Embarking on a journey through Zanzibar, the Serengeti, and Rwanda

We left early for the airport to start our Overland Journey to the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and then on to Rwanda where we will participate in a trek to view the Mountain Gorillas and Golden Monkeys.

We are a group of 23 plus an escort from the Ship to help handle all the logistics (thank goodness).  We flew in 3 separate small Cessna Caravans for 2.5 hours to the Serengeti National Park.

This required some preplanning for the members of our group.

Once we landed, staff from Sangita Sasakwa Lodge met us with wet towels and a glass of champagne.  We completed our lodging registration at the airport and then jumped into Land Rovers for a ride to the Lodge. These Land Rovers will be our transportation over the next few days.

Sangita Sasakwa is an amazing property with views from high on a hill overlooking the vast expanse of the Serengeti National Park.

Absolutely stunning!  Our room is huge and the only thing we had to complain about was that we were only staying for 2 nights…..

Upon arrival we had lunch, had about 30 minutes to refresh in our room and then jumped into our vehicles for our afternoon game drive.  Typically on safari the game runs are early in the morning and late afternoon/early evening.  This is when the animals are moving (eating/hunting). Midday is hot and this is when the animals seek shade and sleep.

We had an eventful ride seeing elephants and giraffe and zebra early on, lots of various antelope/deer-like animals whose names we can never remember).

Most remarkably a pride of lions, laying in the open field sleeping.  The vehicles pulled up right alongside the lions and we watched as they swatted away the pesky flies with their paws and tails.

It was remarkable to be this close to the king of the jungle.  But when they did look you straight in the eye, it was time to take notice.

As the sun set we pulled over and had our evening “sundowners”, consisting of cocktails and snacks spread out on the front of the vehicles.  This is a safari tradition which we very much enjoy.  Nothing like a gin/tonic or a glass of wine while watching the sunset over these vast plains while munching on tasty appetizers.

We were back to the lodge about 7pm and immediately headed to a 5-course dinner with wine pairings from their very extensive wine cellar.

We were back to our room and headed right to bed as we have a 4:45 wake up call for a hot air balloon ride at sunrise.  Wohoo!!!  Except for the early alarm.