We both had a great night's sleep. We woke up early, packed, ate breakfast (eggs, sausage, toast) and left at 7:30 for a game drive. Just outside the campsite we passed a family of hyenas that had six adults and about nine babies. They were playing, resting, coming in and out of their dens, and the two tiny ones were nursing from their mama.
During our game drive, we saw the usual suspects -- gazelle, topi, baboon, zebra. Then, we came upon a highlight -- a mother leopard and two baby leopards. The two babies were peering over the top of a rock and mom was resting in the brush below. Before long the cubs decided to join their mother and made the short trek down the rock. This all was happening about 25 yards away from us.
It was great to see Kassim so excited. He was telling us how lucky we were and informed us there are roughly 300 leopards in ALL of the Serengeti. Kassim estimated, based on his experience, that 5% of people on safari see baby leopards! There are not words to describe how spectacular this experience was. We stayed for 1.5 hours watching the cubs play and tumble with each other, while pouncing on their mom, trying to get her to play. They'd attack her, stand on her, and then pounce on her tail when it caught their eyes. The mom would almost hug them, cuddle with them, bathe them, pick them up by the scruff of their necks -- it was just incredible. Mom finally got up from the cover of the brush and we were lucky to see her completely unobstructed!
We drove a couple of miles away and we came across a lioness and her cub perched in a tree. We were the only truck there and we sat admiring them for quite sometime.
We headed back to the campsite to pick up Elias (the cook) to drive to Ngorongoro crater. During the drive back to the campsite we passed two male lions laying in the grass, giraffe, zebra, hyenas, and more gazelle than we could count. We loaded up the truck and started to make our way out of the park. Kassim took the long way out of the park as we continued to search for animals through the pop-top. We then came across a male lion laying on a big rock where a tiny cub was stumbling around his father's paws. Kassim guessed he was about two or three weeks old. He didn't even look like other lion cubs we'd seen; he was just a little furball who couldn't quite walk yet, and he was making the most adorable meowing/growling (or attempt to) sound. Kassim thought mom was probably out hunting.
Just down the road we passed a lioness (most likely mama!) hidden in the tall grass attempting to hunt. She had a vantage point on a little hill, and the nearby reedbuck deer were making loud warning noises to one another that a predator was near. All the potential prey stood absolutely still, staring at the predator, waiting to see her next move. Again, we could feel the tension.
After passing a pond with all of the hippos out of the water (it gets too cold for them), we came to a nice clearing (visualize a small peninsula). We parked, and, about 20 yards away we see ears, eyes, a long snout, and no body. We are staring a hippo and he is staring at us. THIS was our lunch spot! Knowing how dangerous these creatures are (they kill more people in Africa than any other animal) we asked Kassim if it was safe. He responded with a simple, "yes... of course." Apparently the embankment was too steep for him to attack us, so... we ate our lunch while a hippo ate his lunch beside us.
On our way out of the park we decided to drive by the male lion and cub on the rock we passed earlier. To our delight, the male was sitting up watching over his territory. So majestic and regal... truly a moment to cherish.
We drove to Ngorongoro crater passing many Maasai people with their herds, giraffe, zebra, gazelle and even an elephant. We set up camp and took cold showers (yay!) and there was a gigantic spider in the corner of my shower. Its body was the size of a quarter, and its legs about two inches long and as thick as cooked spaghetti noodles. He was HUGE! Between the spider, the cold water and the non-functioning drain, that was the fastest shower I ever took.
Clean and refreshed, we enjoyed a dinner of leek soup, curried beef, roasted potatoes, oranges and popcorn. Tonight, we're sleeping on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater (~7000 feet high). The volcano used to be higher than Mt. Kilimanjaro but erupted and collapsed into this crater. There are animal droppings everywhere and a ranger carrying an assault rifle because animals often come through this camp. The ranger would shoot to scare the animals, not kill them. Due to the elevation, it was rather chilly, so the bonfire after dinner felt great!
We also talked to Kassim a lot tonight and learned that people in Tanzania like to stay in Tanzania because it is a peaceful country where people can live off of the land and have enough food. Africans like Obama because he would be good for Africa and good for change. Homosexuality is illegal, but polygamy is legal. AIDS exists mainly on the coast, not where we are.
Swahili we've learned so far (surely spelled incorrectly):
+ jambo = hi + mambo = what's up
+ poa = cool (response to mambo)
+ polay polay = no rush + hakuna matada = no problem
+ timbo = elephant + simba = lion
+ la la salamas = good night
+ kwaheri = good bye (long term)
+ karibu = welcome
