First a little shopping for supplies at the local "elephant store"!
David's house is tucked away at the back of the school campus, surrounded by the most beautiful trees. Here is one with bougainvillea growing up through it. The bougainvillea was everywhere, in vibrant reds, pinks, and lavenders.
There were also monkeys running around the campus! Oh, wait - that's just us! ;)
Here's a real monkey!
On our second day there, David whisked us off on our first safari to the Serengeti! We drove with a guide in a fantastic land cruiser, but before we could get underway, we needed to have the breaks checked. No problem for those of us who needed an Internet fix!! Waiting in the coffee house was not such a bad thing ~
Finally, though, we arrived at the gate to Ngorogoro Crater and Serengeti National Park!!!!
I have been on many wonderful trips in my lifetime, and have seen many wonders of our world, but I have to admit that just the idea of going on a safari made me giddy! I had no idea on that first day, just how spectacular the experience would be. This is the beginning of yet another trip I will never forget!
Traveling to national parks in Tanzania is very expensive - something that I came to terms with by recognizing that the expense was keeping many away. It's sort of sad to have to say this, but the fewer people that visit, the longer the habitat will stay protected for the animals. That being said, I was very impressed with how well the park handles the tourists that do come. Everyone is required to have a licensed guide, stay inside their vehicles during the safari through the parks, and be as quiet as possible so as not to startle the animals. I have to say, I was a little afraid that my desire to see giraffes and elephants and gazelles... was making me do something that was going to be harmful to the fragile ecosystem. I was so relieved when I realized how at peace the animals were, despite the rumbling of the land cruisers passing by.
This blog will probably have more pictures than anyone wants to see, but there is just no other way to even come close to sharing the beauty that is Tanzania. We saw so many animals on our trip, and even though our pictures are good, they do not begin to capture the true magnificence that is a lion in the wild, or a cheetah on the hunt, or a giraffe chewing leaves..., and so I will just share bunches of pictures, and I will simply put them up in the same order that we saw them on our trip. Climb aboard now, and join me as we begin our African Adventure, beginning with a ride on the Serengeti!!
Interestingly, the first animal we saw (before reaching the national park and without our cameras at the ready) was a camel!!! Once in the park, the first animal we spotted was - a hyena!!
Not what I had set my heart on, but adorable nonetheless :)
It didn't take long, though, for me to want to jump out of the land cruiser ~ Giraffes!!!!!!
See how adorable?! And huge!
Among the beautiful creatures we saw were lots of birds ~ Not sure what this one was, but it was sort of a falcon-y type...
We saw lots and lots of zebras throughout the day. Our first glimpse made me giggle - they are so darned adorable!!
I did not expect to see jackals! Really just large, pretty foxes!
And we saw lots and lots and lots of gazelles - mostly we saw Thomson's Gazelles, but we also saw Impalas and Grant's Gazelles. We became quite adept at naming them as we came across them so often!
And this bright beauty: Superb Starling (It looks just like a Hildebrandt Starling, but it has bright, cream-colored eyes rather than red.)
Do you see anything?
Neither did we, but luckily our guide had eagle eyes and alerted us to the LIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!
These were a bit far away, but they still took my breath away. Real lions. Right there!
That was pretty much my reaction all of this first afternoon on the Serengeti - I was constantly amazed at what I was lucky enough to see. Right there. Right in front of me. Amazing and beautiful.
Our first glimpse of hippos!!!!
But too soon the sun set. Tomorrow the real safari would begin.
Moonrise over the Serengeti - spectacular!
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