fter three plane rides, an 8-hour boat ride, half day in the car and a series of meetings from one Norwegian island to the other, I was glad to finally wrap up my work week. Our last meeting in Hitra was shorter than expected and after a cosy, Norwegian lunch of crisp bread, cheese, red beet spread and salmon together with our newest clients, we headed to our hotel in Melandsjøen. According to them, Dolmsundet is the best in the island but as soon as my back touched the bed, I was off to dreamland. Two nights with very little sleep and continuous travel took a toll on me. All I wanted was my sleep despite the beautiful nature calling outside.

I’ve just been back from a business trip to Norway.

In 5 days, I took 6 flights (Amsterdam-Oslo, Oslo-Bergen, Florø-Bergen, Bergen-Trondheim, Trondheim-Oslo, Oslo-Amsterdam), a 5-hour ferry ride, stayed in 4 hotels and sit for 6 hoursin the car to attend to several appointments in different towns and cities in Western Norway. In the first two days, I hardly slept. But I am not complaining, not at all. This time, Norway showed me another part of her that was quite different from the Hansa buildings in Bergen and the snow in Geilo.

‘m not sure if I will ever come to Bergen purely for leisure. So far my first two visits were for business so I was only able to see the city in between meetings and flights. Despite the very limited time, the city did not leave me wanting.

For business travellers like myself or for those who only have a few hours to explore, here’s how I manage to see Bergen in a nutshell.

Day 6 – Soaking up the views of the Last Eden

We started early, just as when the sun was rising in the Serengeti. Our picnic box safely tucked away at the back of the Land Cruiser, our batteries loaded and our hearts filled with excitement for another game drive in the Serengeti.

The Serengeti. I let the word flow from my mouth, like a sip of a good Amarone, many times over during the trip. The Serengeti, a place that seemed so far away, so unreachable, so impossible to visit when I was watching it on tv. The Serengeti, the last frontier for the wild life of Africa, where lions and cheetahs roam in their natural habitat and where the rule of nature is above the rule of men.

Rogarth suggested that we should see a part of the migration in the afternoon. We all agreed. But first we would explore Central Serengeti.

 

During my safari trip in #Tanzania, it was the female lions that earned my admiration above all wild animals. They are the hunters, the ones bringing food to the table, they keep the pride together, they are extremely tactical and they are are great mothers, fiercely protective yet very caring to their offsprings. @robinkuijs snapped this tender moment between a young cub and a lioness while I sat on the jeep for 15 minutes watching this loving moment between mother and child. Today is World Lion Day and this post is dedicated to all lionesses and the ones celebrating their birthdays under this zodiac sign. . . . #serengeti #tanzania #safari #animalplanet #travel #reizen #reisblog #travelblogger #afrika #natgeo #natgeotraveller #africa #lonelyplanet #lpfanphoto #wanderlust #destinations #gamedrive #lions #leeuw #worldlionday

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Not even 30 minutes away from Tortillis Camp, we already encountered a group of about 12 lions, warming themselves up on a patch of sand. We watched them for about half an hour, about 10 of them sitting together, surveying the nearby hill where the zebras were grazing, and then after a while positioning themselves for an ambush. Not very far from the group were a cub and his guard, playing together like normal house cats. When another Land Cruiser pulled over beside us, we drove on.

A little farther down the dirt road, Robin spotted a small group he initially thought were lions. But they were cheetahs, a family of cheetah marching slowly, intently watching our car because they wanted to cross the road.

I find the cheetahs to be the most beautiful animal I’ve seen in this trip. Nature is really a design genius, splashing this big cat with black dots all over its fur, few circles at the end of its tail and that long line from the side of its eyes extending down the side of its mouth, giving the animal a melancholic face.

 

“At some point, you’ll stop taking photos because there’s really no other way to capture the beauty of this unique place but to see it with your eyes and feel it with your heart. Then the memory would live forever.” – Our 6th day of #safari in #Tanzania up on the blog now. Photo by @robinkuijs. Link in profile.

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That’s why when we finally found the Leopard (ticking off the fourth in the Big 5’s list), I wasn’t so impressed. Also because the animal was so far away, I couldn’t appreciate it so much.

Leopards are called the “ghost of the Serengeti”. Together with the rhinos, they are the most difficult to spot. They usually lounge on their branches all day long. And because this is the Serengeti, we couldn’t get as close as we would want to. We needed to stay on the roads. Unless of course, they were out on a kill.

Some of these wild cats look so fluffy up close and I was imagining how it would feel like to stroke their soft fur. But of course that would be stupid because once when an animal like this gets comfortable being touched by human beings, they ceased to become wild.

 

Today I was so heartbroken about the murder of #CecilTheLion. Having seen these beautiful animals up close, I couldn’t understand why people would want to kill them for the sake of sports, for shallow virility and vanity. As I said in my safari diaries, “there is and should be a respected distance between wild life and humans because that’s the only way each could live harmoniously in this planet.” Killing of endangered wild life should be banned once and for all. It is very barbaric. Photo by @robinkuijs taken in the #Serengeti. #notopoaching #notosportshunting #savethewildlife

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We continued searching for the herds of wildebeest joining the Great Migration this year. I think we must have driven two hours in the Central Serengeti to find them. This new experience and the difficult of the roads made me very tired so when we are not spotting animals, I was sleeping. Due to the rapidly changing temperatures in the savanna, I feel a bit ill with fever, chills and a bad sore throat. Thankfully the sight of different wild animals gives me an adrenaline rush every time.

At some point, you’ll stop taking photos. There’s really no other way to capture the beauty of this unique place than to see it with your eyes and feel it with your heart. Then the memory would live forever.

 

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After a rather luxurious picnic lunch, we continued spotting for animals. But we didn’t get so lucky anymore. They were the occasional lions mating but for the rest, we saw only the usual packs – zebras, giraffes, wild pigs, elephants, gazelles, etc. We headed back to the camp early to enjoy the sunset.

P.S. I started writing this when the news about Cecil, The Lion broke out. I was so broken hearted that I couldn’t continue with the story anymore. That’s why it took me quite a while to finish the Serengeti series. I don’t understand how man can be so cruel especially after seeing these wild animals up close. But Nietzsche is right, men is the most cruel of all creatures. I hope that this disgusting trade of trophy haunting will be stopped once and for all.

Day 5 – First game drive in the Serengeti (all photos by Robin Kuijs)

If you are following me, The Weekend Traveller and Robin Kuijs on Instagram, you’ve probably already seen the amazing photos of the wild animals. But let me start my Serengeti diaries with the sad, the bad and the ugly.

Life in the Serengeti is survival of the fittest, for the people living there but especially for the wild animals. The big cats are kings of course so are other large animals like elephants, rhinos and crocodiles. The cute and cuddly zebras, gazelles, wildebeest and even the buffalos (one of the Big 5) are all but meals for the big ones. Nature also has its own cleaning team, the scavengers , who clean up the carcasses after the big ones have had their meals. They include the hyenas, the vultures and the marabou storks. Here they are in their best moments, looking so ugly that they become beautiful.

The skeleton of a wildebeest dragged to the tree and eaten by a leopard.

This one is having a blast up there in the ass.

He certainly wasn’t the first one to eat.

On a safari trip, you have to have a stomach for this. A vulture picking the eyes of a wildebeest, killed by a car.

After our Maasai village visit, we drove quickly to the Serengeti. Our group couldn’t keep our excitement anymore. We wanted to arrive already to the Serengit or the “endless plains” of Africa as the Maasai calls it. We wanted to see the National Geographic and Lonely Planet images of the savanna and the wild animals that thrive on it.

We reached the gate at about 3pm, enough time to do a late afternoon/early evening game drive. We were treated right away to a group of tree climbing lions. Five of them were occupying a lone tree, resting on th branches, cooling themselves down from the biting savanna heat. We could have stayed there the whole afternoon, dotting over the lions looking so adorable in their siesta. But it’s getting dark so we drove on. On the way to the camp, we saw a lone giraffe going for his afternoon acacia snack and a lone, old buffalo who is about to die.

When a buffalo becomes old and weak, he separates from the herd and wanders alone, awaiting death. In the old times, a Maasai dies in exactly the same way.

This lonely dikdik would be an easy prey for a hungry lion.

An old buffalo awaiting his death in the savanna. What better way to die than when the night is stealing the day’s light.

Have you ever see something so beautiful that you only wanted to cry?

Just as we were nearing camp, we were treated to two other spectaculars – the amazing (yes, I will be using a lot of superlatives like amazing from now on) African sunset in the Serengeti savanna and then a parade of zebras, giraffes and wildebeest crossing the road. The zebras leading the way and the giraffes patrolling the surrounding areas for hunting lions. It was way better than any National Geographic episode on TV.

By about 7pm, we check in at Tortillis Camp, the best luxury safari camp we stayed in the Serengeti. After a delicious dinner of herbed chicken and a bottle of South African Merlot/Syrah, we were off to bed.

This time however, I didn’t sleep too deep. I was kept awake by the sound of the Serengeti, the heaving lions and the laughing hyenas resonating louder than the others.