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[Music]
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the serengetti arguably the best Safari
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destination on the planet which is no
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doubt on every Safari Go's bucket list
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it's the stage of the Great wilderbeast
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Migration and has one of the highest
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densities of predators in Africa but
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there's a couple of things about the
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serengetti that I didn't know about and
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looking back really wish I knew before
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visiting I want to share my experience
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with you it all started here in southern
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Kenya I've spent the last 5 days in
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Kenya's Masa Mara National Reserve which
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sits at the very top of the serenete
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it's part of the serengetti ecosystem
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and the two parks are pretty much one
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simply given different names because an
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international border Cuts between them
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I've really fallen in love with the
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Masai Mara over the past few days but
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it's time to move on and journey South
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to another of my absolute favorite
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Safari destinations the
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Serengeti seeing as the two locations
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are so close to one another I expected
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my journey to take a couple of hours oh
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boy how wrong I was now something I
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didn't realize is you cannot cross from
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the Masa stet STI even though the two
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parks are part of the same ecosystem and
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they're attached you have to go through
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the Mara and then go around now on a
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drive which takes around 4 hours to
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reach the border with Tanzania and this
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is because there's no official
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international border crossing point and
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within the two parks you have to go
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what's recognized as an official border
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Crossing and then from the border
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crossing it's going to take another 4ish
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hours to reach Central
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sessi the first part of the drive
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especially is slow goinging first we
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make our way through the Masai Mara a
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good tip to know is you don't have to
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pay the Masai Mara's huge Park fee if
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you Transit through like this as long as
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you're out before 10:00 a.m. great for
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our wallets but it also means you can't
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stop for any Wildlife sightings which in
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hindsight wasn't too bad as any brakes
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would make our already lengthy journeyed
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just too much on the other side of the
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Masai Mara we trundle down perhaps the
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worst Road I have ever been on for over
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70 km as you can imagine the journey was
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slow eventually we reached Sabia the
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border with Tanzania so we successfully
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crossed the border now into Tanzania
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another thing that you should know if
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you're journeying between the Masai Mara
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and the serenti is when you reach the
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Border you will have to change tour
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operators because the vehicles in
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Tanzania are not registered to go into
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Kenya and vice versa if you bought with
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the tour company they'll typically
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arrange for the other tour operator to
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meet you and you will switch vehicles
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the border crossing itself was really
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straightforward I think it was over in
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maybe less than 10 minutes just went in
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really seamless and straightforward
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which I was really impressed with
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because border crossings I've done
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previously haven't been so easy but I
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can imagine in the peak season it can
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get a little busier and there can be
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cued so it may not take quite as little
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time as it did today because I'm
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visiting in low season so now we're in
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Tanzania and we're on our way to saring
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GUI so far we've been on the road for 5
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hours with no stops except at the border
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still we're only halfway through our
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journey after a couple more hours we
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reached the gate to the Serengeti so we
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have arrived at last at the gate to the
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Serengeti National Park you can see
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there it is behind me and we're about to
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enter now another thing that's good to
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know about the serengetti is it is not
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the cheapest part visiting here will set
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you back a little bit there's two
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different types of Park fees that you
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have to pay when you visit there's the
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day park fees and then there's the
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nightly concession fees so the day park
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fees are $70 per person plus 18% tax so
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nearly $80 $80 and then you have to pay
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your overnight concession fees and those
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are $60 now because the seretti is so
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massive staying within the park really
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is a must and that's where you have to
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pay the concession fees it's not really
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an option to stay outside the park there
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are a couple of accommodations outside
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the park but they're miles away from the
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best gate viewing areas so I wouldn't
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recommend that so in total visiting the
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seretti will be about $130 a day 140 tax
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so it's definitely not cheap but there's
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a good reason for the price and that is
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to limit the amount of tourists that
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visit so that there's less wear and tear
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on the park and that money that you're
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paying for your Park fees goes towards
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conserving the national park and paying
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for the staff members when Co happened
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and people weren't visiting Parks the
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Rangers didn't have any work and more
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animals were being poached so it's
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really essential that we pay these Park
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fees although it's a lot of money it
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goes to a really worthy cause I wish we
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could slow down and have a leisurely
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game drive on on the way to our lodge in
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the Serengeti but at this point we
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simply don't have time I have a meeting
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in just a couple of hours which means
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that even without stopping it's going to
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be a Race Against Time but the
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serengetti had a couple of surprises up
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its
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sleeve so we've literally just entered
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the Serengeti and already we've had an
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incredible sighting when we were not
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meant to we were rushing to our lodge
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cuz I actually have a meeting a a little
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bit and we stumbled across this leopard
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in a tree the first thing we see one of
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the rarest animals to find is
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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incredible Okay so we've just stumbled
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across a side of Lian there's so many of
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them here like more than I can actually
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count and there's at least one little
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baby with them which is really sweet to
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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see
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next we come across a cute family of
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[Music]
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baboons okay we really can't stop for
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anything else
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now after 10 hours on the road we
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finally arrive at our tented Camp Okay
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so we've just arrived at our camp for
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the next two nights it's called
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to where come a s after enjoying some
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welcome drinks and snacks we make our
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way to our
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room hello we come on
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in okay so this is our room at tooni
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tented camps we have got a beautiful
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large double bed here this is really
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soft we also have an extra bed here
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handy if you have an argument with your
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spouse USB chargings in the room below
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we have a nice carpet which is a nice
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touch and something I haven't
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encountered before normally they're just
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plastic some areas where you can put all
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your luggage and then in here we've got
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a lovely bathroom we have first of all
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got let wallet sink there a shower and
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it's an actual shower not a bucket
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shower because last time we stayed in
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the S guy we had to have a bucket shower
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where we had to like call some one and
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they top up the shower with a bucket
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whereas here we actually have running
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water and it's warm now it has been a
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long day
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so we have a lovely dinner before our
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day comes to a
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close good morning it's a brand new day
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here in the singi so after our
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incredibly long drive yesterday that
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ended up taking 10 hours we decided to
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have a lion today so I'm up at half 700
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about to head down to
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breakfast I'm going to enjoy a lovely
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leisurely meal we heading out on our
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safari today going on the long drives
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really kind of knock it out of you my
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original plan was actually to go on the
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morning Safari today
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but like doing safaris every day early
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starts and then having long drives can
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get a little bit exhausting so if you're
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organizing your Safari you'll definitely
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want to fracture in a little bit of time
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for some rest so you don't burn out we
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enjoy breakfast at the lodge before we
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head out on our first real game
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Drive
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it doesn't take us long to come across
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our first Wildlife sighting of the day a
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large herd of elephants is grazing
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within meters of the road the group is
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made up of related females and their
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calves of varying ages the herd is led
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by a wise
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[Music]
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matriarch I hold my breath as one of the
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elephants crosses within inches of our
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vehicle elephants are some of the
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smartest animals on the planet and have
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strong family bonds I love watching them
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interact with each other like
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[Music]
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this
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we continue our drive but are soon
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forced to stop again as we encounter
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more elephants there are just elephants
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everywhere around here so we have
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already seen one family of elephants and
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now we' just come across yet more
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elephants so crazy how close they are
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well now he's just crossing the road in
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front of us
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but oh my
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gosh so close he's just one of many
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elephants here can we look over
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here hundreds of
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them on the other
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side even
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more and then down
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here even
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more this adorable baby elephant catches
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my attention at first I find this action
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sweet until I realize that he's actually
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throwing around what looks like a piece
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of cloth it's sad that even here in the
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middle of the serengetti litter is
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present
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this Safari in the serenti is blowing my
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mind I can't believe what we've seen so
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far and there's still so much more to
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come none of this would have been
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possible if we didn't have a fantastic
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guide who is incredibly skilled at
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Wildlife spotting if you'd like to book
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your own Tanzania Safari click the link
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in the video description and pin comment
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it gives you the opportunity to get a
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quote for your Safari from the exact
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same tour companies who I used and who I
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highly recommend as the Safari commences
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are guide spots were at first just just
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looks like a yellow speck on the horizon
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as I look closer I see that it's a
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beautiful cheetah cheetahs often use
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termite Ms like this as Lookout points
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to scan the open planes for food or
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danger nothing of interest is within her
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line of sight and so she settles down to
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[Music]
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rest the sky is darkening around us
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threatening rain in the distance we can
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actually see localized downpours taking
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place it's a pretty magical
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site a queue of cars nearby alerts us to
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our next
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sighting just come across a pride of
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lion's hair there's quite a lot of them
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just lezing beneath this tree including
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a load of cubs is absolutely adorable
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two of them are just lying with like
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paws on each other it's just so
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[Music]
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cute
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[Music]
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that's not my action going on here and
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so we decide to move
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[Music]
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on I honestly didn't expect what happens
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[Music]
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next that felt pretty crazy he passed
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right by me here that like prob the
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closest I've ever been to element
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such a big one as well wow evening is
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not far away so we start to meander in
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the direction of
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camp but we're not finished with our
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elephant encounters just
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yet the serengetti sure is gifting us
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with an unbelievable number of elephant
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sightings tarangi National Park a little
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further south from the serengetti is
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touted as tanzania's home of elephants
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but I must say I've seen even more
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elephants today in the seretti than I
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did on my visit to tarangi even my guide
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seemed surprised by the number of
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elephants we've encountered today by
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another elephant but look how close they
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are how close
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yes it's amazing just so
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chilled we are quite literally
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surrounded by
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Giants around every Bend is another herd
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who are Keen to put on a show for
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us as the Sun starts to set we have to
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leave the Magnificent herds behind us
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and journey back to our camp for the
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night good morning it's our last morning
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here in Serengeti got up at 7 today so
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today we'll be going on a morning game
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Drive which takes us South through the
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park towards the main gate I'm excited
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to see what you encounter on our final
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game Drive in the seretti on the way to
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our car we come across four maribo
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stalks waiting near The Lodges kitchen
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area clearly enticed by the smell of
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food we hop in the Land Cruiser and
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begin our journey South gradually making
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our way towards the serengetti Nai Hill
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gate in the Southeast corner of the park
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this is the main gate of the serengetti
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which most Travelers will pass through
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as we get close to the gate we come
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across one of the serengetti most famous
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inhabitants standing before us are some
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of the 2 million wilderbeast who migrate
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through the Serengeti each year this is
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the largest terrestrial mammal migration
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on Earth last year we visited the
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serenti in September and saw them as
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they crossed the crocodile infested Mara
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River now it's late November and the
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great herds are heading to the very
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south of the Serengeti to an area known
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as nutu which is their birthing grounds
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in just a couple of months time the
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wilderbeast will be settled in utu and
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8,000 baby Wilder beasts will be born
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each
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day they come to the South to give birth
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because the soil here is rich in
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nutrients due to the areas close
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proximity to gorang gor crater which
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when it was an active volcano enriched
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the nearby
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soils the Wilder beasts are energetic
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feeling sprightly as they near their
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birthing
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[Music]
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grounds
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[Music]
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it's not just Wilder beasts that make
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the
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migration thousands of zebras join them
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too feeling safety in
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numbers soon we arrive at nabbi Hill
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gate where we stop for a picnic lunch
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within the company of this striking
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Rocka lizard
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he's
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adorable as we hit the road there's
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still a distance to go until we
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technically leave the
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Serengeti we pass countless Wilder
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beasts and even stumble upon a hyena
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crossing the road in front of
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us
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another thing to note is that this road
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in and out of the serengetti is a very
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rough road and so be prepared for a lot
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of bumping
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around the exit to the Serengeti comes
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into view so we're leaving the Serengeti
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now you can see the boundary here behind
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me and entering the gorang Goro
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Conservation Area now something I wish I
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knew beforehand is when you're
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journeying between the singi from the
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southern gate you have to cross through
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the gorang Goro Conservation Area and
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you have to pay a transfer fee which is
00:17:41
about $70 per person so that really adds
00:17:43
to your Park fees of visiting the
00:17:44
Serengeti National Park look at this the
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wilderbeast are here they are everywhere
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all around us now this is part of the
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annual wilderbeast migration with the
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wilderbeast journey South to the seretti
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this is the Southern Plains here in fact
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you can even see sign around this is the
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nutu region which is where the Wilder be
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are heading so that in January and
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February they can give birth in an area
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where there's lots of lush grass and
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they feel safe look at all the water
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Beast behind me it's amazing just be so
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close to
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them we've now officially left the
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Serengeti and have entered the gorang
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Goro Conservation Area to elaborate on
00:18:22
what I was saying before passing through
00:18:23
this protected Conservation Area will
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cost you $70 per person each time you
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pass through
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and that's a fee just to drive through
00:18:32
if you actually want to stop and visit
00:18:33
the gorang Goro crater the main
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attraction within the conservation area
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you have to pay an additional entry fee
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I actually saved money by arriving in
00:18:42
the sereni through the Western ioma Fort
00:18:44
gate as it meant I only had to pay one
00:18:46
transfer fee to pass through the gorang
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Goro Conservation Area and not the $165
00:18:52
return fees in normally cost so you've
00:18:54
probably gathered at this point the
00:18:55
Serengeti isn't a cheap destination to
00:18:57
visit but it's one of the best Safari
00:18:59
destinations in the world and your money
00:19:01
is supporting the upkeep of the park
00:19:03
which is undoubtedly a worthwhile cause
00:19:06
there are very few places on Earth that
00:19:08
are as untouched as the Serengeti and
00:19:10
are teaming with as much life in my
00:19:12
opinion the Serengeti is 100% worth the
00:19:14
cost and I know for a fact this isn't
00:19:16
the last time I'll visit but how does
00:19:19
the serenti compare with the neighboring
00:19:20
Masai Mara watch this video next to find
00:19:23
out which is best
