Well it is my first night back from safari and I am loving my time revisiting my pictures from the trip. Words cannot explain my experience, and pictures can hardly give justice to the beautiful landscapes and animals that I saw, but I will try. My time spent in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater was absolutely remarkable and I cannot believe the animals seen, the breathtaking views, and of course the lovely people I ran into along the way. We headed out early Friday morning after loading all of our bags into the four, soon-to-be open-topped land cruisers. On the way we passed by Lake Manyara and were able to take pictures of the lake and the well-known Baobab trees that are amazing to look at. My excitement was hardly contained on the ride and after hours of driving we finally reached Ngorongoro conservation area. We saw a few monkeys and a lot of steep edges, the car ride through the crater was beautiful, but when I say breathtaking I’m referring to my gasps around sharp curves and plummeting slopes.
After passing through Ngorongoro we descended into the Serengeti and that is where the animal sightings began. The Serengeti is difficult to describe, because it looks like it goes on forever. The best way to explain it is through the word Serengeti, which in the Maasai language means ‘endless plains’ which could not be any truer. The Serengeti goes on like the ocean, and I never felt like I could see the end. There we saw zebras and wildebeest migrating together, because they help each other with their weak senses…one has the good hearing and the other the good sight, and they eat different parts of the grass so they live happily together. You will not believe me when I say this but there were thousands of zebras. I was in awe. We continued on and saw tons of gazelle, impala, warthogs and more until we came to a halting stop in front of an average looking tree…average until we glanced up and saw the most elegant leopard sleeping on a branch while his lunch, a gazelle, was slung over a neighboring branch mangled and chewed. As repulsive as this sounds to the reader, it was nothing short of magnificent for the viewers. After a few minutes the leopard stood up turned around and lay back down. I was able to snap some good pictures and we were off. For the longest time I felt as if safari was all staged, I pictured my drivers on their walky-talkies saying, “Cue the lions” or “I think they’re ready for the leopard”. There was no possible way that this was real, that I was actually viewing these animals in their natural habitat, but I was. The second day was just as exciting as we saw some of the same animals and many more new ones. We found four lions sleeping in the grass and next thing you know our driver is off-roading and our land cruiser is circling the lions! I was in awe…the lions had to overall be my favorite animal to find and watch. After we circled the lions our driver informed us of how illegal that was, but what an adrenaline rush for us, so naturally we cheered in response to the illegality of it. That wasn’t my only experience circling lions, we did the same thing the next day and it was just as exciting, if not more. I saw baby cubs with their moms and an entire pride of lions on top of rocks, and boy did that scene scream Lion King…which was naturally sung by many of us on a variety of occasions. On another day we went to a hippo pond where we saw hundreds of hippos swimming and snorting and moving about—it was unbelievable, but also smelly.
The giraffes we saw were beautiful but shy and I loved trying to find them in the trees. One of our cars was charged by a buffalo, but don’t worry they weren’t rammed. After that incident I asked one of our drivers how safe we were in our cars, he responded “On a scale to 10? Probably about a 2”. How reassuring. We continued cruising through the Serengeti, now one of my top ten favorite activities, and looked for more wildlife. We saw cheetahs relaxing in the grass and lions sleeping with all four paws in the air.
After awhile we headed back towards the crater and spent our third and final night there. The view from my room was gorgeous and is beyond words and pictures. The crater was sure something to look at. Monday morning we headed down into the crater, which was again anything but comfortable. The fog was thick and the roads were thin with tight corners and plunging edges, I felt anything but comfortable until we were completely down. Once there I could hardly believe my eyes. Elephants were eating and playing, monkeys were everywhere, and the lions were everywhere. This day, the lions were within arms reach of my car, and we didn’t even have to illegally maneuver the cars. In fact, one lion walked over and started peeing on our car…that just goes to show you how confident lions are. They were anything but scared of us and walked right past our cars like it was no big deal. We saw at least fifteen lions and many more zebra, elephants, wildebeest, warthogs, etc. We also saw a lake full of flamingo.
The sights were unreal and I cannot believe I had this experience, but I also cannot believe it is over. Well, after spending hours standing out the top of a Land Cruiser, I sure do understand why Clancy likes to have his head out the window…I only hope he gets as much enjoyment out of seeing squirrels as I did from seeing lions and leopards.
Random side note: I got to see Mt. Kilimanjaro the other day! It was small and far away, but I am glad I can say I saw it :)
Amazing Ta!!! Love you so much!!!
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