3-Day Safari!!!

7.17-19.2010

8am.  Our safari guide/driver came to pick us up.  They miscalculated the head count, so the cook had to sit on the gas canister for 4 hours.  We eventually traded places later and everyone became comfortable within our safari caravan.  We stop by a town outside of the Serengeti National Park to pick up pineapples and a box of bottled water.  More miscommunication led to us having to pay 10,000 tsh for lunch right outside the entrance of the park.  At the gate we have a little picnic, where we are greeted by monkeys trying to steal our food. Ha.

Since a safari is like sensory overload and I can’t in any way explain everything we saw or experienced, I will just give some highlights and show via pictures.  Feel free to ask me questions or discuss over a cup of tea (we all know I don’t drink coffee).

Day 1 – Saturday 7/17

*Greeted by monkeys at the gate

*lots of zebras, impalas, and wildebeests,

*few giraffes, hippos, alligators, a few elephants, one female lion, water buffalos

Did you know that hippos don’t have sweat glands?

Awesome dinner and camping in the Serengeti.

Day 2 – Sunday, 7/18

*Ostrich mating dance – yes, we saw the pursuit of the male for the female (she was playing hard to get) ;)

*Cheetahs from afar

*Gold headed cranes – my favorite bird in the Serengeti

*Lion crossing – 4 to 5 female lions walked in front of our parked caravan. So close!!!

*Elephant crossing – so after the lions, I spotted a group of animals in the distance.  Our guide said that it was a herd of elephants and in response I shout,  “Let’s get closer!”  So he literally drives and parks right in the path of the elephant herd.  The elephants (all females, babies, and one male) walked around our car, literally only a couple feet away from our hands.  By far, this was the best safari experience!

*The Maasai – we see a Maasai village as we get closer to the Ngorongoro crater.  We don’t want to pay to go into their “village,” but we say hello as we pass. 

*The Ngorogoro crater – HUGE crater – We descended into the crater to find an oasis of rich vegetation and fat zebras, boars, hippos, flamingoes, and elephants, etc.  I say oasis because even though it was dry season, it felt like spring in the crater.  We did see a rhino and its child from afar.  Beautiful.

*We camped along the rim of the crater – There’s a huge, old elephant that comes to that particular campground every day for water.   This night was very cold.  I was wearing everything I had brought with me and was still cold.  We had dinner with flashlights and a fire.  I didn’t sleep well because I could hear wild boars trotting alongside our tent. I was afraid that one would sniff out my cliff bar and would decide to attack our tent. Eek!

Day 3-Monday, 7/19/10

*Foggy cold morning – It took a while to break down camp.  We attempted to take a picture on the edge of the crater, but could barely open our eyes as little rocks flew with the vigorous wind. 

*Back out to the Serengeti

*MUFASA! –Male lion sits from afar as the female lion hunts for her cub.  As soon as she catches something, he goes in to help with the kill.  Down the way, we see a baby cub (aka Simba) off to the side under a fallen tree branch. 

 *more hippos! – my favorite! So cute, yet so dangerous! rAwR!!!!

*Leopard in a tree – not sure about this one, but supposedly it was chilling in a tree. We could see its tail and paws hanging from the tree branch. Hmm…

*Ate Lunch with mongooses (mongeese? Haha) and elephant shrews

*Elephants at watering hole bathing – such personalities, those elephants.

*Back home – flat tire, out of gas, flat tire (=2 flat tires) – got back home around 9:30pm and ate chocolate cake for dinner.