Taking a ride on Africa's wild side

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My safari in Tanzania's Serengeti was a memorable experience, delivered in true African style.

Myself and two friends chose to go on the five-day safari, covering three national parks, as we felt this would offer us the certainty of seeing all the animals that one associates with Africa.

As it was low season, we were offered accommodation in the five star lodges for just £3 extra a night. Without the permission of my group, however, I opted for camping as I believed this would provide us with a more authentic experience. I wasn't wrong.

My friends weren't too pleased when we met up with our guide, Akida, on the morning of the first day, and found him loading tents into the jeep. Nevertheless, we set off on the three hour trip to our first national park, Lake Manyara.

When we got to the park, there were flamingos, giraffes, zebras, and baboons spread across the expansive plain next to the lake. It was like that bit in the Lion King when Simba is born and all the animals gather together to see him for the first time.

We must have spent ages there and the day was over really quickly so we made our way to the next park – the Serengeti.

It was late when we got to the park so we headed straight for the campsite. When we arrived, we found no fences separating us from the wild, just a patch of land, differentiated from the plains only by half a dozen tents sporadically spread around. A herd of elephants was eating its way through the plants surrounding the clearing, and a baboon was soaking up some pre-sunset rays on a stack of rocks nearby.

The campsite was patrolled by a guard with a massive gun. I thought it couldn't do any harm to befriend him, and during the conversation that ensued, he informed me that the gun was for shooting tourists if they were to befall the wrath of a lion, so that their death would be faster and painless. How very thoughtful.

I wasn't totally sure he was joking – he didn't join in when I laughed – so I took it upon myself to ensure I didn't get into a situation which could lead to a) being eaten by a lion, and b) being shot by the guard. This basically involved being desperate for the loo all night, every night.

It didn't help that you could hear lions roaring not far from the tent. On a couple of occasions I considered venturing out of the tent, but shining my torch into the darkness revealed at least 20 pairs of eyes starring back.

During the next couple of days we were fortunate enough to see all the famous safari animals. Some of the notorious big five, however, proved difficult to locate. Akida stayed in radio contact with lots of other guides, so we could be on the scene if anything exciting was going down. On one occasion he was informed of a cheetah in the vicinity, and he put his foot down. Unfortunately, he drove off the bridge we were crossing and into the river. We were stuck for about 30 minutes, (no one wanted to help because they were all chasing after the poor cheetah), after which a kind passer-by hoisted us out (using his jeep and not brute strength, I might add), and all was well.

On the fourth day, after another sleepless night, we were woken at 5.30am by Goodluck, our chef. He brought cups of tea and biscuits (biss-quoo-eets, as Goodluck called them), and by six we had set off in the jeep in search of some sunrise action.

We were in luck – three lionesses out hunting. They could not have been closer to us. They didn't seem bothered by our incessant photo-taking, and quite happily (as happy as you can be when your man has multiple wives and doesn't bring home the bacon, or wildebeest in this case) went about their business.

We spent the final night at the Ngorogoro Crater. That evening we heard shrieks while having our 'meat' (no one ever know which animal it has come from and I think it's best not to ask) and beans. It transpired that a warthog had stolen a backpack from someone's tent by looping one of the straps around its horn. The backpack was retrieved and the warthog promptly shooed away.

Our final day was spent rhino watching in the crater. There are only 12 and we were lucky enough to see two.

After that, we made the four hour trip back to Moshi, and back to all the regular African creatures like giant caterpillars, flying cockroaches, oversized millipedes and the ever-present mosquitos which don't like the cold of the Serengeti. And that was the end of our safari adventure.

I realise I haven't talked that much about the animals, which surely should be the crux of a safari-themed article, I hear you cry, but everyone's seen monkeys and zebras countless times on nature documentaries. For me, what was so great about safari was all the other crazy stuff that went on. Can you imagine going on holiday in the UK to a place where man-eating animals roam freely around you as you sleep? That's why Africa is just so special.

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