Safari!

Day 1

Today we left for our safari. It was nice to get out of the Arusha area and see just how beautiful Africa really is! We traveled three hours to our camp where we dropped off Prosper (our chef) and then went out to Lake Manyara to see the animals. This park is known for climbing lions but we never did get to see any. We saw lots of baboons, blue monkey, vevert monkey, giraffes, elephants, water buffalo, impalas, zebras, mongoose, flamingos and storks. The lake is very large but the animals don’t drink from it as it is salt water. After a long day in the heat we were happy to get back.  I had my first shower in 13 days! I never knew a trickle of hot water could make me feel so clean and refreshed! Prosper's meals have been so good and I have eaten them with a big smile that Granny just finds “awesome”.  We laughed until we almost peed our pants in the tent, over who knows what. At midnight we all got up and made a group trip to the washrooms as no one wanted to alone. LOL  And this was in the gated campground! Oh, dear.

Day 2

Today we got up at 7:30! Yippie, we got to sleep in! LOL Prosper made us a great breakfast and then we were on our way to the Serengeti! It was about a four hour drive. The Serengeti is an open plain area with odd rock piles and cliffs every once and awhile. We saw lots and lots of zebras and wildebeast! Out of everything we’ve seen so far the zebras are a hit with us.  Their unique markings really make them stand out and boy have they got a lot of personality! The little mountain cliff things look just like the one off of the lion king.  It was interesting to see them out in the middle of nowhere. We also got to see our first leopard today! We couldn’t even see him until we looked with the video camera and could see he was just laying in the tree panting. It was very neat to see in real life. We also got to see hippos while the zebras were playing in the mud. After another long day and expecting there weren’t showers in the middle of the Serengeti, it was a wonderful surprise to have a beautiful hot shower - even if we had to use the men’s showers! Haha! After lots of laughs and spaghetti for supper, Steve (our guide) came to give us the rules for the night as there were no fences and we just plopped our tent where we liked. He told us to fear the mosquitoes, scorpions and snakes and to feel completely safe hearing the lion breathe while he sleeps next to our tent.  We were also informed that we would never hear an elephant walk through the tents but we will see the tracks in the morning. He also advised us the before leaving our tent to flash the light around the tent and look for the color of eyes that reflect back. If we saw blue or green we were safe to move around as they were impalas or gazelles. But if we saw red or silver we weren’t to make much movement as those were lions, leopards and hyenas. Of course this didn’t sit well with Mom as she had tried hard to get me to do the "lodging" Safari instead of the "tenting" version before we even left. She shed some tears saying she missed Dad thinking of the lions sleeping on the other side of the tent. After she stopped crying,  we all burst into hysterical laughter just like every other night here. After a few minutes of listening to Mom worry, I had had enough so I turned on my hypnosis soundtrack for her and she was sleep within minutes.  What a life saver! Mom would have never gotten to sleep without it and would have kept us up as well. I only vaguely remember hearing hyenas in the night as I was sleeping soundly but I guess Mom was listening more closely as she wasn’t quite as comfortable in the tent at this site.

Day 3

Started with an early morning at 5 that mom was glad to see roll around.  We got dressed, grabbed a cup of coffee and hit the road in the dark to get out when the animals are most active. And that they were. Within minutes we saw three hyenas fighting over a leg on the road and then a lioness taking a stroll on the side of the road in the dark. As the sun came up we got to see another lioness and a male laying on a hump of land in the middle of the grassland. By far my favourite animal we have seen for sure, so incredible! Steve drove right up to the hump so we were 15 feet from the male lion and he was a sight to see. He kept hiding his face from the wind but he also kept lifting his head to patrol his area. On our way back to camp for brunch we saw three baby elephants that were only a couple weeks old. At lunch we got talking to a couple of young girls in our group and turns out last night at supper there was a hyena that stuck his head in the tent door wanting some supper. Thank goodness Mom didn’t see it!

On our way out of the Serengeti we saw three lions sitting on a big rock with two cubs laying in the shade. The lions were hunting so we watched as three went off to hunt and one stayed with the cubs. We then took the long and very dusty road out of the Serengeti. We arrived at our next camp site to have another nice hot shower and another great supper (rice and beef stew). Yes I just said I enjoyed stew for all of you non believers. Ask Mom - she was just as surprised when I said, “Wow this is so good."  Then we were off to bed. It is very cold in the Ngorongoro crater so we all had four layers on and a jacket while bundled up in the sleeping bags. Mom thought she was going to freeze so she wrapped Granny’s scarf around her head like a traditional Muslim head piece. Minutes later she was already complaining she was hot. Do you know how many times I’ve heard THAT since we’ve been here!? LOL - but soon we were soonsleeping and not worrying about the wild pigs that might have been searching for food around our tents!

Day 4

5 a.m. came fast again. Grabbed a quick breakfast and then we were off to the crater floor.  Of course no one else was up and moving yet so we were the first ones to enter the gates. But I’ll tell ya getting up early really pays off, this is when we saw most of the animals. We got to see lots and lots of hyenas today along with the huge heards of zebras and wildebeasts. The highlight was the lions though. There was a male and female with year old cubs, one male and one female. Also another male and two females that joined them later. The one male and lioness laid together only a few feet away from the jeep and posed for pictures. No one will really believe that our pictures aren’t zoomed in at all, we were really that close! The male even came and rubbed on the jeep before laying down. We also saw a new born wildebeast calf that was still wet and stumbling along with his Mama. Also found Pumba (a warthog) with four little piglets running with their tails straight up! After a morning full of excitement we picked up Prosper and our bags and started on the drive home feeling satisfied and thoroughly enjoyed the amazing experience!