And with the dawn, we were up and ready for our safari through the Serengeti!!!! Honestly, I didn't know how the day could compare to our first afternoon. We had already seen so many animals and I was already so overcome with emotion at our luck!
But our luck only got better - One of the first things we saw this morning was a group of cheetahs! That's right - cheetahs!!! They were hard to spot at first because they blended so well, but they were there, right in front of us, and magnificent!
Can you find the cheetah?
Okay, so you might have to blow these pics up - but in real life we could see them moving and they were magnificent!!!!
Maybe a video will help!
Turns out, they were watching a herd of gazelles...
... or maybe stalking breakfast!
We saw so many zebras! Turns out this was the season for zebras and wildebeest to migrate!
Watching the cheetahs, we were reminded of the "circle of life", but it was even more obvious a few minutes later.....
Yup - that is a carcass. And those are buzzards. *...circle of life...*
Luckily, we came across some cute really quickly!!!!
A dik dik!
And then more lions!!! A whole pride laying under the trees!
Our pride was complete with a loving couple ~
Yes, they were quite.... amorous!!
Open-air vehicle; company of good friends; wild animals everywhere.... Yeah - I'm having the time of my life!!!
Along our drive we saw plenty of water buffallo - pretty intimidating!
We also so loads of zebra and wildebeest!!!
Sometimes our road was ... difficult to navigate
And sometimes we just wanted to know what we were all waiting in line for!
Probably one of the funniest creatures we saw was the hippo! I know they are one of the most dangerous animals, yet they seem so... benign!
It was winter for Tanzania, but it didn't matter - the landscape was absolutely beautiful!
This safari was so full of surprises, and our good fortune continued when we came across a leopard! It was such an unusual siting, even our guide was taking pictures!
We waited and waited, until finally he raised his head for a look around!
It still takes my breath away when I think of all we had the privilege to see ~
But this is a safari, so there's always more around the next bend! Elephants!!
And even better - a mommy and baby!!! *squeal!!!!!*
Yup - I'm a happy camper!
Not just a mommy, but a nursing mommy ~
These gorgeous creatures are sooooooooo huge!!!!
But our journey are through the Serengeti continued, and we bumped into another pod of hippos!
Our guide seriously had the best eyes - out in the distance he spotted a lone lioness ~
The Serengeti is vast - even without the intense sunshine and blue sky of summer, it is breathtakingly beautiful. I could not get enough of the Acacia trees - trees of the imagination.
One way we could tell the gazelles apart was the shape of the antlers. This one, with the graceful curves, is an Impala.
As I understand it, depending on when you take your safari, or which "road" you choose to travel, you might see one animal more than another. We were very lucky on our safari to see pride after pride of lions. And it never got old, being so close to these majestic felines ~
Here we noticed that one of the lionesses was wearing a huge leather collar with something (a beacon?) attached to it. Not sure what it was for, but she was the only one we saw with anything like this. Not sure how much she (or the others) liked it, as there were huge scratch/bite marks on it!
How do you leave this cute little face??????? It's a good thing that we had our guide to drive us around - I probably would have climbed out of the vehicle and just stayed with my new feline friends!
But off we went to see more of what the Serengeti had to offer...
... like these funny looking deer:
Not really sure what to make of them!
Or these guys!! Big ol' crocs!
No surprise there are lots of Thomson's ~
But I sure know what to do with these!!!!! If only I could get out of the car!!!!!!
Just a glimpse of that blue/black tongue!
Hee hee!
This fellow was a goof-ball!
And nothing is bigger than a bull elephant!!! Whoa!!!
Even at our little rest stops, there was something interesting to see. Here are some cute little rock hyraxes.
Random, goofy looking hyena!
Even on our way out - the elephants were everywhere!
We even saw another lone hippo!!
Another great day in Tanzania!
Our mist-shrouded campsite near the rim of Ngorongoro Crater ~
But just as a reminder that we are in the wild - a lone bull elephant wanders nearby....
:)
But our luck only got better - One of the first things we saw this morning was a group of cheetahs! That's right - cheetahs!!! They were hard to spot at first because they blended so well, but they were there, right in front of us, and magnificent!
Can you find the cheetah?
Okay, so you might have to blow these pics up - but in real life we could see them moving and they were magnificent!!!!
Maybe a video will help!
Turns out, they were watching a herd of gazelles...
... or maybe stalking breakfast!
We saw so many zebras! Turns out this was the season for zebras and wildebeest to migrate!
Watching the cheetahs, we were reminded of the "circle of life", but it was even more obvious a few minutes later.....
Yup - that is a carcass. And those are buzzards. *...circle of life...*
Luckily, we came across some cute really quickly!!!!
A dik dik!
And then more lions!!! A whole pride laying under the trees!
Our pride was complete with a loving couple ~
Yes, they were quite.... amorous!!
Open-air vehicle; company of good friends; wild animals everywhere.... Yeah - I'm having the time of my life!!!
Along our drive we saw plenty of water buffallo - pretty intimidating!
We also so loads of zebra and wildebeest!!!
Sometimes our road was ... difficult to navigate
And sometimes we just wanted to know what we were all waiting in line for!
Probably one of the funniest creatures we saw was the hippo! I know they are one of the most dangerous animals, yet they seem so... benign!
It was winter for Tanzania, but it didn't matter - the landscape was absolutely beautiful!
Our ride - just our guide, me and these two nuts!
This safari was so full of surprises, and our good fortune continued when we came across a leopard! It was such an unusual siting, even our guide was taking pictures!
We waited and waited, until finally he raised his head for a look around!
Gorgeous!!!
It still takes my breath away when I think of all we had the privilege to see ~
But this is a safari, so there's always more around the next bend! Elephants!!
And even better - a mommy and baby!!! *squeal!!!!!*
At the watering hole ~
Yup - I'm a happy camper!
Not just a mommy, but a nursing mommy ~
These gorgeous creatures are sooooooooo huge!!!!
But our journey are through the Serengeti continued, and we bumped into another pod of hippos!
Our guide seriously had the best eyes - out in the distance he spotted a lone lioness ~
The Serengeti is vast - even without the intense sunshine and blue sky of summer, it is breathtakingly beautiful. I could not get enough of the Acacia trees - trees of the imagination.
One way we could tell the gazelles apart was the shape of the antlers. This one, with the graceful curves, is an Impala.
As I understand it, depending on when you take your safari, or which "road" you choose to travel, you might see one animal more than another. We were very lucky on our safari to see pride after pride of lions. And it never got old, being so close to these majestic felines ~
Here we noticed that one of the lionesses was wearing a huge leather collar with something (a beacon?) attached to it. Not sure what it was for, but she was the only one we saw with anything like this. Not sure how much she (or the others) liked it, as there were huge scratch/bite marks on it!
This little guy was sooooooooooooooo adorable!!!!!
Cuddles!
How do you leave this cute little face??????? It's a good thing that we had our guide to drive us around - I probably would have climbed out of the vehicle and just stayed with my new feline friends!
But off we went to see more of what the Serengeti had to offer...
... like these funny looking deer:
Not really sure what to make of them!
Or these guys!! Big ol' crocs!
No surprise there are lots of Thomson's ~
But I sure know what to do with these!!!!! If only I could get out of the car!!!!!!
Just a glimpse of that blue/black tongue!
Hahaha!!!
Hee hee!
Yup - those are my favorites!!!! At least for the time being.....
More elephants today!!! I cannot get over their size. I mean, the giraffes are tall (actually bigger than one might expect!), but these elephants are HUGE!
This fellow was a goof-ball!
And nothing is bigger than a bull elephant!!! Whoa!!!
Even at our little rest stops, there was something interesting to see. Here are some cute little rock hyraxes.
Random, goofy looking hyena!
Even on our way out - the elephants were everywhere!
We even saw another lone hippo!!
Another great day in Tanzania!
Next stop, the rim of Ngorongoro Crater where we will camp for the night. And this is the view we were greeted with as we rose out of the crater - mist sweeping down over the rim. Quite the lovely setting.
Our mist-shrouded campsite near the rim of Ngorongoro Crater ~
But just as a reminder that we are in the wild - a lone bull elephant wanders nearby....
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