Safari!!

We just returned from Safari and had an amazing time!  We left Friday morning with a group of 10, which we broke into five people per jeep. Our group consisted of a hodge podge of volunteers  from the house, but it turned out to be a perfect mix  of people.

Day 1: Lake Manyara

The first day we entered the park, we were surprised at how wooded the park was. It almost resembled a jungle. I think we were all a little worried  that we wouldn’t see any animals because the first part of the drive was getting a little boring until—BAM! Elephants! A whole group of them right in front of us on the road. The elephants were amazingly close, and even had little babies. They were pretty impressive walking through the woods, taking trees down with each step.

That day we also got to get up close with giraffes, impala, wildabeast, tons of baboons, and hippos. We were so pumped that our first day started off so well. The weather was a bit chilly that day, so luckily we weren’t too hot and we slept comfortably that night in our tent outside of the park.

Day 2: The Serengeti

The next morning we drove from Lake Manyara to the Serengeti. Along the way we saw more impala, gazelles, and ZEBRAS! So cool. We also got to see some amazingly diverse scenery: the Ngorongoro crater, green cliffs, and the vast plains of the Serengeti.

On our way, we stopped at a Massai village (conveniently we got a flat tire right outside their village...strange, hmm?) and were able to watch a traditional Massai dance as well as view their huts. It was pretty amazing seeing how differently the tribal people live.

The Massai people

Eventually we reached the Serengeti and almost immediately got to see LIONS! There was a pride of lions sitting on top of a grassy hill when we first drove in, which was pretty amazing because sometimes lions are hard to spot. They were pretty sleepy and didn’t do much but  we didn’t care too much.

That day we also got to see large groups of elephants walking across the plains as well as more impala, zebra, hippos, and birds.

Scottie the adventurer. 

It was a bit dusty on the ride...

That night we set up camp in a campsite in the Serengeti and were amazed at how many stars there were that night. Seriously, up north Wisconsin has nothing on the layers of stars we saw that night. So beautiful!

Day 3: More Serengeti

On Sunday morning we woke up very early to see the sunrise on the Serengeti. It was incredible. We were thinking it was maybe too cloudy to see, but all of a sudden as we were photographing some impala, the red sun popped up in the horizon. It rose super fast, but we got some amazing photos as it did.

Later that morning we saw something super unique—a leopard (pronounced leo-pard; our guide’s favorite animal) playing by himself in a giant tree. It was cool seeing the leopard paw at the “sausages” hanging from the sausage tree and we didn’t think it could get any cooler until the leopard called to a leopard (lady?) friend, ran over to meet her, and walked with her right in front of all the jeeps! We saw the two playing in the grass and got some great up-close photos of the two. It was so rare to see them so close; we felt so lucky.

Later that day, we got to see something even cooler (is it possible?!)…our guide Chui (the Swahili word for leopard) stopped abruptly as we were driving and stared at this tree in the middle of the Serengeti. We were all tired and half-asleep and figured it was nothing when all of a sudden he shouted SIMBA! and pointed at the tree. Sure enough, a lion (with a mane!!) got up and scratched and stretched against the tree. We were freaking out excited and were so disappointed when the lion laid back down. We asked Chui how he knew there was a lion there when he couldn’t see it and he said he noticed tire tracks going down to the tree (totally illegal) and figured there had to be something there. We teased Chui that we should get a closer look and figured he wouldn’t take us up on it because it is such a big fine if you get caught by the rangers going off the paths, but he took our jeep right off the road into the tall grass RIGHT up next to the two lions! We seriously could’ve touched them and got a few cool photos right next to them. Once Chui got our jeep back on the road we all seriously could not stop laughing out of excitement and surprise. He even revved his engine at the other jeeps to show them how cool we were. It was SO cool.

Later that day we also got to see a very hidden cheetah; another rare sighting. That night we arrived at our last campsite at the top of the Ngorogoro crater. It was by far our most beautiful campsite; right  under an amazing tree, but it also turned out to be the scariest. About 25 buffalo took over our campsite during dinner and continued to graze on the grass next to everyone’s tents. The park rangers tried to keep them at bay so people could walk around, but it was pretty intimidating. Additionally, right before bed, a pack of stray dogs began barking obnoxiously. When we couldn’t figure out why they were all freaking out, we shined our flashlights on them and screamed when we saw what they were barking at—hyenas! And a lot of them, in our campsite. Needless to say, no one got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.

The coolest tree ever, which we got to camp under.

Day 4: The Ngorongoro Crater

On our last day we got to see sunrise above the crater, and later drove into the crater, which was by far the most beautiful sight of our trip. Driving around we got to see two lions mating, rhinos from far away, a lion close enough to touch, and millions and millions of flamingos. It was maybe a less exciting day animals-wise, but the views completely made up for it.

The Ngongoro Crater

After lunch (where we had to avoid the eagles eyeing our food) we made our way back to Arusha. It is strange being back in such a croweded, noisy city after being around such clean air and wide open spaces, but in a way I think we’re happy to be back. We are excited to start another week of school and sleep in a real bed for the first night in awhile.

We hope you enjoy the pictures!

Miss you,

Love Laura and Scottie