Serengeti Finale
"The balloon flight was literally and figuratively a highlight - but the Serengeti proved to be unfinished business."
The balloon flight over the Serengeti had given me new energy. At least, new - I felt clear and fully capable of enjoying this wonderful experience. But I hadn't slept that already short night, so sometime during the day I was bound to run into that hammer.
Hopefully that moment would be a while off, as we had plenty of time after the flight to further explore the Serengeti - this time by land again. Then we would begin the return journey toward Lake Manyara, where we would immerse ourselves in some more luxury for a moment of relaxation. Not that we had lacked any comfort at all over the past few days, by the way.
So after reuniting with Jabiri and updating him on the progress of the balloon flight, we set off again.
A full stage
And once again the Serengeti would not disappoint us. Arriving at a large rock formation, we saw two lions lying on top. Behind them was at least one cub, but we only got a very brief and only partial view of it. Here again we saw clear similarities to our own mini-lions at home: preferring to seek a higher spot and laze about.
Not much later, we came across a herd of elephants - and not just any herd, but a particularly large group with several calves. We saw elephants frolicking, correcting and grooming each other. There was even an impetus to produce new calves, but another male resolutely put a stop to that.
The mood was good: there were quite a few more males walking around in a, shall we say, excited state.
Surrounded by giants
The herd was spread into several smaller groups around us. Slowly, those groups began to merge - and we stood with our car right in the middle. Thus, the elephants got closer and closer.
One of the "small" elephants was a little more interested in our car than the rest. With his trunk, he began to cautiously explore the car. Meanwhile, the older elephants also approached and gathered around the car. For a moment I thought they would push us over, but instead they walked slowly and steadily around us.
Jabiri advised me to stay as still as possible. At one point, the elephants were less than a meter from me - with only the car window acting as a barrier between us and these impressive animals.
It was an incredible moment to be so close to these quiet giants.
The herd gathered at a pool of water diagonally behind our car. Yet they seemed in no hurry to take a bath. We decided to continue our way, looking for a place to have lunch.
Hunting before lunch
But even before we could settle down anywhere, we crossed the path of a lioness. She was panting heavily and looking straight ahead, as if concentrating on something.
After a while, her attitude suddenly changed. She heard something, smelled something - or maybe both. Her head turned and she began to move purposefully, heading straight for our car.
It soon became clear that we were not her target. Behind us, in the direction her gaze was now moving, we saw it too: a group of antelope. It seemed we were not the only ones who were ready for lunch.
She began to move toward the antelopes at a faster pace. Until she apparently lost track of the scent and stayed in one spot. We waited some more, but there was no hunt. Not yet, anyway.
We had to move on, unfortunately, because even in Serengeti, there is a maximum time you can stay in the park. And that is all recorded. Apart from that, we also had a long drive back towards Lake Manyara to go. We looked for a nice tree to park the car under and eat our lunch.
But there remain opportunities you can't pass up. A group of jeeps had gathered in a semi-circle, usually a sign that there is something to see. And whether there was something to see ... it was a cheetah devouring (just) caught prey. She sat with her head among the tall grass to take in her lunch. Complete with the sound of crunching bones.
Occasionally she would come up to check for any danger or scavengers lurking about. That we were there didn't seem to interest her at all.
Where a hunting animal like the cheetah is feeding, scavengers are often not far away. Not even now, a jackal wandered a safe distance from the cheetah and her prey, obviously waiting for a chance to sneak a bite to eat.
We really had to start driving toward the exit now. At the end of the afternoon we again passed the gate of the Serengeti. Then you know it's time for paperwork...fortunately it never takes long and it's also a great opportunity to stretch your legs.
By now it had gotten a little cloudier and when we were out of the park a little later it even started to blow pretty hard. With the unpaved roads, this caused quite a lot of extra sand to blow up. A little later, however, it started to rain a little which limited its effect.
En route to Lake Manyara for some more relaxation to finish!