When we arrived at the Seronera Airstrip in the Serengeti, our guide for the next nine days introduced himself and we discussed what we wanted to do and see. We told him we were interested in the predators, Lions, Leopards, Cheetahs along with some Elephants, Giraffes and the other assorted animals that come to mind when you think of Africa. I kind of figured this would keep him busy trying to fill our wish list for a couple of days and we got started.

Within a couple of hours we came across Zebras, Wildebeest, Hippos and a Leopard up in a tree. We then run across Lions, Elephants, Ostrich, Impala, Dik Diks, Giraffes, Cape Buffalo, Jackal, Hyena and Baboons, not to mention all kinds of birds. When we first left the airport there were a number of other guide companies driving around. After a couple of hours we found ourselves in areas without another soul in site. We figured either our guide was lost or he was taking us where the others just didn’t want to go! I think this might be why we had seen such an assortment of animals the first day. We would be driving down the road and our guide would stop and tell us about the Cheetah or Lion out in the grass and after five minutes or so we would finally see him.

The next day he asked us what we wanted to see. Well, he didn’t even break a sweat the first day. This was way too easy for him, so I had to modify our wish list. I wanted to see the same animals, only with babies and I reminded him that we had not seen a Cheetah yet. We had just gotten started and we came across a Leopard with a cub. We ran into more Lions, more Zebras and then came across Cheetahs. We ended up with Cheetahs in the grass, Cheetahs in the rocks, Cheetahs on the road. We were amazed at the number and variety of animals we seen including about twelve Black Rhino at the crater. He could not produce a Baby Rhino, but I think he really tried. This was unheard of.

We had pretty high expectations for the trip and we found African Dream Safaris exceeded them. Our biggest regret was doing the ten day trip. We really should have added another week onto it. Ten days just wasn’t enough. The lodging was great, the food was exceptional. We generally had the picnic box breakfast and lunch and found that there was too much food. We always had food left over. We will do this again with ADS; it might be a few years down the road, but that will give us something to look forward to.

Thanks for a great trip!

George and Eileen Jensen
March 2011