We were up at 6.00am for a game drive leaving in half and hour. It was very cold at that hour of the morning so we sore warm clothes until such time the sun became warm. We headed for the Musabi Plain following the Grumeti River to the west of Serengeti. The sun was rising as we left.
Driving along near a sparsely wooded area John spotted a Serval Cat, it was beautiful with its geometric marking. It was just waking along, in no hurry, ambled across the road in front of us and disappeared into the bush. One of the best bits was coming across a colony of baboons. They have very serious concentrated expressions on their faces, the adults were grooming each other and the young created a game that was great fun. From a small hummock they were hurling themselves at each other and rolling off and like children repeated the whole exercise again. For the rest we saw zebra, wildebeest, hartebeest, impala and Thompson gazelle, some of them with young and one Topi calf had an obviously broken leg. Edward assured us it would be OK but I doubted this. Always it is the survival of the fittest here in the wild.
We then stopped for a while and we were able to get out of the vehicle and stretch our legs, once again a small picnic had been brought. A drink and an apple was all we needed. I was at a slight disadvantage being a lone female as dying for a pee but not a bush in sight just a flat open plain, therefore gritted my teeth and turned down the offer of a drink. We were then shown a camping area then retraced our steps and returned to camp. On the branch of a tree in front of our tent there were a few vervet monkeys.
Afternoon 4.00pm
This afternoon the plan was to drive to the north but Edward could see it was raining to the north, instead we returned to Seonea and not far down the road we encountered a large pride of lion. Females of different ages with six, six month old cubs, with the male they were all lying in the grass resting it proved to be an afternoon of families. By the river, a rare sight, two hippos were out on the bank grazing leaving in the water their calf. It was quite comical to watch the calf become more and more frustrated trying to get out wanting to join its parents, thrashing around and crying out. There was an older young hippo in the water to keep it company. Finally the parents gave in and returned to their offspring. Then we found a family of cheetah the cubs having a lesson in hunting. Mum sat and watched while he young son decided to hunt a herd of Zebra. Normally cheetahs would not tackle zebra, the herd in disbelief galloped off and when the young male tired after the chase returned to mum, all the zebra followed him back and stood looking at him. The family then crossed in front of the vehicle and strolled across the plain. The next family was of Egyptian Geese, mother, father and goslings going to the river to drink. It was too shallow to swim. We met up with a couple of other drivers who said they were both carrying honeymooners. We have met several couples on this trip. Back at camp instead of monkeys there were Kanga, Guinea fowl, roosting in the tree. Tonight at dinner Edward said, rubbing his hands together that the staff were looking forward to going back to the Seronea Lodge with big tips!!