The plain of Serengeti has been a myth to me since childhood. I loved watching these wild and dangerous animals on TV. Now it was my turn to explore it live!

Having spent two weeks in Tanzania at this point we were well adjusted and used to being here, but nevertheless – it’s a special feeling passing the Naabi Hill gate and entering the park.

By leaving our Ngorongoro lodge on the rim in the morning and visiting the Olduvai site on the way it was already noon when we entered the park, but as we were staying for three nights there would be enough time to explore this enormous plain.

The first experience meeting us in this eastern part of the part was all the kopjes (the rock formations) scattered around with its special vegetation, as taken straight out of Disney’s The Lion King movie. While driving to the park we had animal encounters all morning, but around these kopjes we didn’t have any luck, to our and our guide’s disappointment. But soon after we had our first male lion within sight – resting on a tree branch. We were told that tree climbing lions were rare, but in fact we saw many of them. Shortly after we found a leopard resting the same way, which is more common. Five hours later and several animal encounters we arrived in Mawe Tented Camp for the night. It is a camp without much extravaganza, but still very nice. It’s a friendly staff and they serve good food. The Serengeti sunset through acacia trees is iconic.

The next day starts “the same way” as the previous ends, with the iconic orange sky and the sun through the acacia trees. With a lunchbox in the car, we leave the camp for a full day safari.

There are a lot of animals to see so “my myth” is not a myth anymore – it is real! The fantastic encounters include a cheetah drinking, the profile with the back high up in the air and head down is awesome (picture), and meeting all “big 5” face to face. We spent another night in Mawe Camp and the following day we travelled across the huge plain from east to west.

On the west side we found the rear part of “the great migration”. To us it was big herds of wildebeests and zebras, but in fact it was just a few animals compared to the enormous herds this migration really consists of. In total it was more animals here but little variety, and the annoying part is the swarms of tzetse flies.

The authorities burn down huge areas of grasslands apparently to fight the tzetses, but it seems to us it has no impact. On the contrary, this burning must do damage to other small animals and insects which probably is not the purpose.

The final night we spent in Lahia Tented Lodge in the western Serengeti which is more a luxury camp. The central unit is located on a hilltop the awesome “bungalow tents” placed around a bit further down. The infinity pool and the 360° view are fabulous.

The final day was another half day of safari and then we left Serengeti from the west side through the Ndabaka Gate. From there the drive to Mwanza airport was 2 ½ hours along the Victoria Lake, although the road is pulled back from the lake, so we really didn’t see it. But from our flight to Zanzibar we could finally see the lake from the air.