This morning our plan is to do another game drive in the central Serengeti before heading to Lobo in the northern Serengeti. I’m sad to be leaving our lovely tent camp. It’s been such a relaxing place to stay!

Right out of the gate, we see a cheetah sitting under a tree in the distance.

We watch him for awhile since he looks like he’s waiting to find prey, but he only walks a short distance before lying down for a nap. I’m really glad I got to see the cheetah mamma and her cubs on the hot air balloon safari since this guy is so far away and we don’t get to see any more on this safari. Here’s a really zoomed in photo of him sitting under a tree.

We drive on, always on the lookout for something new.

There has to be at least 50 elephants here! And it’s day 5 of seeing them! I’m absolutely loving this. But soon they head off over the horizon.

We go in a different direction today down a road we haven’t been on before. It’s really long and flat and there isn’t much to see. But just as we’re starting to think the morning is a bit of a bust, we see a lion in the distance. As we get closer, we see that he has a mate.

Abdul lets the other drivers know and soon there’s a small group of trucks watching and waiting for them to give us a show.

And sure enough, they do!

Once again, it’s over quickly and the lioness rolls over to rest. They really are just big kitties.

After resting for a few minutes, both lions get up and walk over to a nearby rock outcrop. We all quickly follow suit.

They are so obliging, allowing us to take as many pictures as we want, posing in all manor of positions.

They never stay in the same place for long. As they’re walking to another nap spot, Mr. gets a little too frisky and is promptly told off by the Mrs.

It was so cool and slightly terrifying. Hearing a lion roar so close to you is something you won’t soon forget. All is soon forgiven and they lie back down for more rest.

We spend most of the morning watching them and even eat lunch nearby. But soon we have to be on our way to get to Lobo before the sun goes down. We wave farewell to these guys and make our way north.

Little do we know how many more lions the day has in store for us. Did you know they sometimes sleep in trees? Well, they do! This doesn’t look even a little comfortable.

There’s at least 3 or 4 lions in the tree, and probably 8 or 9 more on the ground.

Personally, I think the leopards have the tree sleeping thing down a lot better than the lions.

How do you not want to crawl into the middle and cuddle them all? A little further down the road, we find out why this is maybe not the best idea.

A male lion stands over a freshly killed zebra. I wish we had gotten here just a little bit quicker to actually see the kill! You definitely don’t want to get too close to these guys. Even the vultures wait up in the tree.

As we watch, the lion picks up his dinner and drags it out of sight under a nearby bush to eat it in the shade.

The vultures descend as soon as he leaves, looking for any scraps.

Speaking of vultures, we come across a huge group of them a few hours later, eating the remains of a wildebeest. It looks so gross that I keep expecting it to smell, but I never catch even a whiff (thank goodness!).

At one point, they pull out the stomach and start devouring it. So much squabbling ensues.

These guys off to the side are cooling themselves off, Abdul tells us. They may have really ugly heads, but I actually think their wings and bodies are rather majestic.

Finally we make it to Lobo. I immediately head to the pool for a glass of wine while I edit some photos. I can’t even begin to describe how surreal it is to be sitting so high above the Serengeti, watching animals stroll by while I watch and drink wine.

The hotel has a great spot for watching the sunset, so after an hour on the computer, Amy and I head up there. Once again, the African sunset doesn’t suck.

Tomorrow is our last day in the Serengeti as we drive back through the way we came to head towards Lake Manyara. I’m sad our time here is almost at an end, but I’ve loved every second of what we’ve gotten to do so far! I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings!