The skies were overcast as we left Kobu Kobu lodge for our day long drive. We have become quite blasé about seeing herds of wildebeests, hartebeests, impalas and antelope. But, seeing a Cheetah family of 4 up close was exciting. We ooohed and aaawed and felt content with the experience. We then drove for a bit and came upon 3 male lions snoozing under a tree. We were probably 30 feet from them (in the Jeep, of course). They were spectacular.

The guides know the Serengeti very well. It is fairly flat with occasional outcrops of rock and widely spaced trees. When a unique or valued species is spotted, they tell each other on the radio and they all converge at the site. Sometimes there are 15 different vehicle around the animal. The animals don’t seem to care.

We stopped for lunch at the tourism centre in the heart of the Serengeti. The hotel gave us boxed lunches (literally, lunch in cardboard boxes). We had to shoo the cutest hyrax off the table before we sat down. We then took in a guided orientation to the Serengeti with a student doing a practicum for her tourism course.

We continued our drive and saw lots of birds and beasts of varying sizes and shapes. Then word came over the radio saying that a cheetah had been seen. And we were off. The momma cheetah obliged us by running parallel to the road so we could get a good long look. We were then in the vicinity of the leopard we saw yesterday. He was still in the same spot.

Tomorrow we head north. Wakara, our guide, told us to be ready at 8 am. He figured that he would know where our camp would be by then. The camp moves with the migration.