would be tough on his own.
We have seen so many animals just near the road. Jay asked if they tend to congregate near the road or if it's just because there are so many. Abraham says it’s just because there are a lot of animals and we are lucky. Sometimes they aren’t near the road.
We find it so amusing that within the middle of the Serengeti on a dirt road that's rutted and bumpy (think concession 8 after the rain) that there is a speed limit sign. Speed is self-regulated with the road conditions.
The next sighting was super cool. There was a truck, maybe 2, pulled over and we saw a cheetah walking. No big deal right, we've seen a few Cheetah now. But Abraham knows the animals behaviour and said "the Cheetah sees something, it's paying attention" so we watched it for a bit and as it walked up to a mound it started to lower itself into a stalking crouch. Then it looked to be laying down and Jay said "Ok" and sat down, but Abraham said "it's still studying something, there is something in that bush". So we waited a few more minutes and the Cheetah proceeded to the bush, slowly not really in a super stalkerish manner and ask soon as it got to the bush a Serval Cat exploded out of the bush and the Cheetah gave chase! It chased it in a big circle and it looked like it had it, within inches and then the Cheetah slowed and gave up. I have an AMAZING video on my instagram of it. So incredible. After that Jay said "so has a Cheetah chasing a Serval Cat upgraded our safari experience to an 8.5/10?" Abraham said yes it has. Jay said "I mean it's no lion chasing a zebra and getting chased by a hippo but it's pretty cool". I sent the video to Kish and he said, again, how lucky we've been with our experiences so far.
The road is SUPER dusty, especially when the jerks from Tanzania Specialists race past you and spit dust in your face (many times they have driven past us going so fast either way, Abraham says they have over 600 trucks on the road and so far every one of the drivers hasn't been courteous in our experience). I'm getting my arm and shoulder workout from rolling the window up and down since I'm on the middle side of the road! That's part of the reason these Land Cruisers last so long in these conditions, they're very basic - rolling windows, I'm not sure if there is AC or not, we've been quite comfortable from a temperature standpoint just having the windows open and top open and taking layers off. I started the day and brought my jacket (I could have put it on but it was just the right side of warm enough that I didn't need it so I gave it to my Mom and she used it like a blanket), I had a long sleeve Lulu sweater and then a sleeveless tanktop and was quite comfortable just removing layers as the day went on.
We were driving and came across a body of water that STANK and there were a bunch of Hippos in it, this is the closest we've been to a Hippo pool and Jay said "You know what I learned today? You don’t want to be downwind of a Hippo pool".
Can you believe that at a random crossroads in the middle of the Serengeti Abraham stopped to talk to a Guide, like he often does driver to driver, and then turns to use and says "This is my brother". Like WTF. How many brothers do you have? "Now there are 3 of us". Wow, and we just happened to come across your brother while he is turning left and we are going straight - that is unreal. What are the chances?!
We went to lunch shortly afterwards and used the bathroom (tissue supplied). This was the lunch I packed earlier.
After lunch we got on the main road and then shortly after got onto a smaller branch off. Up to this point we had been travelling only on the main road. Up in a tree we saw a Leopard (our 3rd now). Abraham said again that they're very elusive and Jay said "You keep using that work, I do not think it means what you think it means". lol, IYKYK. Abraham later said his brother told him he saw it here.
(Caught yawning)
Next we saw some Topi antelope, a Crocodile (which even though we watched him for several minutes float towards a bunch of birds on the short just floated on past very anticlimactically - like we were going to see a Cheetah-Serval chase and a Crocodile attack in one day) and then 14 lions laying under a tree who suddenly realized there were Antelope approaching in the distance so perked up - again, nothing happened and the Lioness went back to sleep.
We learned that Zebras stand criss cross for socialization and to use each tail to swat flies off the other face.
We saw a new Antelope, the Bluejean Antelope because of the markings on their legs.
And finally, we have arrived at the Four Seasons Serengeti which is, as expected, Black Chariot.
Our rooms aren't quite ready, it's 3pm. So we go and sit down by the pool and have a couple of drinks. Jay had a beer, I had a pina colada and then we all had Coke Zero (in the Crater and the Tented Camp they didn't have Coke Zero or Diet Coke so this is a treat).
Even though I've put 60 sunblock on every hour I'm still pink because we're 3 degrees from the freaking equator (and it's hot now, not much breeze here where we have had a breeze everywhere to date). It could also be a bit of windburn because we were in the car for 6 hours today on our travels.
I saw this little guy by the pool and asked a staff what it is. It's a Hyrax, I said "Oh a Tree Hyrax" and he said "yes". Super cute and A LOT of them here.
Then Mom and I saw this bird and she said "can you look up what kind of bird it is?" Like WTF I don't do birds. "I could probably put this picture into ChatGPT and say 'what kind of bird is this'...but I don't care".
Buh - Ird.
Finally our room is ready, it's just before 5pm but it's been nice sitting so it wasn't too bad. The rooms are really nice and have big balconies.
(Free water bottles)
This sign says to make sure you lock your balcony slider because monkeys and baboons could open it to get into your room!
The TV is showing a live feed of the natural water pool beyond the swimming pool so you can see if Elephants are there drinking.Jay has a course to do today - he has to be online from 10am-4pm EST so that's 6pm to midnight here. So he got set up on the wifi and settled himself in the closet, lol - there is a vanity dresser with an outlet and the closet is really quite spacious so he's in there doing his course. It was a paid course for a designation and if he misses a day (which are spread throughout the year) he has to pay again and start all over so missing it wasn't an option.
Mom and I went down to the bar at 6:30pm to have a drink before dinner. This is the way to the main hotel, our rooms are down these raised walkways about 8' off the ground. After dark you have to have an escort take you to your room.
I said to my Mom, looking around, I feel a little under dressed here. I didn't think we needed to bring anything fancy. She looked around and said "well they're not FANCY, she's wearing a dress but it's not a fancy dress". I said "We're Safari and they're Safari Chic". I was wearing a pair of shorts from Marks Work Warehouse and my good Lulu T-Shirt, lol.
The couple we were chatting with had said they just saw Elephants for the first time today, I said "Oh yeah, how long have you been here?" 5 days. 5 Days!? But, to be fair, we haven't seen any Elephants for several hours. lol.
After we finished our snacks Mom and I went up to the restaurant for dinner - here we felt a little more in line there is a mixed bag of dressiness here. The service here is amazing so they greeted us by name and asked if Mr Middleton would be coming for dinner. We said it would be just the two of us. Mom asked me after, because Jay is planning on coming at 9:00pm when he has his break, if I would be coming with him and I made that face (if you know me you know the one) and I was like "No, it will be 9:00pm - are you kidding me?"
I asked if Mom wanted to share a few things so we shared a tomato and mozzarella salad, blue cheese aranchini and a braised beef ragu rigattoni (which was so rich and delicious) which we didn't finish. I asked Deo, our server, for a container and took Jay the extra pasta and the bread which we didn't eat and he ended up having that for his dinner and didn't go to the restaurant. He had a meal about 4pm at the pool, which Mom and I didn't, because he knew he'd be in the course. He had a crispy chicken sandwich with fries, which, surprise surprise, was delicious (I need to find some synonyms for delicious. I looked some up so I'll add them to my repertoire tomorrow). Tonight I'm too tired, it's 10:20pm and I just want to get the blog done and go to bed!
During dinner we were trying to figure out the relationship again between Kish and Aruna (the owner of the tour company, Safarini Africa, we booked through), Jay kept saying that Aruna was Kish's Aunt but then Kish said something on the drive to Gibb's Farm about Aruna's brother being his cousin - and that math ain't mathin'..so I'll have to ask - maybe she's an older cousin so like an "auntie" vs an Aunt.
Anyway - back in the room, finishing up everything, Jay's on his course for another 90 mins and then done.
Tomorrow morning bright and early 7:30am for a drive with Abraham.
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