4 Day Safari!

This past weekend we went on SAFARI! Definitely one of the most amazing things I have ever done.  Kelly and I were accompanied on our safari by a young couple from Finland, a guy from Quebec, Canada and of course our guide (Frank) and chef (Bakari).  Everyone was great! We spent 1 day at Lake Manyara, 2 days in the Serengeti, and 1 day in the Ngorongoro Crater.  Each location had a different terrain/environment offering slight variations in the animals.  Lake Manyara is mostly green forests with lush vegetation and a few fields, the Serengeti is endless plains as far as the eyes can see, and Ngorongoro Craters is exactly that, a crater surrounded by rolling mountains!  All very different but extremely fascinating and beautiful.

Lake Manyara

Ngorongoro Crater

Serengeti in the background

Now on to the animals!  We saw hundreds of different species of animals and birds.  Including hundred of thousands of zebra, wildebeests, monkeys and birds, we came within 15 feet of countless elephants and giraffes and 9 lions.  I saw all members of the Big 5 (buffalo, elephant, lion, black rhino, and leopard)! Other animals we saw were warthogs, hyena’s, antelope, hippos, dik diks, jackals, and crocodiles just to name a few.

Leopard!  Leopards have retractable claws so they can climb trees where
as cheeta's do not so you find them on the ground.

One of soooo many zebra's.  They are white with black stripes
because they have white bellies. 

Family of elephants at Lake Manyara

Buffalo's have funny hair do's 

So many giraffes 

Ugly hyena - they do not make a laughing noise and sound more like a bird.

Female lion!

Lazy male lion

So many monkeys.   Our guide thought this baby was about 3 mo old.

The only hippo's we saw out of the water.

Warthog! 

We chose to do a budget safari, meaning public campsites instead of high end camp sites or lodges.  This created some interesting scenarios, mostly over crowded campsites, gross bathrooms, and lots of noise.  However, it was part of the adventure and we made it pretty darn fun!  In the middle of the night you could even hear the hyena’s (making hyena noises) all night long.  One of the coolest events of the whole weekend occurred at Simba camp on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater the very last night.  Around 5:30 pm we were joined in the campsite by an enormous elephant!  At first he was just eating grass and vegetation behind the kitchen.  But eventually he got thirsty and walked to the big water tank in our campsite and started having a drink.  We were 15 feet from him the whole time!  

Heaven Nature camp site on the first night!  

Night #2 in the Serengeti

Simba camp on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater.  Left to right: Kelly, me, Simon, Ida, Tuomas!

The elephant drinking out of the water tank at our campsite!

All in all it was an incredible weekend!  Words and pictures will never be able to express the true emotions I felt being so close to these wild yet beautiful animals.  But I hope this blog gave everyone a small glimpse of my experience!

~Krista

P.S. We had two flat tires our very first day!  One before we even arrived at any National Parks and the second on our way out of Lake Manyara in the rain.  Good thing we had guys in our group :)

Flat tire #1 

Flat tire #2 - no spares left!