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At 6am, our alarm clock went off, and we were excited for our day with KLM Safaris. We felt well-rested. In essence, after our attempt at Kilimanjaro’s summit, the last day had been a walk in the park. Because of all the dangerous animals around you, there are very few occasions when you leave the jeep and go for a stroll. Most of the time, we had just sat on the seats, or stood (with our shoes off) on the seats, or (with our shoes on) on the jeep’s passenger cabin’s floor.
BREAKFAST
As expected, breakfast was delicious. When we had finished, Jim and Johnny had already lifted our luggage back into the truck. We were on a tight schedule and had a full day ahead of us, needing to reach the Ngorongoro Crater by the end of the day, so at 7am we set off.
LIONS DEVOURING A BUFFALO, HYENAS STEALING INTESTINES
Soon on the road, we spotted lions feeding on a fully-grown cape buffalo.
Dozens of hyenas were trying to steal bits of the kill. One giant hyena had managed to pull some of the intestines out of the bull, while the lions had been distracted. Now, a dozen other hyenas were trying to steal the bowels from it.
HOT AIR BALLOONS
In the distance we could see that a balloon safari had just taken off a few miles from us. The magnificent views of the hot air balloons slowly moving just 12m above the ground, gradually coming closer to us, were quite something. On the other hand we felt glad that we had opted against this offer. Any minor malfunction of the burner would almost immediately lead to the balloons being forced to make a crash landing. In the midst of dangerous animals. Not on our list, but kudos to those who give it a shot. It must be a very fun experience, if all goes right.
SPOTTING A LEOPARD
Soon on we spotted a leopard in a tree, no more than 5m away from us. The majestic cat had clearly just woken up from a little morning lap. It was yawning, stretching. Our presence did not seem to disturb it in the least.
CLOSE ENCOUNTER
We couldn’t believe our luck, when the leopard got up and climbed down the tree, directly towards us. On a video we shot that day, you can hear me telling Ellie to close the window while the cat was already very close to our jeep, no more than one or two metres away. Again, the leopard didn’t seem phased in any way.
DOZY FELINE FELLER
We watched it walk along the left side of our vehicle, then around the front, before making its way to a nearby creek. For a few moments it had looked like it was going to stalk a gazelle on the other side of the dried-up riverbed. However, this feline feller was still way too dozy for any exercise.
A POD OF HIPPOS
We passed by a pond, filled to the brim with bathing hippos, bobbing up and down. Apparently, hippos can sleep underwater, using a reflex that allows them to bob up, take a breath, and sink back down without waking up.
CATS CUDDLING
At around this stage, Jim received another message over his walkie-talkie. Something about lions. We drove over to the other location and couldn’t believe our eyes. A female lion was making rather suggestive gestures to a male lion, some 20m from our truck. We watched them for the best of 20 minutes. The male lion played hard-to-get, pretended he was bored.
FELINE EFFICIENCY
Being on such a tight schedule, we were going to give it five more minutes, then call it a day. Then the male lion got up, plugged in, made a pumping movement for ten or twelve seconds. Job done. The female lion rolled onto her back with her legs spread wide. She didn’t seem to mind at all, that the lovemaking had been kept rather short by her companion.
WAY TO GO, CATS!
Jim explained that this might have to do with the fact that there had been a lot of lovemaking going on between those two already. During the mating period, lion couples spend a whole seven days ‘doing it.’ Usually more than a dozen times a day, up to two dozen and more times. Way to go, cats.
CHEETAHS FROM 2M AWAY
Ten minutes later we first spotted cheetahs from 150m away, then, a few minutes later, from literally 1 or 2m away, right next to the dirt track. They were enjoying the shade of a bush, looking rather sleepy, and didn’t seem to have a worry in the world.
LUNCH AT THE NGORONGORO CAFE
On our way to the Ngorongoro we spotted several more hippos, crocodiles, giraffes, elephants, buffaloes, ostriches, hyenas, and other animals. We stopped briefly for lunch at the café at the entrance of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
TENT AT A SAFARI LODGE FOR THE NIGHT
The night’s safari lodge sported different types of accommodation. The others in our group had booked into the tent experience to enjoy a night in the wild. We had booked a bit more comfort, and opted for a very large, luxurious tent, that had been permanently set up on a platform on stilts. A corrugated iron roof was, again, on stilts, protecting the tent from rain. The compound was unfenced.
DINNERTIME
We enjoyed our dinner. Ellie had some water and freshly squeezed juice. I had a couple of Serengeti Lagers. No complaints.
HEARING A LION CLOSE-BY
When one of the lodge staff walked us back to our tent with his flashlight, we could hear a lion clearing its throat from less than 100m away. We had a shower and went to bed. What a fabulous experience our two days of safari with KLM Safaris had been.
