Wild Kingdom!

After a sumptuous buffet breakfast, we piled into the jeeps and set off to find some animals. Saw lots of impalas right away, but very little else for quite a while. Driving around the dusty roads stretched the patience of a few, but all was forgiven as we began seeing animal after animal. Stopped by a hippo pool (they stink) and also saw a cleverly disguised crocodile sunning itself. It's no wonder that unsuspecting prey is easily fooled - they are expert hiders.
Other perfect scenes include the giraffes striding gracefully across the plain to munch on the acacia trees; elephants  meandering through the bush; herds of impala and gazelles in meadows or on plains; the sleepy lions that were completely uninterested and uncaring of the spectators in jeeps.
Then we hit the jackpot. We came across a wildebeast migration. Wildebeast as far as the eye could see all moving puposefully in one general direction. Mixed in were zebra, elephants, gazelles, and even birds soaring overhead. It was reminiscent of the scene from the beginning ofThe Lion King where all of the animals join togetsher to welcome the new cub. It was difficult to know which direction to watch - cameras were clicking madly, trying to capture this amazing scene.
We then headed back to Ngorongoro, seeing colourful Masai along the road either herding cattle or goats, or just striding along, miles away from anything. Strangely, you will often see one in the traditional shuka and sandals talking on his cell phone.
The Serena Ngorongoro was a welcome reward after the tiring and dusty day. Warm showers before supper did much to rejuvenate us. After dinner, we sat in the lounge to access the free internet and watch the live entertainment - a group of African singers dressed in voodoo masks dancing on stilts while singing La Bamba.

Written by - K. Athayde