Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater

The Serengeti!  What a place.  We were worried a bit because with how expensive it is to get a vehicle and a guide and pay to go into the Serengeti--and Ngorongoro Crater--that we could only afford a day in each and that we would miss some of the animals.  This turned out not to be true.  As soon as we entered the gate we started seeing animals.  There were wildebeest and zebra herds interspersed with many impalas and Grant's and Thompson's gazelle.  We even saw a hyena within the first five minutes.  We could barely make out its face in the tall grass and then she stood up and walked into some bushes.  We knew this would be a great adventure.
We went in the wet season.  This didn't exactly mean it would rain the whole time, but it was overcast in the mornings and it did sprinkle on us a couple times.  What the wet season meant was that the grass was taller and the animals would be harder to see, especially the carnivores that need to hide to catch and kill their prey.  But the prey, the herbivores were widely dispersed and we saw many of them.  We did a count and by the time we had left the Ngorongoro Conservation Area we had seen 30 different animal species, not counting any birds.  For herbivores that meant Grant's and Thompson's gazelle, impala, hartebeest, wildebeest, topi, reedbuck, dik-dik (I think the smallest antelope), eland (the largest antelope--bigger than a buffalo), warthog, water buffalo, zebra, giraffe, and elephant.  I may have left some out accidentally.  We went to the Grumeti River and saw the water species; hippo (also a herbivore), crocodile, and a monitor lizard.  We went to the central part of the park near Seronera and saw leopard and lion.  In the east, we saw the wildebeest migration--largest land migration in the world--with hundreds of thousands of wildebeest with many zebra and gazelle along.  Lazing around, probably fat from feasting were two hyena.  There were animals everywhere.
We left the Serengeti and entered the Ngorongoro Crater and saw a cheetah.  The grass there was shorter and we stood in our pop-up-top vehicle watching it as it contemplated running after some gazelle.  They either caught wind of what was going on or luckily stayed too far away for the cheetah to chase them.  We traveled around Lake Magadi in the crater and saw the eland, which we were told was the largest antelope, weighing in at more than a water buffalo.  Lastly, along with all the other game animals in the crater, we saw black rhino.
So everybody wants to see "The Big Five" when they come to these parks/preserves.  "The Big Five" are water buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard, and lion.  Of course we wanted to see "The Big Five" but unlike other people we weren't just driving around looking for them, from one to the next.  We were excited with every animal from the largest elephant to the tiny dik-dik.  Early on within the park we saw herds of water buffalo.  We had seen them before, but there were some large herds here, and they are such large animals that it is nice to see them but from a safe distance.  We later saw a large, lone bull elephant.  He happened to just be off a side road and our guide, Vincent, drove down it near him (first photo).  He was not as excited to see us as we were him and he charged a bit at our truck.  Vincent took off.  We had also seen elephant, but it was amazing to see one so big and so close.
When we made it to the central part of the park Vincent spotted a leopard in a tree.  It was napping and with our binoculars we could see its coat and tail.  It was facing the other way so we went around to the "road" on the other side of the tree, where we had a better view and could see its face.  After watching for a bit another leopard came down from a higher branch where we could not see it before.  It stopped by the first and then found its own branch before walking down the large, broken branch to the ground, where it disappeared.  Vincent told us it was rare to see two leopards together like that.  We eventually left and drove not more than 100 meters down the road and stopped to look where we had seen some vehicles stopped earlier.  There was another leopard in a tree not far from the road there.  We watched it for a while and then moved on.
Vincent then took us toward some rock outcrops and we drove around in the setting sun looking for lions.  At the third or fourth outcrop we spotted two lions (one with a collar; photo) lazing around on some rocks.  As it was nearing the end of the time we could be driving around we looped back around to some other rocks and there we saw a male lion lying on a rock.  Vincent also said that was rare as the males are usually not out in the open as much as the females.  We had had a great day and had seen four of "The Big Five."

The next day we were up early for a game drive before heading to the Ngorongoro Crater.  We saw some large families of elephants.  One family was quite close and we saw two young elephants.  They are so neat.  Tiny little packages of their giant parents.  After that we drove around a bit without seeing much.  On our way out of the park we saw another lion on a rock near the road.  Then we made it to the gate, still 18 kilometers from the border of Serengeti.
In the area between the gate and the border we saw the migration.  There were literally hundreds of thousands of wildebeest with so many zebra and gazelle.  We stopped to watch as a large herd crossed the road in front of our vehicle.  It was incredible to witness.  The photo and anything I could write would never do it any justice.   

After seeing the migration we drove for a while and then entered the Ngorongoro Crater.  I had heard of this place and was excited to see it for myself.  There were animals everywhere.  Like I mentioned, we saw a cheetah.  Then we carried on around the lake and we saw two lions.  One was watching some wildebeest and was crouching, trying to sneak up on them as they rested.  Its efforts were thwarted, though, by a hyena, who thought she would try her luck just approaching the wildebeest.  This was unsuccessful and one easily chased her off three times by lowering its horns and charging.  This roused the wildebeest enough that the lions gave up.

Continuing on around the lake we saw the eland.  Vincent again said how lucky we were as people don't normally see these large antelope.  Little did he know how lucky we were about to be.  Further around the lake we saw the black rhino.  It was the last of "The Big Five."  Not only did we see one, but we saw two.  They were lying down together.  As we looked more with the binoculars, Vincent said something about the three large animals just a little further.  He couldn't tell if they were buffalo or more rhino.  I looked with my binoculars, and sure enough, it was three more black rhino.  We watched them all for a bit and out of a depression came two more rhinos we didn't see.  There in front of us there were seven black rhino, possibly just under half of the endangered population in the Ngorongoro Crater.  It was incredible. 

I could go on and on about all the amazing things we saw and add photo after photo, but this will have to do.  You can see more on your favorite nature show, or better yet, plan your own trip and book your flights.  You will not be disappointed.