IN PHOTOS: CAN YOU Feel THE Love TONIGHT – A safari in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania

‘Prepare your cameras, maintain your eyes open and shout if you see an individual coming! ‘

‘What are you gonna…’  My heart stops for a couple of seconds whilst he drives the jeep off road and straight into the endless savannah. It’s past 6 pm and park rules don’t even allow us to be driving around anymore, but full rainbows and just about pitch black silhouettes of trees against deep yellow and orange skies have produced us loose track of time.

‘Shouldn’t we close our windows?!? ‘ … Silence…

This moment is what we came for. The two lions are standing so close to the jeep we could touch them, but we sense there’s no want to be scared. We aren’t. And neither are they. It’s magical.

Note: don’t be that stupid tourist who Truly tries to touch the animals, maintain your arms and every thing else inside the jeep!!

A safari in Serengeti national park

We’d left the camp site near Lake Manyara earlier that day and drove for a few hours prior to arriving at our camp for the night, inside the Serengeti. Dust had been the primary theme of the ride, as dry season had arrived and there was not a drop of rain in sight. After dropping off our tents and luggage, it was time to get back out there, and take it a bit more pole pole – slowly.

We head out into the ‘endless plains’ (*) of the majestic Serengeti singing ‘Can you really feel the love tonight’. Small do we know precisely how a lot adore we’re about to get… (**)

(*) Serengeti means ‘endless plains’ in Maasai language. / (**) Disney’s Lion King was inspired by the Serengeti. 

I get the greatest seat in the vehicle, ideal next to the driver. It does not take me long to open the roof, stand up on my seat and get pleasure from the show with a lot of dust the wind in my hair and the afternoon sun burning softly caressing my skin. #AllWorthItThough 

The afternoon views are close to ideal, but as sunset approaches, it becomes nature’s greatest all together in 1 place. The sky turns from an nearly threatening dark blue to bright purple, and as if the full double rainbow wasn’t sufficient, we get a lion walking suitable into it, and one more 1 sitting in a tree…

As the sun sets, the sky’s on fire, and two extra lions willingly pose appropriate in front of it (look closely, there’s one more 1 a bit further back). It’s past 6 pm and park rules do not even permit us to be driving about anymore, but we’ve entirely lost track of time.

‘Prepare your cameras, keep your eyes open and shout if you see an individual coming! ‘

‘What are you gonna…’  My heart stops for a couple of seconds whilst he drives the jeep off road and straight into the endless savannah. The lions get so close to the jeep we could touch them. It is the perfect end of an already unbelievable day.

The next morning we wake up early for a sunrise drive, prior to leaving the park and heading to Ngorongoro crater for our last day. It is cold but we do not care. If day two’s half as great as day one, we’ll think about ourselves the luckiest girls in the world. We open the roof, start driving and swiftly discover that yes, you CAN get THIS lucky 2 days in a row…

The initial rays of sun turn the dry grass into gold and warm us up slowly. We spot them shortly right after. The male carelessly showing off his manliness, the female tirelessly attempting to impress him. It’s a game of seduction, of push and pull, of not giving up, and although reality is probably less romantic than the image in our imagination, we can’t aid but just stand there and dream of everlasting really like.

It goes on for far more than 30 minutes before they decide to leave. One more male lion is approaching from  far and the nearby rocks offer you greater shelter. The male takes the lead, and it’s nearly as if he’s inviting us to follow them. Yet another 30 minutes pass by as we advance slowly, but we do not get bored for even a second. ‘Can you really feel the love tonight today?‘  How could we not?? 

But our luck’s not over yet. A bit later we run into a entire group of lion cubs and their mothers, and proper prior to we leave the park we spot a leopard jumping out of a tree. Massive 5, 4 down, 1 left, with 1 day to go! With our fingers crossed for rhinos tomorrow (there are no rhinos in Lake Manyara or the Serengeti so our only chance to spot them will be Ngorongoro crater), we leave the Serengeti.

WHAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST TWO DAYS IS TOO Great TO BE TRUE.

The scenery of the Serengeti is stunning, but mother nature’s show of rainbows, picture-perfect skies, animals showing up at precisely the right time and jaw-dropping sunrises and sunsets made it indescribable. It feels like there’s even far more dust than when we arrived, but the only theme of this ride is gratitude. 

A Serengeti safari - practical

Well-known for its migration of wildebeest and zebras, the Serengeti covers and location of about 30.000 km² in the north of Tanzania. It is without having doubt my preferred park of the ones I visited in Tanzania (Lake Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro), and one of the most magical places I’ve ever seen.

Budget travelers frequently select to skip it since entrance fees are higher than those of other parks and acquiring there is very pricey too as it’s far from any city and you have to drive via Ngorongoro. This indicates you have to pay the entrance fee for Ngorongoro, and you have to pay it once again when you actually check out this park, or when you drive back in case you pick not to go to it.

My idea about this? Whatever you do, don’t skip the Serengeti! Skip ANY other park if you are on a tight budget, but go to the Serengeti! #EnoughSaid

There’s quite a few options to check out, according to your budget and time, but a combination of a sunset check out on day 1 with a sunrise drive the day soon after is just perfect! Depending on the time of the year you can witness the migration of the wildebeest, but you may well need to have to go a lot further into the park, in which case you’ll want quite a few days in total.

For far more general safari info, head to my post about Lake Manyara, and remain tuned for much more safari enjoyable from Ngorongoro crater.

want to go to the serengeti as well? about two years right after my very first visit i opened a tour organization in tanzania and we can organize this trip for you. have a look at OUR Web page and get in touch with all your questions!

 

 

THOUGHTS? QUESTIONS? SEE YOU IN THE COMMENT SECTION!!

Disclaimer: this safari was fully paid for by yours truly and opinions are my own and straight from the heart, as often.