Day 7

Today the alarm went at six, just as the hot water arrived. We had heard the wildebeest and the hyena in the night, but apparently there was no kill near the camp. We walked down to meet Kim at 6.30 and took off for a couple of hours drive before breakfast. There was a huge number of wildebeest near the camp, crossing our road. We turned onto the main road and there were three hyena lying in some longish grass at the side of the road, looking quite peaceful, when another van drove up with some noisy people. They were too much for the hyena, which got up and trotted away. One of them only had three legs - wonder how that happened. We took a small turning round to the right. This was quite a bushy area with lots of birds, most of which we had seen on previous drives. There were giraffe and gazelle about and a grey heron standing in the road. Once again we saw dikdik - one in the sun and a bit further on a pair. All the time we could see wildebeest through the trees and in the distance. We eventually got to the hippo pool, and as we were about to go down to the hippos I spotted a fish eagle coming to land in a tree. We went across to get a better view and he was magnificent. All too soon he took off again, up the river. As we turned, a Bateleur eagle was flying overhead and we tried to take pics of him too. The Hippo pool was a bit quieter than the evening viewing, and we also saw a couple of crocks on the rocks and in the water. Not huge but big enough. Then we drove back to the lodge, stopping to watch a silvery snake on the way. This was featureless rather like a metal slow worm. It has no fangs and is not dangerous to us, apparently.
We had breakfast and checked out bidding farewell to all at Ronjo, and at 10 we were off again. Other drivers reported seeing some cheetah, so we were going off in the hope of seeing them. We drove up near the hills and we saw some vultures away in the distance pecking over a kill, and a couple of hyena. With the vultures were two tawny eagles and something brownish. This turned out to be an immature Bateleur eagle when it flew up to join another in a tree nearby. They then took off and circled over us.
Just a little way ahead there were a few vans parked. As we joined them, we saw that it wasn't cheetah, but loins that had caught their attention. It turned out there were four females lounging about in the grass. We drove on a short way and found the vans parked near the five cheetah - a mother and four large cubs. They were flat out in the grass, but kept lifting their heads up, then flopping down again. It got very interesting as a group of zebra approached from left and up wind, not knowing the cheetah were there. A very young one was leaping about with its mother near the front of the group, and the cheetahs were carefully watching. All of a sudden the zebra stopped and milled about before deciding to retreat in a hurry. Cheetahs flopped down again. Then a large group of zebra crossed the road behind us away from the cheetah and to the right this time. We had seen them earlier as they had a lone wildebeest with them, as well as some young. As we watched, the larger group crossed, but about half a dozen, including two young ones, one only days old, kept coming towards the cheetah who were very alert. The zebra stopped and the young one sat down as its mother lay down and rolled on its back not 50m from the cheetah. But nothing happened and the zebra just stopped and seemed very relaxed. So we left to try and find some elephant. Just over the hill we could see a plain filled with all the migratory animals as well as giraffe, and in the distance some elephant. We headed off in that direction.
Driving along we watched all the animals, then it became a bit quieter. There was a kopje and Kim was busy on the radio, but we spotted something long and yellow. Sure it was a lion we asked Kim to stop. He got off the radio and we showed him. There way down the hill near the kopje was a lioness with her kill - face covered in blood. After a while a second one came across but didn't go very close and we saw a third one coming in from the left. This one sat on top of some rocks, and the second one disappeared in the grass. The first one dragged the kill across to the rocks and leapt up to join the other one. It was fascinating to watch, albeit at quite a distance. Thank goodness for good binos.
Now we headed to a picnic area for lunch and on the way Kim showed us an old male lion hidden in the middle of four trees. The picnic area was a bit of a drive, but it had a great view of the plain and we could see loads of gazelle . They are making for the short grass plains, which are much safer for the shorter animals as the predators can't hide so well there. It was very windy and we had to hang onto Kim’s tablecloth as well as our boxes. When we had done, Kim took us off to a brackish lake where we could see stilts, little ring plovers, blacksmith plovers, Kittlitz's plover and a large skull from a late hippo. We saw an old hammerkop nest on the way.
Now we had to leave a make for the exit gate by 4pm. With some deft driving, Kim made it with time to spare and we left the Serengeti, after a memorable visit. Now began our version of the East Africa Safari Rally as we charged through the Ngorongoro area passed Mt Makarot, Olbalbal Depression, and up on to the crater rim. I spotted a Lanner Falcon, and we saw an Auger Buzzard in a tree, then as we were almost at the Lodge, a long crested eagle flew in front of the car much to everyone’s surprise. We are now at Sopa Lodge, which has views down in to the crater, only not our room, but it was soon dark after we arrived. We were so dusty after the journey we had showers and made ourselves presentable for dinner in a posh dining room. It is like an enormous roundavel with a cone shaped ceiling lined with banana leaves. We started with lovely shrimps with garlic mayo, then chicken and mash for A and veggie noodles for me. A jolly woman called Sarah served us. Then it was time to write the journal and go to bed as we meet Kim at 7am to start again! We are at 2,375m up here, and we take it slowly walking up from the room to the main building!(More than twice as high as Snowdon (1085m).)