Wake up call at 5.30am with a tray of tea. We then went out to the front of the lodge and met Richard and a Swiss couple and left for our last game drive at 6.30am. We visited the area where the cheetah and three small cubs were two days ago but she had moved as the cubs are now strong enough to move around. Great excitement as we came across a pride of lions with two fully grown males, one dominant, they are brothers and brothers do not fight one another, two lionesses with four cubs whose manes were just beginning to grow. We then came across a family of jackals, parents and three young who feed from their parents who regurgitate the food. In amongst the trees were two lots of giraffe and on the grassland two herds of impala, Grant gazelles and then it was time to return for breakfast, pack, go to reception to pay and it was time to leave.
We enjoyed the short experience of staying in the Mara Club Lodge where once again it was comfortable the staff attentive and always smiling. The food was incredible. For every meal apart from breakfast we were served soup at the table and then we chose from the buffet which seemed to groan with food and always delicious. At breakfast if one wanted eggs they were cooked for you as and when you were ready. It was all luxurious and the tents set in beautifully kept gardens and of course the hippos.
We were taken back to the airstrip, the plane landed and we were the only passengers to board.
The Air Hostess gave us our tickets for our onward journey to Manyara. The plane a DASH 7, 4 engine, took off, landed on three more airstrips for other lodges and then onto Wilson Airport where we were greeted with the question, “Are you the party going to Kilimanjaro”? We were rushed through immigration and customs and then loaded onto a small plane, Air Kenya with 24 seats when we arrived at Kilimanjaro we were met by a representative from Elite Travel with the itinerary for the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti. We were taken into the airport building where we had to pay $50 each for International Airport tax and $5 each for local airport tax. We then boarded a 19 seat Regional Airservice plane, the same type we had flown in from Zanzibar to Tanga. We dropped into Arusha Airport where a few passengers alighted then took off and arrived at Manyara Airport three quarters of an hour later.
Edward our driver/guide met us with his reasonably new land cruiser, he will be our guide for the rest of the safari. The road to begin with was brand new and once again the money came from the Japanese Government, unfortunately the road deteriorated after 5 kms and the time to reach the Ngorongoro Crater took two hours after 70 kms. We had to wait for a while for Edward to do whatever was necessary at the entrance to the Reserve. We went into a building selling cards and maps, there were all sorts of people around with vehicles in various states of repair also waiting to arrange the paper work to pass through.
On the way Edward had told us the story of the Mbulu people. In the 18th Century a tribe called Iraquwe from North Africa travelled down to Kenya to settle. This however was not possible because the land already belonged to the indigenous tribes so they kept walking into Tanganiyka, Tanzania today, where they had the same problem as the land belonged to the Masai people. A compromise was reached if they went over the mountain of Ngorongoro they could settle there. They are the grain growers in Tanzania and are the only people to grow grain in Tanzania, wheat grown for bread and barley for beer. In the same area there is a small tribe of Bushmen, they number 99 in all and it is possible to arrange a visit. It is believed the Mbulu originate from or near Ethiopia because some of their words are similar.
On the way to the lodge as we passed along the top of the Crater, Edward stopped at the Memorial and burial place of Bernard Grzimek . This man had spent years of his life working for the Serengeti and was responsible for it becoming a Reserve making it safer for the animals. He was also responsible for the film, “Serengeti Shall not Die”. He and his son, Michael, worked together on the film and sadly Michael when flying his plane over the Crater had an accident and died.
Eventually we arrived at the Serene Lodge overlooking the Crater. We were greeted at Reception with Mango Juice and then checked in. We were shown to our Room 41, immediately we went and slaked our thirst with a beer at the bar. We then went back and unpacked, showered and went to dinner. The food once again was excellent but this time we ordered from a menu and brought to the table by a waiter. We noticed the Africans had some extraordinary names from the name badges. On returning to our room we discovered we had central heating which was very necessary because as night approaches it becomes very cold.