Spring Break - Part 2 - Safari!

I was feeling quite exhausted (and a bit sick) after a very sunny week in Zanzibar and I was excited for the long-awaited African Safari that was to come.

I boarded a plane for Mt.Kilimanjaro without a care in the world. It was sad to say goodbye to Stacy again, but we both had something fun to look forward to so that did help. When I arrived in Mt. Kilimajaro, my ride was there to meet me and he informed me that my friends, Nicole and Devone, had been calling to arange where we would be staying. They had  spent the last 5 days climbing the mountiain and ended up finishing early. They switched hotels so that they could rest for a day after their gruelling trek up the mountain. I met them at their "oasis" and it was fantastic to see some familiar faces.

We spent the evening relaxing and eating in the safar-themed lodge. Dennis came to visit us, as he was also in the area to volunteer for Spring Break. It was surreal to have all of us in Tanzania. Dennis had just finished a safari and told us all about the exciting things we were about to see. We were very excited.

The next morning we had breakfast with our friend Henry (the fancy pet bird of the hotel) and we were on our way when our Safari truck pulled up to load us all in.  We met Francis, our guide, and Rama, our cook and we were on our way.

The next four days turnet out to be some of the most exciting of my life. We saw every animal you could imagine right up close. Nicole and Devone were also fantastic travel partners and they didn't seem to mind at all that I wasa  third wheel. We had so much fun!

We headed first to the Serengetti. Even on the way there we saw zebras, giraffes, monkeys, and elephants. As we got closer to our camp we came upon a bit of a scene and discovered a lion eating a zebra beside the road. Crazy! This was a good sign of what was to come on our safari.


We set up our tents (that's right, tents) in the middle of our Serengetti campground. I was nervous to sleep in a tent by myself with nothing separating me from the wildlife of Africa. Rama made us our first meal and we were well fed before a scary fisrt night, lol. I was woken up a number of times in the night by the sound of  hyenas near our camp. I pretended that is was the sound of zebras, or something less harmful. Francis informed me that it was, in fact, hyenas, which made my next night a little bit more thrilling.


Our first day of safari was filled with many animal sightings.


An older male lion, with dark fur in his mane.


Our vehicle had a pop-top so we could stand up and look out.



A hunting leopard. We watched it hunt unsuccessfully, weaving in between our safari vehicles.





Hippo. We got to see them come out of the water, stomping around and making a bunch of noise.


The herd of 12 elephants, including babies, that came right towards us, crossing the road in from of our vehicle. A highlight - they were so powerful.

It seemed like we saw one amazing thing after another and I was really in a constant state of awe at the beauty of God's creation.

Day 2 - Serengetti


Beautiful sunrise


Buffalo, one of the big 5, They say the big 5 are the animals that are most likely to attack you when you are trying to hunt them. They are the buffalo, elephant, lion, rhino, and leopard. I am happy to say that we got to see all 5!


Awesome African scenery. The weather was perfect and the plains reminded us of home.


Ostrich


2 cheetahs that we saw at the watering hole. They also crossed the road in front of us. So cool.


One of the most awkward experiences of my life. We paid a lot of money, under the advice of a friend, to see a Masai village. They made us join them in a strange dance, as they appeared to laugh at us. They showed us around their village, tried to convince me to marry them, and then staged a school with small children to try to get more money out of us. It was very awkward, but also very memorable.


This is the "please let me go" face. ha

We left the Serengetti (after listening to some Lion King music, and we were off to the Ngorongoro Crater.

The crater is filled with plants and water and so there are a lot of animals that hang out there year round.


We set up camp for a more peaceful sleep near the big tree.


Off in the distance you can see the rhinos. They are the only animal that we didn't see close up.


Wildebeests were everywhere.




This Momma Lion and her two cubs were sleepy. She had a porcupine quill in her side and I was convinced that she was dying. The local Lion research lady said that she would remove it easily, but that the Lioness was a single mom (not with a pack) and was having a hard time competing with hyenas to feed her babies. They came very close to our vehicle to find some shade and I may have freaked out and closed the window. It was really amazing.


Largest flying bird in the world.


Zebra close-up. They are very skittish and hard to get up close.


A filthy hyena. They are ugly and stink of dead body juices. As Nicole would say, "Have some self respect!"

Before we left the crater, we stopped for a bathroom break. Devone was guarding our vehicle so that no monkeys would get in. When we returned, we found Devone chasing a monkey that had gotten into our car and stolen some chips. Luckily for us monkeys are not interested in things of great value. In the words of Francis "monkeys are not so scared of Mzungu (white man)". lol

We stopped for one last view of the crater before our safari came to an end. It was the trip of a lifetime and was literally like being in the Lion King. If you want a way to come face to face with the wonder of a creative and awesome God, this is it. I will definately be back to Africa.