Day Three Continued

I was wrong to be worried about the weather. Before long, we were sat a matter a metres away from two male lions who were hiding in the long grass. It was unbelievable to be so close to them. Fiteal told us they were only small so must have been quite young. I’m beginning to doubt what "wise Fiteal" is telling us because those lions looked huge to me!

Male lions hiding in the grass 

On our way to the campsite we were also lucky enough to see lots of Thomson Gazelles and Zebra – we even had to stop the car at one point to let the Zebra cross the road, they really didn’t seem to care that we were there.

It wasn’t long before the rain had stopped and we came across some more lions, this time they were much closer to the road. As the rain had stopped we were able to open the roof of the Land Rover so that we could stand up and get a better view of the animals. There was a mum, two adolescent males and a young female. The boys were play fighting right next to the road, it was so surreal to watch them play, seemingly unfazed by our presence only a few metres away from them.

Gorgeous lioness watching her brothers play fighting

"The boys" play fighting 

As we moved on, still aiming for the campsite, we could see a large group of vehicles just like ours grouped together in the distance. Fiteal turned off the road and headed towards the other cars to investigate what was going on. He explained that when rangers or tour guides find something unusual or interesting, they radio the others so that they can come and see too. There must have been about 15 vehicles all parked along the road looking at a sight, which according to Fiteal, was very, very rare – there was a Cheetah sat right next to the road eating it’s prey, a Thomson Gazelle. 

Cheetah enjoying it's dinner 

It was amazing, if not a little gross, to see that so close up and it was certainly not something I had expected that we would be so lucky to see. What also amazed me, was the number of vehicles and the number of people within those vehicles. One thing that isn’t shown in the brochures or in the films, is just how many other people are on safari at the same time as you.

 Everybody trying to catch a glimpse of the Cheetah 

When we had had enough of watching the Cheetah tear it’s dinner apart, we were ready to carry on for camp. This was much easier said than done. The volume of vehicles on this part of the road meant that the entire road was blocked. Vehicles were trying to manoeuvre around each other, inching forwards, not getting far and the reversing. One driver thought it would be a good idea to try to drive up the verge and go around everyone which backfired and he just got stuck, only being set free when another vehicle pushed him up the last bit of the verge using his bumpers.

One very angry tourist stuck on the grass verge!

Fitael told us we needed to get to camp before dark so we headed off and reached camp in plenty of time to get the tents set up. I’m pretty worried about the camp site as it’s in the middle of the Serengeti and there are no fences! Even more worryingly, Fitael has set up our tent right on the edge of camp and set his tent up in the middle! On one side of the camp is a block of toilets, which upon closer inspection consists of 2 showers, 2 toilets and 2 squat toilets (essentially just holes in the ground). On the other side of the camp are two separate “blocks” one is the kitchen and the other is the dining cage. I say dining cage because that’s exactly what it is – a cage. Apparently the fencing is needed to keep the animals out. In all honesty, I’d much rather they were able to get in there than in our tent. 

The campsite

Sean insisting he was "helping" get the tents set up

Me relaxing before realising our lives were in danger! 

After setting up our tents, we went into the dining cage where various groups of people had set up their tables and chairs. Juma had laid out hot drinks and freshly made popcorn for us which was delicious. We were then joined by Fiteal for a three course dinner courtesy of Juma.We started with pumpkin soup which was following by spaghetti Bolognese and dessert of fresh fruit and another round of hot drinks. Whilst eating dinner the “mobile safari bar” arrived. This was a large refrigerated truck which drives between the different campsites in the evenings selling alcohol and other refreshments. Unfortunately we didn't get any photos because it was pitch black and, under no circumstances was I going outside and drawing attention to myself with the flash on my camera - we all know lions are attracted to camera flashes. 

The dining cage, with kitchen in the background behind it

Most other groups headed off to their tents but used the opportunity to chat to Fiteal more (we haven’t figured out why yet but Juma doesn’t seem to be eating with us). He insisted on scaring the living daylights out of me by “being honest” about the dangers of the campsite at night time. He said that sometimes lions come into the camp but it’s not common (although he said that finding a cheetah eating near the road was rare, but we saw that!). According to Fiteal we can hear lions that are about 6-7 km away and we would definitely know if one was closer. I’ve actually hear a few lion roars whilst I’ve been writing this which is making me feel slightly uncomfortable. Other, more common visitors to the campsite include hyenas and buffalo – which is the animal that Fiteal is most afraid of because they charge and trample for no apparent reason.

So, after those lovely, reassuring thoughts we both ran across the campsite to the toilets whilst there were lots of people still awake and walking around the camp before retiring to our tent (where I feel no safer). Rather conveniently, we are as far away from the toilets as possible so I’m hoping that, as I’m really tired now I’ll fall asleep shortly and not wake up until the morning * Fingers crossed *