Sat 10 Jan - Wed 14 Jan
The safari experience was absolutely incredible! I have never seen so many wild and different and HUGE animals so close! I was with 2 other aussies - from Canberra - who were wonderful, and it was great to share the experience with them. Our safari guide was great, extremely knowledgable and very respectful of the animals and their natural behaviours.
Most impacting was the time spent just watching the animals 'do their thing' - hunting and eating prey, sharing it with their young, playing with their young, sleeping and all those things. We saw leopard, cheetah, lion (both male and female), elephants, giraffe, hippo, ostrich, many monkeys, buffalo, many zebras, warthog, hyena, impala and redbuck, and plenty of different birds.
Up close, the animals are larger than life!
Elephants were bigger than our landcruiser - yet despite their size, they are graceful, quiet and nimble. 
Elegant are the giraffes, with their long long necks and long long legs! Hippo's are squat, fat and suprisingly big! When they open their very large mouths, you can see why they are to be feared! Of course, lions up close are massive. Our first sighting - was only 5 metres away, and I can tell you, when they looked straight at me, it sent shivers down my spine, and I felt very vulnerable standing exposed in the jeep.Sleeping in a tent at night was a bit concerning at first. Especially after a few stories our guide told us....(for example - a buffalo that lept across their dinner table with a lion on it's heals...) but we all got used to it. I did hear a lion one night - and that was pretty cool. Fortunately I didn't need to use the bathroom any night.
Apart from the amazing wildlife, the scenery was fantastic. Sunsets and sunrises on the Serengetti were awesome.
Some highlights: watching a Leopard with it's prey in a tree and finding her cub to join in the feed; seeing lions hunt and kill a buffalo; having elephants stroll across the road in front of us; having a shower with an elephant just outside the window; hearing giraffes chomping on leaves.
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