Safari in Tanzania

Winter break was unbelievable!

We flew into Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania. I wish I had taken a photo of the mountain. Kilimanjaro is huge and almost looks out of place. We stayed in Arusha that night and started our safari the following morning.

 

I really wasn't sure what to expect from the safari. I always pictured older couples with tan hats, vests and binoculars hanging out of a truck. It turned out to be an incredible experience!

1. The Animals

Everyone asks if you saw the Big Five - African elephant, Cape buffalo, black rhino, lion and leopard. We saw all but the rhino, and many more!

Turned out one of my favorite animals to see (I know because I took a hundred photos of them) was the African elephant. 

The most beautiful was the leopard. The picture just does not do it justice. It's coat looked like it had been painted on and it shimmered.

My favorite moment was when we saw a lion and lioness on the side of the road, enjoying the shade. Our guide said they come to this area for one week to mate, and the only shade is on the side of the trails. We stopped, opened our windows and took photos. At one point the lion got up, looked right at Michael and walked toward the truck. The guide started rolling his window up as fast as his could, and Michael got one shot, then slammed his window shut! This was the photo:

I also loved watching the animals interact. in the Serengeti, you see wildebeests and zebras for miles! Thousands and thousands of them, eating grass and drinking water. Sometimes they look up at the truck and move from the trail. One time we looked and saw 30 zebras all looking up in the same direction, not moving. A lioness was laying in the grass about 70 yards away. It was so cool! 

2. The camping

The only other time I've been camping was for one night in the desert, so we're counting this as my first time camping! We stayed on campsites, had great food, bathrooms and showers. The first night was near Lake Manyara, the second in the Serengeti and the last on the Ngorogoro crater rim. The second and third night I woke up around 2AM. The first was because of a baby elephant and hyenas  and on the crater rim a Cape buffalo was eating grass right beside our tent! I could see his shadow! (a little scary) 

3. Spending hours in a truck

When we decided to do a safari, my first concern was spending so much time riding around. I thought it would be boring, but I was wrong! The change in habitats was amazing. For example, driving from Lake Manyara to the Serengeti took us around the Ngorogoro Crater. We saw lush forests, green rolling hills, and dusty grasslands. Also, we only had one other person with us on the safari, so we had plenty of room in the truck and good company.

We checked "Safari" off our bucket list! On the last day we thought, "When will we ever see animals like this again?" 

The next post will be about our trip to Zanzibar!