South of Lyon, France – an Ideal Palace, cute villages and La Combe Laval

Back on Road! This time I am in France for a week, attending a wedding but also taking the opportunity to explore a bit at the same time. My first stop is Hauterives, about an hour’s drive south of Lyon. It is a pleasant village, but one which would have remained totally anonymous had it not been for “Facteur Cheval” – the village postman in the late 1800s. Not content with a mail round covering some 40km on foot, Ferdinand Cheval became interested in the different rocks he found in the countryside, began to take them back to his house in a wheelbarrow…….and in 1879 started to build a monument in his back garden, using the samples he had collected plus small amounts of purchased chalk and cement. Totally self-taught and unaided, he carried on building for thirty three years. He let his imagination run wild, helped by pictures on the postcards and magazines he was delivering to other people every day. He finally finished his project in 1912, aged 76.

The North facade of the Palais Ideal du Facteur Laval

The incredible monument soon became a tourist attraction. Some people considered it a remarkable piece of architecture in the naif style. Others called it an ugly folly built by an uneducated peasant. One of the early visitors nicknamed it Cheval’s “Palais Ideal” or ideal palace, a name that the postman liked and adopted for his creation. A different early visitor took photographs without authorisation to make postcards, causing Cheval to bring the world’s first ever court case for visual copyright, which he won.

My first impression on approaching the palace’s north facade was one of puzzlement. At first sight the art work was indeed basic and bizzare, with sculptures representing scenes from the Garden of Eve including a crudely represented Adam, Eve and snake. I wondered why I had made such a detour to look at a bunch of rocks roughly held together by chalk and cement. But having made the effort to get here, I decided to give the place a chance and wandered around its outside before diving into a tunnel passing through its heart and then heading up to the roof.

After a short time, the “palace” began to grow on me. On the west side were reproductions of architecture from around the world – a house in Algers, a swiss chalet, a mosque, a medieval european castle, even an attempt to represent the White House in the USA.

The “White House” is on the left in case you didn’t recognise it…..

On the east facade were three strangely-chosen giants from past history – Archimedes, Vercingetorix and Caesar. And all over the palace were inscriptions reflecting a deeply personal, humanist view of the world.

When it was finally time to leave I was enchanted by what I had seen and very glad I had come. The Palais Ideal is a remarkable creation, unique in the world – the work of a single man, uneducated perhaps, but with a strangely haunting vision of architecture…..and of life.

Inspired, happy and with a strange peaceful feeling, I headed onwards, south to Saint-Antoine-L’Abbaye, a small village located in the Isere department of France, which won the title of “France’s favourite village” in 2025 – a coveted award made annually.

I left my car at the foot of a steep hill and clambered up to the 900-year old gothic abbey to find a sun-drenched village square and some beautiful old buildings. After wandering around in the heat, I discovered a wonderful small shady garden in an inner courtyard and sat down to enjoy a fresh breeze whilst the sleepy village baked in the midday sun.

Beautiful Building in Saint-Antoine-L’Abbaye

Feeling very relaxed, I decided it was time to move on again – this time south to the Vercors, a rugged mountainous area of France famous as a centre for the resistance against the Nazis during the second world war. The gateway to this region was another impossibly pretty village called Pont-en-Royans, with curious suspended houses hanging over the side of a small river.

From there my path headed up steeply into the mountains to the Route Combe Laval, a famous mountain road carved into the face of a cliffs and reputed to be one of the most exciting drives in Europe. It was indeed a spectacular road, with narrow tunnels cut in the rock and sweeping views of the mountains.

Descending from La Combe Laval towards Die

I continued to the French city of Die, where sadly I didn’t have time to stop except to do a short tasting of the local wines in a cellar just outside of the centre. Die is known for its sparkling wines made from a unique local grape, Clairette…….but unfortunately I found that this style of wine was not really to my taste. I carried on to my overnight destination of Saillans, a small town in the Drome region, which was barely mentioned in my guide book and which I had only chosen because its location was convenient for the next day’s driving. However Saillans turned out to be a very positive surprise – its compact historical centre was packed with an unusually high concentration of bars and restaurants, which serviced a local population that seemed unusually young for a small French village lost in the countryside.

A sign in the town’s main square proposed an interesting short walking tour, which led me through narrow passageways shaded by frequent arches……..

…….and strange cul-de-sacs. In one of these the owners had left an amazing collection of toys, with a sign encouraging parents to let their children play there. The town had a young, bohemian and arty feel – quite unlike the usual sleepy provincial French village.

A children’s playground, Saillans – spot me, Trouspinet if you can!

After the walking tour I settled down to eat and drink at one of Saillans’ busy cafés. 15€ bought me an enormous cheese platter which was almost too much to eat, so I had to order some of the local red wine to help me wash it down. The Drome is not France’s most prestigious wine area, but its produce was perfectly drinkable and at 4€ a glass, who cares. When I paid for dinner I had the unusual experience of being pleasantly surprised by how small the bill was, and headed off to my room to digest my meal and review the day’s events. France is a remarkably rich tourist destination – in the space of just one day I had contemplated one of the world’s strangest architectural works, visited the two stunning villages of Saint-Antoine-L’Abbaye and Pont-en-Royans, done one wine tasting, driven one of Europe’s most spectacular mountain roads and ended up in the interesting small arty town of Saillans. I don’t think such a variety of attractions in such a small area exists anywhere else on earth.

8th July 2026 2

Our last day in Tanzania – Arusha National Park

Today was our last day in Tanzania, and we had chosen a low key, less-visited attraction to end our time here – Arusha National Park. This is located a short drive away from Arusha, on the way to Kilimanjaro Airport – so very convenient for our evening flight. After the very long day we had just had stuck in traffic jams, we arranged with our guide Estomih to start the day late, at 10.00. After half an hour of driving we were already at the park’s main gate and visitor centre, from where we got a brilliant view of Mount Meru. At 4560m, this dormant volcano is Tanzania’s second highest mountain and a popular four-day trek for climbers.

Mount Meru as seen from Arusha National Park

Indeed, the visitor centre was quite busy with groups preparing to climb Mt Meru, but once we had passed the gates into the park itself, there were almost no other tourists. Unlike more popular destinations, Arusha National Park has no lions or cheetahs; it is supposed to have some leopards but Estomih said he had never seen one here. The park also has quite dense vegetation, making spotting wildlife harder. But as we found out, despite the lack of big cats, there are lots of other interesting things to see here. Just after the entrance we came across a group (or “tower”) of giraffes in a clearing.

A “tower” of giraffes, Arusha National Park

We then drove along a bumpy track towards one of the park’s main attractions, the Ngurdoto crater. Along the way we found a group of black and white colobus monkeys, but they were so high up in a tree that it was hard to see them properly.

When we reached Ngurdoto we found a volcanic crater about half the size of Ngorongoro. It was pretty, but empty of animals except for a few buffalo. There was a viewing platform and table, which made for an excellent spot for lunch.

The Ngurdoto Crater at Arusha National Park

After our usual meat stew, vegetables, rice and wine we set off exploring again. The fun of this park was spotting elusive small animals, like the shy bushbuck.

Our route took us to the Momela Lakes, one of the park’s other highlights. At the Big Momela Lake we found large flocks of flamingos. Although we had seen these birds several times before in Tanzania, this time we were lucky since for some reason they decided to put on a spectacular flight display for us. It was the first time we had seen a large group of flamingos in the air, and it made for an amazing sight, a bit like an aerial display by an elite fighter jet team.

Heading back towards the park entrance, we finally got a up-close view of magnificent black-and-white colobus monkeys….

….with some smaller vervet monkeys keeping them company.

We reached the large clearing we had first seen at the beginning of the day. This time the giraffes were close to the road, including this cute baby with its mother.

Soon, we found ourselves back at the park’s main gate; our time in Tanzania was now at end and it was time to drive to the airport for our night flight back home. To my readers it might sound like that Arusha National Park was a bit of an anti-climax after the wonders of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro, but actually we found that its low-key, quiet atmosphere was the perfect way to end our trip. It left us feeling happy and reflective as we sat in the airport lounge having one last bottle of Kilimanjaro beer. Tanzania had been a wonderful experience. We had been very lucky with the range of animals we had seen, but I think we had made also good choices around the timing of our trip, our itinerary and our local tour company, Safari Soles. Back home, I will reflect on this a bit more and write up some thoughts on tips for travellers on the “Tanzania” page of this website.

Previous Post: Coffee on Kilimanjaro

2nd February 2026 4

Coffee on Kilimanjaro

Our guide Estomih told us that today was going to be a long day. Quite how long, nobody expected. We set off along the main road leading east from Arusha towards Mount Kilimanjaro, our intended destination being a small village of the Chagga tribe, who live in the foothills of the famous mountain. At first, things went well and we even glimpsed a view of the famously shy Kilimanjaro, which is usually covered in cloud from mid-morning to late afternoon.

Suddenly our plan started to unravel, as we hit a long line of lorries stuck in a traffic jam. We were able to pass them, but only as far as police roadblock, where we told that the main road had been closed following a collision between two large trucks on a bridge. Since this was the main route linking Tanzania’s third biggest city (Arusha) with the capital Dar Es Salam, this was obviously a huge problem. We were directed onto a side road and told we could make a big detour around the blocked area; Estomih estimated that this would add about an hour to our trip. Initially we were not too bothered by this, since the scenery was much prettier than the main road – lush vegetation, small villages and ocassional glimpses of Kilimanjaro in the distance. But then we hit another line of stationary vehicles. We heard that this road had also been blocked when a diverted bus had hit a narrow bridge.

After twenty minutes of waiting around, with no sign of progress, I got up to stretch my legs. After another ten minutes Estomih finally found a policeman, who advised us that the chances of progress in the next couple of hours was very low, so we decided to rearrange our day and do the afternoon’s planned activity first. We left the long queue, turned around and headed to what our programme described as “hot springs”, which were found on a bumpy, dusty track just off the main road back to Arusha. They turned out to actually be refreshingly cool rather than hot, with crystal clear water forming two large pools surrounded by trees.

It was an idyllic scene. We quickly pulled on our bathing gear and stepped into the water – to find our legs and paws surrounded by small black catfish that pecked at our fur. Back in London they offer this type of foot massage in trendy beauty clinics, but I had never tried it before. I quite enjoyed the slightly tickly sensation, but Snoopy found it unpleasant and hurried off to swim, shaking off the pursuing fish. We spent a very pleasant hour at the springs, before Estomih announced that he had found a back way to the Chagga village. This route passed along dusty, bumpy tracks through fields – we crossed a few other vehicles who were also trying to avoid the blocked road, but otherwise it was very quiet.

We finally got onto a main road near the small town of Moshi, and then headed north towards Kilimanjaro, which was now covered with its usual cloud. The road went steeply uphill, and the dull, dusty landscape of the plain was replaced by lush green vegetation. Our destination was a Chagga village literally at the end of the road, and we were met by our local guide who took us to a small restaurant, where we were served a meal based on one of the local specialities – bananas. The Chagga know over twenty different species, some of which are sweet and are eaten as fruit, and some of which are savoury and used in cooking. They also offered us an alcoholic drink made from fermented bananas, but since it had a 10% alcohol content, we kept our bottle for later. The Chagga people also grow coffee, and after lunch they showed us the different steps in making the drink, starting with the beans from the plant, then removing three layers of shell, and finally grinding and brewing the coffee. Our tourist group was invited to help with each of these steps, which were accompanied by singing and dancing – the Chagga people seemed to be permanently happy, as had almost every other Tanzanian that we had met on our travels.

Coffee beans after we had removed the shells

We sampled a cup of coffee made by our own efforts, which was really good…….

……before heading out on a short hike to a nearby waterfall, through lush green forest.

Lush vegetation in the Kilimanjaro foothills

On the way we found one of the most interesting animals to inhabit the rainforests of Tanzania – the chameleon.

We reached the waterfall after about forty minutes. Some tourists went swimming, but we didn’t want to get our fur wet and stayed on the shore, admiring the view. Soon it was time to go. Back at the Chagga village we found Estomih, who had found out by radio from other guides that the main road was now partially reopened. He estimated we would need about three hours to get back to our hotel, and it was now a quarter to five.

The beginning of our journey back started well. One of the two lanes of the main road was still blocked, so the police had set up a system of alternating traffic. Although slow, this seemed to work, and we sat in a long queue of jeeps and trucks, occasionally advancing a few hundred metres when it was our turn to move. It was already night, there was nothing to see, and my phone could not get the internet, so it was very boring. To pass the time I drank the bottle of banana wine the Chagga people had given us, and was so desperate for a distraction that I actually finished it – it is not something we will be taking back in our duty free.

Then something seemed to go wrong up ahead. We sat for a long time without moving, and saw no traffic coming the other way. After a while people began to get frustrated, and pulled into the other lane to advance; finally Estomih did the same. We arrived at a huge jam, with three lanes of vehicles on what was supposed to be a one lane road.

Luckily we were in a jeep, so Estomih left the highway, drove over some rough ground, and found the end of the side road that we had been supposed to take as a diversion in the morning in the opposite direction. We finally got back to our hotel at ten. Dinner usually finished at nine, but the kitchen staff stayed around to offer us the full range of food normally available, serving us with their usual happy smiles as if nothing had happened.

Over dinner we recovered our good spirits. It had been a difficult day, but it got us thinking – so far in Tanzania everything had worked like clockwork, in contrast to the frequent transport issues we experience in Europe. And unlike people back home, who would get very annoyed by the type of problem we had just faced, the Tanzanians simply smile. It’s a lesson for us to take home.

Previous Post: Hunting with the Hadzabe

Next Post: Arusha National Park

1st February 2026 6

Hunting with the Hadzabe

After several days watching animals, today we had a completely different experience, spending the morning with the Hadzabe tribe. They live in the bush and still live from hunting small animals and gathering fruit and berries. There are about five thousand Hadzabe, but no one knows the exact number since they live totally separate from the main Tanzanian society and have no birth or death records. We arrived in the early morning to meet the chief of the tribe, who was very welcoming and talkative. He insisted we learn a few words of their language, which was very strange, with clicking sounds made by the tongue and strange guttural sounds from the throat.

The Hadzabe chief greets a fellow tourist

Having met the chief, we were invited to join a lively welcome dance.

The Hadzabe welcome us with a dance and song

Next, one of the tribesmen gave a long and highly animated talk about how they hunt, with lots of gestures of dying animals and a demonstration of the different arrows they used for different prey. There was one for small birds, one for medium birds, one for monkeys, one for small mammals and a special poisoned arrow for bigger prey like antelope. Each type had a highly specialised arrowhead, which they obtained by trading from the nearby Datoga tribe, and we were forced to learn the Hadzabe names for each one.

Hadzabe tribesman explaining about his arrows

After a highly entertaining introduction to the art of hunting, we set off to follow three Hadzabe men into the bush in search of food. The party moved remarkable silently, gliding across the ground and through thick bushes with hardly a sound, bows and arrows in hand. Occasionally they would stop to shoot at a something in a tree. Their first few attempts were unsuccessful, and I was amazed at how quickly they managed to find and retrieve their spent arrows.

Finally one of the men managed to shoot a small bird. I wondered how such a tiny animal could provide much sustenance to a human, but the hunter was delighted and renacted the shooting for us in his language with many expansive gestures before posing for a picture.

The party headed on, deeper into the bush. The vegetation became more and more thorny, especially the viciously sharp thorns on the small acacia trees that often caught in our fur, and we struggled to keep up.

A rare bush plant that did not have ferocious thorns….

Up ahead we heard more sounds of celebration as two more small birds were shot.

After a couple of hours, it was getting hot and the group decided to head back – the best hunting is in the morning when there is a better chance of finding larger animals. I wondered how three small birds could possibly be a good return for two hours’ work, but the hunters seemed in excellent spirits. Back at the village the mood was also upbeat – a different hunting party had caught a civet cat, and was now roasting it over the fire.

Back at the village – roasting a civet cat

We spent a little more time with the tribe, trying archery with the men and meeting with the women, before it was time to offer our host a tip (some modern practices have been adopted by the Hadzabe!) and head off on our way.

Our next destination was a different tribe – the Datoga. First we met the women of the village, and through our guide’s translation, chatted with them about village life in one of their huts.

Datoga tribeswomen with a fellow tourist

The Datoga men are known for working metal, and take scrap, like old brass taps or pipes, heat it for several days in fire to soften it, and then turn it into bracelets and other decorations.

They also make all of the different shaped arrowheads for the Hadzabe by hammering old nails.

It was now late morning and time to head on to Arusha, the city we had stayed in when we first arrived, nearly two weeks ago; our exploration of Tanzania was coming to an end. We retraced our route north up the bumpy dusty track to the main road. Our visit to these two small Tanzanian tribes had represented quite a big detour for us, but it was worth it – seeing the Hadzabe in particular was a fascinating insight into how humanity must once have lived, and despite the heat and scratches from the ferocious vegetation, hunting with them was an unforgettable experience.

Previous Post: The Ngorongoro Crater

Nest Post: Coffee on Kilimanjaro

31st January 2026 2

The Ngorongoro Crater

Today we got up early to experience one of Tanzania’s highlights – the Ngorongoro Crater, a huge volcanic caldera covering around 260 square kilometres. The area is home to a unique ecosystem, including lions, rhinos, elephant, hippos and many different types of antelope – but no giraffes, since the sides of the crater are too steep for them to enter. Our guide Estomih wanted us to be at the entrance gate at 06.00, saying that in the afternoon, the crater gets very busy with day trippers from the Serengeti or even from Arusha.

We arrived at the lip of the crater just as it started to get light, Estomih bought our (very expensive) permits, and we set off down a steep slope along a one-way road. Our first stop was the lake at the bottom of the caldera – apparently the largest volcanic lake in the world, and home to flamingos, hippos and pelicans.

Sunrise at the Ngorongoro Crater at Dawn

The steep sides of the Ngorongoro Crater at Dawn

Next we headed to the small forest occupying the south end of the crater. There, through the trees, we caught a glimpse of some white rhinos in the far distance. This species was driven to extinction in Tanzania by poaching, and in 2025 eighteen were brought from South Africa to a special protected enclosure at Ngorongoro to see if they thrive and can eventually be released into the wild. Whilst we were admiring these massive animals, Estomih heard on the radio that back on the plains of the crater, a wild black rhino had been sighted, so we hurried off to see it. However, our road was unexpectedly blocked by an elephant having his breakfast, and we had to wait until he had hauled his tree branch out of the way before we could continue.

The black rhino proved to be a bit of a disappointment. It was far away, and lying down, disappointing the large group of tourists in jeeps that had assembled to watch it.

We had breakfast in our jeep, hoping the rhino might at least get up and walk a bit, but when we had finished he was still stubbornly immobile, so we headed of to see the rest of the crater. It was a beautiful sight, justifying its reputation as one of Africa’s seven natural wonders.

Soon it was time for lunch, which we ate at a picnic spot beside a small lake. The area was busy – just as Estomih had said, day trippers had arrived from the Serengeti, and the crater was now quite busy. We were concentrating on eating and protecting our food from the black kites circling overhead, when suddenly on top of a hill overlooking the lake appeared a group of lions. I quickly calculated that even with my small teddy legs, I could reach the safety of my jeep before a lion could reach me, but they ignored us and passed on their way.

Estomih once again got a message on the radio about another rhino sighting, so we hurriedly finished eating and headed off…..to run into a big traffic jam caused by the lions we had just seen. They were now walking down the main road, oblivious to the chaos they were causing behind them. It seemed that the tourist jeeps divided into two groups – those with passengers like us who had seen lots of lions and were hurrying to see the much rarer rhino, and those with people who had just arrived and found lions exciting. The latter groups would stop frequently for pictures, making the traffic jam even worse.

Eventually we fought our way past the lions and found the black rhino, who, whilst still being a long way off, was at least walking around and posing for photos.

We took a few pictures of him before it was time to leave Ngorongoro – to control traffic and preserve the environment, the authorities only issue a six-hour permit to visit, and ours was due to expire at two pm. On the steep road back to the crater rim we had time for one last stop to admire the view of one of the most magical places in the world.

At the exit to the park, we continued our road east on the main road back towards Arusha, and then turned south on a dirt track to Lake Eyasi, arriving at our lodge in the mid-afternoon for once. This gave us time to sit in front of our room, looking at the sun setting over the lake, enjoying the company of a flock of lovebirds and absorbing what we had seen over the past few days in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. The trip so far had been mostly devoted to Tanzania’s animals – it was now time to meet more of the country’s people……

Previous Post: From the Serengeti to Ngornogoro

Next Post: Hunting with the Hadzabe

29th January 2026 2

From the Serengeti to Ngorongoro

Today we had to leave the Serengeti and continue on to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We had time for one last morning game drive, during which we saw a huge bull elephant with one very long tusk. Our guide Estomih told us that this elephant had once attacked a tourist jeep that had approached too close to him during the mating season, and had rolled the vehicle over many times. Fortunately the occupants escaped with minor injuries. We were happy to admire him from a safe distance.

We also saw our good friends the mother cheetah and her cubs once last time, once again surrounded by tourist jeeps…

Our friend the mother cheetah and her cubs

A cub crawls onto to mum and collapses asleep

…before we spotted two other cheetahs in a different area of the park. For this couple of young males, we could relax and observe all for ourselves.

Estomih served lunch on the bonnet of our jeep, and we ate it whilst looking around carefully for any lions that might sneak up on us, but there were none. Indeed, this was the only day in our Serengeti stay when we did not see any.

Finally, after four days of amazing game viewing, it was time to leave the Serengeti National Park, and pass into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

Unlike the park, the Masai are allowed to live in this area and we saw many of them tending their herds of cows and goats by the side of the road. We made a pre-arranged stop at one of their villages to learn about Masai life. We were greeted by a welcome dance…..

….before being shown how to make fire (actually a very quick process)…..

…..and then being invited into one of their tiny, simply huts to learn what the Masai ate – milk or cow’s blood in the morning, and meat in the evening, with no fruit or vegetables.

The visit ended with a slightly too insistent request to buy some of the huge number of carvings set out on a massive stall in the centre of the village. The Masai are good at commerce and have become quite expert at milking tourists for money in return for photographs or other services.

We headed onwards and visited a modest display about the attractions of the Ngorongoro area in small museum building just off the main road. There I learnt that the famous archaeological site of Olduvai Gorge was only five kilometres away down a dusty track. This is the place were the earliest fossils of hominid ancestors of man have been found, including the famous “Lucy” Australopithecus skeleton, and so can probably claim to be the birthplace of humanity. I asked Estomih whether we could go and visit the museum there, but he said that this needed to be booked in advance and that in any case it was late in the afternoon and it would close soon. I was a bit disappointed that I had forgotten to ask for this key site to be included in my safari itinerary.

My disappointment was short-lived though, as the road climbed into lush green mountains with beautiful views of lakes, trees and small Masai villages.

We made lots of stops to take photos, including one at the rim of the famous Ngorongoro Crater, our destination for the next day.

We reached our lodge as the sun was setting and the shadows lengthening, which was a shame because it was a really nice place and it would have been good to have enjoyed it for longer.

Our lodge on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater

When the sun finally set, it became decidedly chilly, and we put on the warm clothes we had last used when changing planes at Amsterdam in Europe. After another nice evening meal we were soon snuggling in bed, delighted that the lodge had provided each of us with a hot water bottle.

Keeping warm ahead of another early start

Previous Post: Floating Above the Serengeti

Next Post: The Ngorongoro Crater

27th January 2026 3

Floating over the Southern Serengeti

Today, even by the standards of our safari, we woke up unusually early for a 5.15 am departure. We drove through the night and arrived at a flat empty plain, where a group of Tanzanians was preparing a large hot air balloon. This was to be a new experience for us, and as the sky slowly got lighter in the east, we watched as the staff inspected the balloon’s fabric, and then started to fill it with hot air from a propane burner. The captain of our flight emerged to give us a safety briefing and assure us that he had been piloting balloons for twenty years without incident.

Just as the sun starting rising, we ready for take-off. Along with landing, this was the only slightly complicated part of the flight and involved us curling up at the bottom of the basket whilst balloon lifted slowly into the air. Soon our captain announced we could stand up and we were greeted by a magical sight of sunrise over the Serengeti plains, with the ground far below.

Our balloon drifted gently with the wind, sweeping over trees, herds of antelopes and giraffes. There was a wonderful silence, broken occasionally by the sound of some more gas been burnt to maintain our altitude, and the soft murmur of my fellow passengers as they admired the amazing sight. Although the Serengeti’s animals and birds are used to jeeps, they seemed scared by our balloon and hurried away as we approached them.

We let our minds float with our balloon over the Serengeti plains, soaking in the experience and filming the animals below us.

I was surprised when our pilot announced that we had been flying for over an hour and it was time to prepare for landing – it seemed that we had only just started. Too soon, we had to crouch back down in our basket and wait for out balloon to hit the ground with a series of bumps. Our successful flight was celebrated with fizzy wine accompanied by songs and dancing by the balloon’s support staff, who had been following us in jeeps as we flew.

We then got back into a jeep and drove for about an hour back to a picnic area close to where we had started, for a copious outdoors breakfast. At around nine a.m. our balloon experience was over and we met up with our guide Estomih again in our own jeep.

Amazingly we still had nearly a full day for a game drive, and to get yet more close up views of big cats, birds and herbivores. We got our closest yet view of a leopard, who started lying in the grass in front of us before climbing up a small tree…..

…..and then reconnected with the two cheetahs we had seen the day before.

We were not alone to admire these cheetahs, whose small shady bush had been surrounded by an array of tourist jeeps. We were travelling in the mid-season (January), and Estomih told us that in high season there would be twice as many vehicles. We don’t like crowds and were glad we had avoided this.

It was soon time for lunch, which we had inside our jeep for a change.

The afternoon’s game drive was quieter, with flamingos, impala, zebra, wildebeest and a few more lions.

As the afternoon progressed, we became a bit tired after several long days and early starts, not to mention our big lunch and glass of Tanzanian wine! So we headed back to our camp to recharge our batteries after another memorable day.

Previous Post: From Central to Southern Serengeti

Next Post: From the Serengeti to Ngorongoro

27th January 2026 2

From Central to Southern Serengeti

Today we were due to move from our camp in the centre of the Serengeti to one in the southern part of the park, enjoying a game drive along the way. Our day started well when we bumped into another superpride of lions. Initially we thought they were hunting some nearby buffalo, but instead they ambled along, inspecting our jeep and moving from one shady tree to the next.

Early morning lions finding shade under a tree……

After this chance encounter we revisited the slain buffalo we had seen the previous day to see if the two lions were still there. It turned out that they had moved on, and been replaced by a couple of hyenas. All that was left of the poor buffalo was its skull – the hyenas have powerful jaws that can crush bones and will eat any part of any animal left over by more powerful predators. A couple of vultures waited patiently for the last hyena to finish, but we were not sure if anything would be left for them. Nearby a nimble jackal seemed to have managed to grab a bone from under the hyenas’ noses and was carrying it away to a safe distance to enjoy it.

After the initial success of the early morning, we had less luck as the day wore on. We did find a group of three male lions hiding in the long grass, and spot a solitary Nile crocodile.

One of a group of three male lions we spotted

But then we spent a lot of time heading towards a reported sighting of a cheetah, only to find lots of jeeps and no signs of any animals. It was time for us to head south to our next camp, and we drove along a long and dusty road that initially appeared rather uninteresting. However we were lucky with two chance sightings of fairly rare animals – first we saw a bat-eared fox, an extremely cute animal that sadly disappeared into its burrow before I could take a picture. Next, we found a serval, a really beautiful smaller relative of leopards and cheetahs, who was much more happy to be filmed.

Further along the road we came across an amazing sight that the Serengeti is famous for – a huge herd of wildebeest and zebra, stretching all the way to the horizon and turning the yellow/green landscape into a mass of black animal bodies. In January most of these animals are found in the south of the park, which is why we had seen relatively few of them so far. In the summer most of them move north in a vast migration and make the hazardous crossing of the crocodile-infested Mara River into Kenya, before returning later in the year.

A huge herd of wildebeest and zebra stretches to the horizon

As we reached the southern part of the Serengeti it was getting late, but our guide Estomih insisted that we should check out two sightings of cheetahs before checking into our camp. We were a bit sceptical after several long days and our unsuccessful search in the morning, but eventually gave in to his enthusiasm. First we found a couple of young males, who had killed a gazelle, and were digesting their meal in the shade of a tree.

A bit further away, we found one of the highlights of our trip – a female cheetah with four cubs. She had caught them a young gazelle and was scanning the horizon for threats as they ate. When they had finished eating they approached her and gave her an affectionate lick.

We finally reached our accommodation after sunset. It was a special mobile camp, which can be disassembled and moved to follow the migrating wildebeest. Despite this, it was remarkably comfortable and well-appointed. On arrival we went straight to dinner and then to bed, aware that the next day we would have to get up even earlier than usual for a very special treat.

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26th January 2026 4

The Serengeti – Leopards, Cheetahs and yet more lions

After the forty-eight lions we had seen yesterday, today Estomih our guide was determined to find us some different big cats. As usual, with the help of the guides’ exchanging of information over the radio, he delivered. Our first rendezvous was with a young male leopard, which as usual for its species was lazing in a tree.

Having admired the magnificent animal for while, we set off in search of cheetahs…….and duly found three young males making their way through the thick grass of the Serengeti plains.

Over the radio, Estomih heard that our leopard had now been joined by his brother, so we headed back to the see the rather touching sight of the two siblings hanging out together in the branches of a tall tree.

Having seen all of the big cats, we could relax, enjoy the Serengeti scenery, and pay more attention to the park’s less famous animals and birds, like the dik-dik, the smallest antelope…….

…..a big fat hippo, out of its pond…..

……the strange looking topi….

….and the beautiful lilac-breasted roller bird.

Towards the end of the day we bumped into a group of hyenas

A short way further on, we found two lions who had recently killed a buffalo. They sat there with bloodied mouths and fat bellies, digesting their meal.

It had been another great day, but over dinner back in our bush camp I began to wonder if we had already seen everything there was to see in the Serengeti, and whether the next two days here might become a bit repetitive. Fortunately I was wrong, as you will see in the next posts.

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25th January 2026 4

From Lake Natron to Serengeti National Park (and 48 lions)

We woke up early and were ready to leave at six as our guide Estomih had suggested. Our first destination of the day was Lake Natron, a large salt lake that stretches across the border between Tanzania and Kenya. We arrived just in time for sunrise. Estomih parked the jeep, leaving us to make the short walk to the water’s edge across a mudflat.

As it got lighter, we saw Lake Natron’s most famous sight – its flamingos, their pink colour enhanced by the early morning sun. From a distance they resembled a long pink band running along the short of the lake.

We were the only visitors there, and the lake had a very peaceful feeling, with the silence only broken by the occasional honking of the birds when we got too close to them. We spent about an hour there soaking up the atmosphere and then headed back to our lodge for breakfast, where we also admired the busy weaver birds who built nests in the nearby trees.

Refreshed and dosed with coffee, we got back into the jeep and made the four-hour drive along the back roads of Tanzania to the Klein’s gate, the northern entrance to the Serengeti National Park. The road was very quiet and quite scenic, and the time passed quickly.

We stopped for lunch just outside the entrance, and then in the early afternoon Estomih bought our pass and with mounting anticipation, we headed into the famous park. Initially, it was an anti-climax. We saw a few antelope and other small animals, but nothing remarkable. Estomih’s jeep had a radio with which he communicated with other guides, usually to share tips about where to see big cats. But this afternoon the guides were all complaining about how quiet things were.

Estomih headed off to an area where some lions had been seen earlier in the day, and suddenly on the horizon I saw the distinctive profile of a large, old male lion with his large bushy mane. We rushed to look and found we had discovered one of the Serengeti’s “superprides” – a social group consisting of about a dominant male lion, many lionesses and even more cubs and young lions.

Each member of the group behaved differently. The old male lounged around. He got up once to sniff our jeep suspiciously before peeing on our spare wheel to mark his territory, and then lay down again right beside us.

The lionesses walked around greeting each other and sometimes would roll around in the grass, with their tummies in the air – reminding me of my own little pet cat back home.

The younger lions on the other hand were very active and always playing.

At first we were one of only two jeeps to have discovered this pride, and had the amazing spectacle almost to ourselves. But as time passed more jeeps arrived, and we decided to move on. A short drive away we discovered yet more lions – a lioness with three young cubs, which Estomih said were part of the same superpride.

Another short drive away we found two more male lions, lounging around in a base used for balloon flights. In total that brought the number of lions we had seen to twenty eight.

It was getting late, and it was time to head on to our camp for the night. In the fading light we caught a quick glimpse of a hippo that had left its river…….

……and then just a bit later, a group of over twenty mostly female lions in a pack hunting zebra, spread out right across the track we were using. We stopped to take pictures, but they largely ignored us, staring intently into the distance in front of them. One of the lionesses got up to sniff the spare wheel which the large male had sprayed earlier, and looked at us suspiciously for a while before rejoining the group.

Sadly, it was now very late, and we could not stay long to admire the lionesses. We finally got to our camp at about seven thirty, after a day which had started at six. We were impressed by Estomih’s stamina and dedication, and remembered that his work was not yet over – he still had to clean the jeep and wash up the plates from our lunch. What an amazing day – after the spectacular flamingos of Lake Natron, we had seen no less than forty-eight lions in the space of a few hours in the Serengeti National Park. Our expectations for the next three days we would spend there were now sky-high.

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24th January 2026 5