Day 6- Serengeti

6/24:
We left Ndutu in the morning and drove for about 10 minutes before getting to a beautiful lake. No picture can capture the beauty you find in a place like this, only from a viewers eye can one see the true majesty of a place like this. Going around the small lake you notice the untouched, unparalleled calmness of the water. There was flamingos in the water and a few eagles flying around above. After that we had a long ride through plain flat land as far as the eye can see. Passing through thompson gazelle, ostriches, zebra, and grant gazelles. By the end of the road we were just a few minutes away from the Serengeti border. We got cold drinks and went for a short walk to the top of a big rock and looked out to the horizon across the plains. Once we were cleared we passed through the gate and down another rough and dusty road into the Serengeti. A little ways down the road with no other cars around, we spotted a female lion! We stopped and got some good pictures then before we even noticed 3 cubs came running out from their den and rolled and played around by their mom! By the time another car came all four of them disappeared back into the den which shows how fortunate we were to have been there right when they were outside of their den.

Later on we came across some vehicles grouped up around a tree waiting for the leopard that was there to come back out so we waited for a little then gave up and left. About 30 minutes later we came up to a group of lions sitting in the shade. There was 1 male lion surrounded by 8 females with 1 older cub. Then 3 more cubs came running up, thus waking the male and causing him to growl a bit which gave us a little laugh. After that we saw a leopard from a far, completing our quest for seeing the big five (the most desirable things to see on safari). With more driving we saw more wildebeests, zebras, thompson gazelle, grant gazelle, giraffes, dik diks, baboons, hippos, and even 3 crocodiles that got a baby hippo.

On our way to the choo (ch-oh)(bathroom) we were passed by two cars that were in a big rush. Once we got to the bathroom we found out that two women from Australia had been robbed by two guys with machetes on foot that took off into the trees. After that drama we finally made our way to our raised tent resort.
-Chip