Safaris...
Safari = trip in Swahili. Just wanted to share that...
Our safari group included a couple from Belgium (Melinda and Jan) and a couple from Norway
(Suzy and Bjorn). We all got along really well. (Phew!) Moody was our safari guide.
Lake Manyara
This was the first park we went to for our safari. Of course we got extremely excited over
everything we saw since up till this point, we had only seen donkeys, goats, cows and baboons
on the side of the roads. They are known for tree-climbing lions. I'm going to go out on a limb
(pardon the pun ;) ) and say this whole thing is a myth since I never saw them. But we did see
hippos, water buffalo, zebras, elephants, giraffes and there were lots of birds. Lots. Too many.
And Moody loved giving information about these birds. It's a good thing we did this park first
because it didn't nearly compare to the next two. But it was exciting as it was our first safari
experience. :) Our lodge was great. It was up in the hills and it had an infinity pool that looked
over to Lake Manyara. I actually ended up waking up at 4am that following morning because I
swore I heard chanting of some sort. I went onto our balcony and there was serious tribal
chanting going on. And then I looked up. I've never seen stars like these. Never. They were
HUGE and there were TONS and they were literally twinkling all over. We found out later in
the morning that we were not out of our minds. The chanting that we were hearing was actually
the people in the local tribe praying for rain so that their crops would grow.
Serengeti
Ahhh....just the sound of it. On our way, it started drizzling/raining (by after dinner, it was
raining much harder). It gave the sky a cool/eerie feeling. We got to our lodge which gave us a
perfect view of the sunrise and sunset over the Serengeti. What Suzy called the 'Africa trees' are
actually flat-topped acacia trees...and it's easy to associate those with the Serengeti. I couldn't
get enough of them. Which is good because they are EVERYWHERE. Everything just seemed
so picturesque.
We left in the morning to start our safari. Giraffes in the Serengeti look even prettier than the
other giraffes we saw on the trip. There were hippos galore. We also saw zebras, warthogs
(read: Pumbaas), impalas (these remind me of deer), elephants (several babies, too!), buffalo,
crocodiles, hyenas (quite possibly the ugliest animal alive...looks like a stray dog in Tijuana
with the posture of a raccoon. Ick!), jackals, cheetahs and leopards. But one of the first sights
we saw was a lion. But it wasn't just any lion. It was a lion having a feast. The meal du jour??? A
buffalo. There were 2 female lions, a male lion and 3 little baby lions. We were close enough
where (and this might sound gross but it was actually really cool) we could hear the lion taking
bites and tearing at the buffalo. There were at least 20 vultures standing to the side just waiting
for the lions to be done so that they could eat the scraps. Even though the female lions do the
kill, they sit to the side while the male eats first. (This prompted comments in our vehicle from
both the males and females...nice to see the same gender stereotypes exist in Europe as well.)
Then the little baby (we'll call him Simba) made a noise as if it was trying to roar. But it was
nowhere near a roar. Instead, it was the cutest, most indescribable noise. Oh, I just loved him!
(Oh! Simba = lion in Swahili.)
Moody pointed out something far out in the desert at one point. To the eye, it looked just like a
lake in the distance. But it wasn't a lake. It was, in fact, a mirage! The first mirage I'd ever seen.
It's pretty incredible how real it looks!
Later on we saw the backs of two lions. They were seeking out their prey. It turns out that they
actually take their time when it comes time to attacking. It was awesome watching them watch
their next meal. Lions are a pretty lucky animal. There really isn't anything that threatens their
life. Just the occasional pack of wild dogs.
Sadly, the Serengeti outing came to an end. Time totally flies by. These animals aren't just
everywhere you look. You really need to look for them and you feel like you're rewarded when
you do find them. It's kind of like waiting for rides at Disneyland. If there were no lines and you
could just keep going on the ride over and over again, the ride wouldn't feel the same as it
would if you had to wait in line for a little while. You just appreciate it more. Plus the fact that
the migration has now led most of the animals into the Masai Mara in Kenya meant far fewer
animals in the Serengeti.
Ngorongoro Crater
This park is known for the black rhino. There are only about 8 in the entire park so, once again,
this is something that was going to have to be sought out.
Finally, I had my first wildebeest sighting! There were none left in the Serengeti but they don't
migrate from this park so all was good. The wildebeest and zebras are good buddies. Total
BFFs. They travel in huge groups. At one point we saw a line of them that never ended. I called
them the Great Wall of Wildebeests. There were lots of hippos out here. Many lions. One even
cozied up to our vehicle because she wanted a bit of shade. Then we saw a pack of lions walk
within inches of us. They had their eye on an injured buffalo (he couldn't put pressure on his
back leg). Since so many of the lions were young, they didn't go after the buffalo right then.
They were going to call in the troops and come back later for him. It was obvious this buffalo
couldn't go anywhere. The saddest thing was the look on the buffalo's face. He knew his days
were numbered. Heck, his hours were numbered. While a few minutes before, the zebras and
wildebeests were all watching wondering what was going to happen, the buffalo walked towards
them after the lions left. Then it was clear that the zebras and wildebeests wanted no part of the
buffalo and they all quickly dispersed. Once again, sad times for the buffalo.
We went to the lake but it was dried up so the flamingos had already left to go to another park.
:( But on our way out, we saw a black rhino! It's actually funny to get so excited over an animal
that literally just stood there and didn't do a thing.
Every park had tons of baboons. These are funny little animals. Each one also had tons of
impalas. This animal gets very boring after a while. Giraffes never get boring. They're my
favorite animal of Eastern Africa. Long live the giraffe!!!
Our safari group included a couple from Belgium (Melinda and Jan) and a couple from Norway
(Suzy and Bjorn). We all got along really well. (Phew!) Moody was our safari guide.
Lake Manyara
This was the first park we went to for our safari. Of course we got extremely excited over
everything we saw since up till this point, we had only seen donkeys, goats, cows and baboons
on the side of the roads. They are known for tree-climbing lions. I'm going to go out on a limb
(pardon the pun ;) ) and say this whole thing is a myth since I never saw them. But we did see
hippos, water buffalo, zebras, elephants, giraffes and there were lots of birds. Lots. Too many.
And Moody loved giving information about these birds. It's a good thing we did this park first
because it didn't nearly compare to the next two. But it was exciting as it was our first safari
experience. :) Our lodge was great. It was up in the hills and it had an infinity pool that looked
over to Lake Manyara. I actually ended up waking up at 4am that following morning because I
swore I heard chanting of some sort. I went onto our balcony and there was serious tribal
chanting going on. And then I looked up. I've never seen stars like these. Never. They were
HUGE and there were TONS and they were literally twinkling all over. We found out later in
the morning that we were not out of our minds. The chanting that we were hearing was actually
the people in the local tribe praying for rain so that their crops would grow.
Serengeti
Ahhh....just the sound of it. On our way, it started drizzling/raining (by after dinner, it was
raining much harder). It gave the sky a cool/eerie feeling. We got to our lodge which gave us a
perfect view of the sunrise and sunset over the Serengeti. What Suzy called the 'Africa trees' are
actually flat-topped acacia trees...and it's easy to associate those with the Serengeti. I couldn't
get enough of them. Which is good because they are EVERYWHERE. Everything just seemed
so picturesque.
We left in the morning to start our safari. Giraffes in the Serengeti look even prettier than the
other giraffes we saw on the trip. There were hippos galore. We also saw zebras, warthogs
(read: Pumbaas), impalas (these remind me of deer), elephants (several babies, too!), buffalo,
crocodiles, hyenas (quite possibly the ugliest animal alive...looks like a stray dog in Tijuana
with the posture of a raccoon. Ick!), jackals, cheetahs and leopards. But one of the first sights
we saw was a lion. But it wasn't just any lion. It was a lion having a feast. The meal du jour??? A
buffalo. There were 2 female lions, a male lion and 3 little baby lions. We were close enough
where (and this might sound gross but it was actually really cool) we could hear the lion taking
bites and tearing at the buffalo. There were at least 20 vultures standing to the side just waiting
for the lions to be done so that they could eat the scraps. Even though the female lions do the
kill, they sit to the side while the male eats first. (This prompted comments in our vehicle from
both the males and females...nice to see the same gender stereotypes exist in Europe as well.)
Then the little baby (we'll call him Simba) made a noise as if it was trying to roar. But it was
nowhere near a roar. Instead, it was the cutest, most indescribable noise. Oh, I just loved him!
(Oh! Simba = lion in Swahili.)
Moody pointed out something far out in the desert at one point. To the eye, it looked just like a
lake in the distance. But it wasn't a lake. It was, in fact, a mirage! The first mirage I'd ever seen.
It's pretty incredible how real it looks!
Later on we saw the backs of two lions. They were seeking out their prey. It turns out that they
actually take their time when it comes time to attacking. It was awesome watching them watch
their next meal. Lions are a pretty lucky animal. There really isn't anything that threatens their
life. Just the occasional pack of wild dogs.
Sadly, the Serengeti outing came to an end. Time totally flies by. These animals aren't just
everywhere you look. You really need to look for them and you feel like you're rewarded when
you do find them. It's kind of like waiting for rides at Disneyland. If there were no lines and you
could just keep going on the ride over and over again, the ride wouldn't feel the same as it
would if you had to wait in line for a little while. You just appreciate it more. Plus the fact that
the migration has now led most of the animals into the Masai Mara in Kenya meant far fewer
animals in the Serengeti.
Ngorongoro Crater
This park is known for the black rhino. There are only about 8 in the entire park so, once again,
this is something that was going to have to be sought out.
Finally, I had my first wildebeest sighting! There were none left in the Serengeti but they don't
migrate from this park so all was good. The wildebeest and zebras are good buddies. Total
BFFs. They travel in huge groups. At one point we saw a line of them that never ended. I called
them the Great Wall of Wildebeests. There were lots of hippos out here. Many lions. One even
cozied up to our vehicle because she wanted a bit of shade. Then we saw a pack of lions walk
within inches of us. They had their eye on an injured buffalo (he couldn't put pressure on his
back leg). Since so many of the lions were young, they didn't go after the buffalo right then.
They were going to call in the troops and come back later for him. It was obvious this buffalo
couldn't go anywhere. The saddest thing was the look on the buffalo's face. He knew his days
were numbered. Heck, his hours were numbered. While a few minutes before, the zebras and
wildebeests were all watching wondering what was going to happen, the buffalo walked towards
them after the lions left. Then it was clear that the zebras and wildebeests wanted no part of the
buffalo and they all quickly dispersed. Once again, sad times for the buffalo.
We went to the lake but it was dried up so the flamingos had already left to go to another park.
:( But on our way out, we saw a black rhino! It's actually funny to get so excited over an animal
that literally just stood there and didn't do a thing.
Every park had tons of baboons. These are funny little animals. Each one also had tons of
impalas. This animal gets very boring after a while. Giraffes never get boring. They're my
favorite animal of Eastern Africa. Long live the giraffe!!!
