I woke up to a mass army of critters chirping, hooting, screeching, and any other animal noise you can think of. I’ve never heard anything like it! We packed up and hit the road. Five hours of driving, we would hit the Serengeti plains. Within those five hours of driving, I developed another case of motion sickness. What else is new right? To fight it off, I had to cover my head with my sweater to keep from looking out the window. It was hard because there was so much cool scenery out there. But yeah, pretty much the whole way my entire head was covered. Motion sickness has been my worst enemy on this whole trip in Africa so far.
On the way to the Serengeti, I was reminded of my main intention here (besides helping the kids of course), to find Pride Rock and a honey badger which is better known as a ratel here. Refer to the first post in my blog for more information about that. I found some potential Pride Rock candidates…
I asked Raphael if we would see any ratels on our safari. He said only at night is when I would see them. Shoot.
We made our way through the long, dusty road and eventually made it to the beginning of our next trek through the Serengeti plains. This is exactly what I see on the Discovery Channel at home! I had my safari gear on, the sun was beating down on me, the plains went as far as my the eye could see in every direction. Our goal was to spot The Big Five. In Africa, the Big Five are animals that are considered the hardest to hunt and some of the most sought after in the whole country. Lions, leopards, buffalo, rhinos, and elephants make up this group of elite beasts. There were plenty of elephants and buffalo around. We spotted a leopard lounging in a tree with his tail drooped over a branch. We even spotted the carcass of an unlucky gazelle that was dragged up the tree. After some time, we finally spotted three female lions, one of which just killed a zebra!
Another highlight was when we saw a cheetah creep and stalk a group of Thomson’s gazelle. Once it got close enough, it burst into incredible speed after a targeted gazelle. Unfortunately, the gazelle escaped unscathed and I didn’t get to see what I only see on TV happen right before my eyes. I was loving every moment of this!
All of a sudden, I had to sit down. I didn’t feel good. I felt like a flu was coming on. I became drowsy and cold, even while it was still very hot outside. Add in the fact that I still had this stupid cough, all I could think was, “Not right now. Not now.” This was horrible timing!
After a long day exploring the Serengeti, we finally made it to our campsite which was set in the middle of the plains. It could get so dangerous, that the field guides told us to always walk with another person and at night, don’t go to the restroom. Go directly outside our tent.
I immediately layered myself in clothes, cocooned in a sleeping bag, and passed out. I hope I would be able to sleep of this flu. Regardless, I will not let it ruin this amazing trip.
The Adventure Born 