Monday September 9
We had a bit of a sleep in as we only left Naboisho at 9:30 for our trip to Sayari in Tanzania and so involved a border crossing.
After a leisurely brekkie and packing we set off the the airstrip with Clerio and Grazie. First we had a short flight to Migori where we were met by a mini-van which drove us to the Kenyan border exit point then to the Tanzanian border entry. All went smoothly - fortunately for Clerio and Grazie we had sufficient USD to pay their $100 (for 2) entry fee as they only had Euros - they insisted on giving us 100EUR in return - a 20% commission so we tipped the van driver. After crossing into Tanzania it was another short drive (about 30m) so another airstrip from where we flew to our camp Sayari, located in the northern part of Serengeti very close to the Mara River, arriving about 3pm. We had to rush as they had scheduled us on a 3:30pm game drive with another couple, Pat & Tony from Georgia and our guide Emmanuel. We had an excellent drive spotting lions, a leopard, a family of 7 giraffes, etc.
We arrived back at the camp at 6:40pm and again were on a bit of a mission to get unpacked, showered and ready for pre-dinner drinks.
Tuesday September 10
Up early for a 6:30am start again with Pat & Tony. The highlight of the morning was 2 crossings of the Mara - the first one was huge - about 5000 wildebeest and a smattering of zebra. After lunch we did another drive - this time only Tony joined us. We managed to find the rhino after a late tipoff from another jeep. Since it was already 5:30pm we had a hair-raising ride out to where he was located - there was only time for a few photos then a somewhat slower drive back to camp arriving just before 7:00pm. We had a late sundowner then freshened up for dinner and again off to bed by 9:30pm.
Wednesday September 11
Last full day at Sayari - we had a private game drive in the morning which was not very successful - all the cats were hiding. So we returned before noon for a bit of rest before lunch then out again in the afternoon. This time some people we had met at Naboisho (Lisa and Barry) joined us and again we did not see very much. On both drives we did see some large herds of elephants with many young ones so our driver did not want to get too close. As some rain had moved in we went back to camp a bit early, 6:30pm, so we had a sundowner at the main bar then showered for dinner at 8:00pm.
Thursday September 12
Ah at last, a bit of sleep-in as we only departed at 9am for Sopa Camp on the rim of Ngorogoro Crater.