5th February - Day 5 Safari - Serengeti National Park/Tarangire National Park

We packed up this morning before having breakfast. We then packed up the landrover and james took us game driving for the morning. We said we'd like to see the lakes, so he dutifully included this (he would later be rewarded for this choice!).

We were to find even more lions! not as many as yesterday but still quite a few.

Such a hard life!

More lionesses!

Thompson Gazelle

A Dik Dik

Then came the moment of excitement. I asked James to look at something I could see across the lake, that looked like dogs. He looked in his binoculars and said Oh My, those are African wild dogs. He got on his radio and tried to alert the rangers. He told us that they were extreemly rare and that he hadn't seen them in at least 2 years. I have never seen a safari guide so excited!! We took lots of pictures and James tried to get closer but they are very timid animals so you have to be careful. He didn't want to miss the moment. There were 7 of them altoghether

One came right up to the land rover

To sight this rarity on our last day in the Serengeti was a real bonus. We had seen so much, the park exceeding our wildest expectations.

After all that excitement, we started the journey to Tarangire. We would go back through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and back to the park gate we'd entered before going to the crater. We then followed the road to Arusha back to the turning for Laka Manyara. Some time after we left the Arusha road, we turned off the main road onto a track. Well, this track practically disappeared alot of the time but James persisted and after about an hour (it felt like longer!!) and almost getting stuck a couple of times, we arrived at Boundary Lodge in the Tarangire Conservation Area.

This was all that was visible from outside the lodge

I had chosen this lodge as its run in partnership with the safari company and is 50% owned by the Masai, who mostly run it. They greeted us with fruit juice and umbrellas, as it was tipping down when we arrived. We were shown to our room by 2 Masai warriors and we were told that we couldn't leave our room without an escort (we'd find out later why!).

Our room was lovely, built on the side of the hill. Only 6 rooms in the lodge and each one completely private.

Each room offered a 180 degree view over the conservation area and the park

A fully functioning (i.e. with hot water) bath on the terrace

and a loo with a view - and what a view!!

We relaxed as the rain stopped and the sky brightened. We got the binoculars out and found giraffe and elephants emerging from their shelter from the rain. The view over the conservation area and wildlife park was amazing. We had 180 degrees of it, all in front of our own balcony and windows. Thousands of majestic Boab trees, from this distance like broccoli stalks, shared the space with Acacias. We don't have a wide angle lens to do the view justice.

We were collected by the Masai warrior as promised for dinner and he guided us to the dining room at the top of the lodge, where the view was just as great.

We were served a 3 course meal and had a couple of these