Today we had been given a choice: a late weak-up (7:30), game drive in the morning, return to camp for lunch, then drive back to Ngorongoro Crater OR early morning wake-up (6:00), early game drive, box lunch on route to Ngorongoro Crater (so that Severin and Festos could pack up early and set off for Ngorongoro and get us a good camping site on the rim of the crater. The majority voted for the second option, so we were up extra early, ate a quick cold breakfast and left on our half day game drive in the Serengeti.
First thing we spotted, not far from camp, was a hyena, and then some giraffes.
The sunrise was quite spectacular ! 
More giraffes We headed back to where we had seen the zebra kill the previous day, but it appeared that the lioness had moved it further into the reeds. Deo & Elias sure knew their business because they only drove on maybe 50 feet past the site and waited. Within a few minutes, the lioness came out of the reeds…… wait for it ………….followed by her two young cubs !
Mama with her radio collar
Her two cubs
Close up of one of the cubs. It's a big pussy cat !They were obviously well fed with rounded tummies. Mom was wearing a radio collar, and she ambled over to the side of the road were 5 or 6 vehicles had congregated, and pooped right beside ours. P H E W ! That smelled really disgusting. She had obviously given her cubs some type of signal because they stayed on one side of the road, beside some bushes, and patiently waited until she called them to follow her back into the reeds. AMAZING ! This safari keeps getting better and better.
From there we drove on to an area of the Serengeti where the migration of zebras and wildebeests had begun. Hundreds of them, all in their own separate rows, heading north towards Kenya and the upcoming rains in March.
Zebra line in foreground, and another in background. 
Zebra line broken by our safari vehicles. You should have heard the braying ! The lines got all mixed up and the zebras no longer knew where the rest of their group was. Not too smart !
Taking a break for a drink from Mama.
And then the wildebeest lines got mixed up with the zebra lines. They usually migrate together.
Close up shot of a male. They look like they have dark stripes against their dark grey skin, but you can see on this picture that it is simply the hair from their long manes. 
Topi among the zebras
Zebras and wildebeest as far as the eye can see. 
Heading for water and shade.
Crossing a stream and taking time to have a drink
Monkeys in the trees above the zebras 
Traffic jam on the Serengeti. 
Some rare rough terrain with herds in the background
Baby wildebeest looks just like a young moose Next, we stopped for a bit of a rest and a hike up one of the rock outcrops, to see the musical rocks.
Huge bolders on top of the rock outcrops
Me in front of the huge bolders
Bobby and Lloyd taking a photo op, with Deo playing the musical stones.
Deo and Frank in front of the Musical Stones
On our way back to Ngorongoro Crater
Masi men on a hill side
Back to the huge valley near the Crater
Masi herd on the road
Our campsite on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, with HUGE tree.
The showers and washrooms are far away ! 
My tent is the second one on the left.Extra blankets handed out for tonight since it can go as low as 10C. Lloyd and Bobby have really good sleeping bags for below 0 weather and kindly lend me an extra blanket. I ended up throwing off the second extra blanket during the night because I was too hot. All that gas in the tent may actually have helped !
View of the Ngorongoro Crater from our Simba campsite
Our table in the dining area. 
Festos, with his beautiful smile and gentle manners We had some time to relax this afternoon, so the first thing I did after setting myself up inside my tent was to go for a much needed shower. Not the cleanest I’ve seen, and no warm water, but it felt really good to be able to shampoo my hair and wash !
Sunset on the rim of the Ngorongoro crater.We had a nice dinner and then a campfire, so we could say thank you to Severin and Festos who we would leave behind the next morning, and not see again. We also took the opportunity of thanking Elias and Deo and handed out their tips from the group. They each deserved every shilling we gave them. The entire camping safari experience had been amazing. Kudos to G-Adventures for having such great staff.
There were dogs in the campsite, and my brothers and sisters would be very surprised to see that for some reasons, the dogs adopted me and sat beside my chair; whether I wanted them to or not. While we were around the campfire, Deo asked us to identify what we had enjoyed the most from the trip, and what we had not liked. We had finished going around the group with everyone providing their comments when there was a growl behind my chair. I must have jumped two feet off that chair before I realized that it was just the dogs ! Deo laughed and laughed and said that THAT was his best moment from the trip.
I must underline the fact that throughout the camping experience, Deo kept checking on me to ensure that I felt comfortable. Pete even offered to share my tent in case I was too scared to sleep alone. Everyone has been very solicitous of me. It warmed the cockles of my heart !As usual, even though I had not needed my port-a-potties during the past nights, I set it up anyway: plastic bowl, with freezer bag acting as a liner, and a lid nearby to close it off after I used it. EUREKA ! I finally pooped during the night ! What a relief. It had been murder to spend 4 days with the gas and poop building up inside me, plus the sitting in the vehicle for almost the entire day, bumping around on the rough roads.
The funny thing was that what woke me up during the night wasn't the need to go to the bathroom, but the sound of grass being ripped out of the ground, and chomping. There was a zebra just behind my tent ! I woke up later because I heard growling, but told myself that it was probably just the camp dogs. "It's just the camp dogs" I kept repeating to myself, until I got back to sleep.
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