Sasakwa Hill Lodge Serengeti National Park

... leopards, always alone, always atop-tree....I just wish I'd been able to see their beautiful face more. We had a simply fantastic morning game drive, with Michael's awesome eye and my 18x optical zoom....I think I may have some good mementos. Again, the photos will tell.<br><br>Back to camp, a fantastic quiche brunch later we made tracks for Ngorongoro Crater back along the track we came, with a pit stop for our last Kilimanjaro beer and a wager between myself and ...

... and feeling like I had been jolted when I looked up to see a carpet of stars above me. It was incredible and they felt so close, so large. I was in awe. The toilets of course were squat toilets and reeked. It was almost preferable to go behind the bathroom then in it. That is until you remembered that lions hunt at night and they could be hunting anywhere. I hurried back to the cage and grabbed Gabe out ...

DAY SEVEN (Thursday, September 10, 2009)<br><br>Red Letter Day.<br><br>Breakfast buffet was tasty, and fortified us for six hours of game driving. We went out with Pat and Ann Cashin of Marco Island, with driver/guide Jacob.<br><br>We started out spotting some of the usual fare &#8230; warthogs, Cape buffalo, giraffes, zebras. Amazing how accustomed you can become to having such animals around you. Sometimes you even fail to call one out to the ...

... this year but last year was even worse. We note many safari jeeps with only 2 or 3 people in them.<br><br> We had some wonderful entertainment before dinner provided by some of the people working at the camp. It was sort a combination of ska and calypso styles, very upbeat and fast paced (a real Caribbean feel to it). <br><br> A light rain started to dampen the slick rock walkway so we decided to call it a night and have the security guard escort us to ...

... flat and vast quite different from the Maasai Mara park which was more hilly and had more vegetation. We passed through the park gates and saw why the trip cost so much as entry fees and camp fees were US $180 each person before we even factored in food and transport. We drove through the park for about an hour before we came to the came to the top of the crater for a surreal view of the crater floor where we go in 2 days time as we would cross it at the top and ...

... Because of the limited space inside the crater wildlife is fairly concentrated and can be seen in all directions. Here we saw wildebeeste, elephants, zebras, a few lions, one cheetah, buffalo, ostrich, flamingos, baboons, and a couple of rhinoceros but they were too far to see very well and you can't drive off the track. The Ngorongora Crater sits in the Olduvai Gorge where ...

... warm within a few minutes and I had to get out before it became totally cold. The buffet-style food was decent but we scoffed at the 10,000 Tsh corkage fee for charged for opening our own bottle of wine. The highlight of the hotel was the lounge, which was build around large kopje rocks and had stylish, roomy, and comfortable leather sofas. We recounted the highlights of the day over wine before calling it ...

... muddy pool. It was full of Hippo that were as usual very inactive. Then we spotted one ashore, as he entered the pool he caused a huge uproar. A fight ensued and we managed to get some great photos of their huge mouths and boisterous behaviour. Seeing their teeth it was clear why their skin needed to be over 5cm deep is some areas. This wasnt all we saw and as the morning unfolded we saw many Wildebeest with their young and a few without! We also ...

... of elephants walked right passed our jeep. We even caught sight of a lion, though it was pretty far away chilling under some bushes. When it began to get late we headed back to the camp site and had some dinner. After dinner we played cards. So began a series of the most painful card games I have ever played. We attempted to play 'Scum' and 'Last(i) Card(i)', though we discovered that Steve our driver was not the sharpest tool in the shed and could not get his head around any of the ...

... Afterwards we were lucky enough to see a leopard in the tree just lying there resting, Leopards are such beautiful animals. After doing a morning of safari we packed up our tents and headed to the crater. <br><br>The next morning we woke up again to see the sunrise, not as impressive as the day before but still good. We then headed down into the crater which is amazing. We were lucky to see a cheeter although in the long grass and the beautiful flamingos on the lake. The ...