Tanzinia day 6-8

After a 4 hour drive on the bumpiest road ever we made it to the Serengeti.
We spent 3 day in the Serengeti.  We stayed in a tented camp there.  It was amazing. 
The Serengeti is 10,000 square miles big. Huge!  These topi (sp?) were outside our tents.

On our first day Chris spotted this leopard up in a tree.
The things Chris could spot were amazing. Chris even spotted a kill that a leopard had pulled up the tree to save for later.  He would spot a lion by the flick of a tail in the distance that we could only see with binoculars.

This elephant was trumpeting.  They also communicate by a rumble noise in their stomach.  The elephants make the noise, and the pride come together to the matriarch and leave, usually when they feel threatened.

Another lion that we followed for a while.

She spied this warthog.  We though we would see a chase, but the warthog saw her and took off.  Lions rarely hunt on their own, Chris said she was practicing.

A small crocodile.

Impala

 

Storm coming in over the Serengeti.  It was a cool show to watch.  Lots of thunder and lighting with a huge rain storm.  The smell was wonderful!

Our tent

Our shower.   I thought we would be roughing from the beginning but was surprised by our "tents" in the previous days that I thought things would continue to be the same.  I was wrong.  We got a shower of 5 gallons of luke warm water.  It was something you need to experience at least once.
Our toilets were glorified port a potties next to the shower.

Our group of travelers.  Keith Williams is a friend of my dads that hiked Mt. Kilimanjaro along with his son Chris.  We were grateful to have Doctors with us.  Kathy, Keith's wife flew with us to Tanzania.  Modi was our other guide. After the safari the Williams went to Zanzibar and Uganda while we continued to Egypt.

On our way to the airport we were in search of a cheetah which we never found but we stumbled upon a pride of 15 lions.  Pretty awesome.

 

A parting picture.  We flew from the Serengeti to Kilimanjaro airport.

 

 

Tanzania day 5

We started our day at the Ngorongoro Crater.  We found our first Cate Buffalo.  And behind them we spotted some hyenas.  Then we noticed cars stopped on the side of the road.  Where you see that, it's usually something big!  We were right.  The hyenas were hanging out by some lions that just had a kill.  A Cate buffalo.  We missed the kill, but not by too long, there was still blood on the lion.

The loin would wait till the cars have left to eat.  There were 3 total loins hanging out there cooling off  in the stream.  The park rangers did a great job of making sure everyone got a view, and after a few hours they would close the road and let the lions eat.  After they are done then the hyenas and jackals will have their turn.

Warthogs. Somehow Disney portrays them much better.

Stopping for lunch by a hippo pool.  We had the best guide Chris.  He laughed at all the banter between Taryn and Jesse, made sure we saw all the animals we wanted to, and even let Jesse pet a zebra from the car.

On the way out of the crater this is what we happened upon.  In the right hand corner a jackal is waiting for the lioness to leave.

Here is a black rhino. They have 2 horns. Very rare, only 2500 left in the world.  We got to see 2 that day.

Some Messi tribesmen (boys).  They wait by the side of the road for tourist to take photos with them for a couple of dollars. 

This is a plains elephant, the largest of all the breeds of elephant.

Some giraffe blending in with acacia trees.

 

Tanzania day 4

I won't make a post for everyday, but a few days are worthy of a post.
Day 3 ended with Taryn once again sick.  Lucky for us we had some friends traveling with us from Medford and he happened to be a doctor.  What we concluded is that taking the malaria meds on an empty stomach (which is the best way to take it) was making Taryn sick, so from then on we took our meds with a meal.  The rest of the trip went smoothly. 
This was the accommodations for our first night of safari.  This was at Lake Burubge tented camp.

Loved the open air gathering place.  We had the best chocolate cake trifle after dinner.

After packing up it was on to Lake Manyara National park.  There are five distinct vegetation zones in this park, which is a small park in size.  It's all relative I guess. This park is know for tree climbing lions.  We didn't get to see any.   Love this picture of giraffe running.  I think it would have made our day to see one trip. 

A baboon holding a baby.

Hippo hanging out.  They are land slugs.  They don'
t move all that much, in or out of the water.

View of an elephant passing our car.  I know where the expression elephant in a china shop comes from now.  An elephant walking was so loud.  They would break trees like they were twigs, searching for these tiny pea pods they loved to eat.  When a pride of elephants makes it's way to a village it has bad results.

A troop of baboon came down the road.  You could smell them first.  Nasty things.  They were coming out of trees and heading who knows where.

Baby hitching a ride.

Lauren

Stopping for a bathroom break.  Makes for great photo op.

Our place of rest in Karatu.  Bougainvilla lodge.

 

 

Tanzania days 1-3

Day one started with getting to the airport at 6:30.  We Didn't even make into the airport and Taryn is throwing up. Great! I didn't have my phone with me, something about being over seas and hundreds .  Taryn was going to have to suck it up!  She was fine and sipped on sprite for a while.

After out 27 hours of travel we made it to Arusha, Tanzania. We stayed in a lovely hotel with guards.  We arrived a day and a half before my dad and siblings.  It was to cold to swim in the pool, and the hotel grounds took about 15 min to see.  So we slept, and watched a Tanzanian soap opera. Fun times.

This was a pretty cool plant/tree by the pool.

My dad, Melissa and Jesse soon joined us after a successful climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro.  They don't look less for the wear.  Happy to be done I'm guessing.

First day of safari.  We passed a lot of Messi tribe villages.  They show their wealth by the amount of cattle they have and the number of wives too.  Each one of the huts belong to a different wife.  Some villages there were dozens of huts.

Our first park to explore was Tarangire National Park.  We saw our first animals which included, Wildebeests, Impala, Zebras, Elephants, Giraffes, warthogs, and many kinds of birds. 

This is a Baobab tree.  It can live for thousands of years. When the dry season comes, the trees drop the leaves to conserve water.  Elephants can get the middle of the tree and get the water stored there.  The tree then heals it's self. 

Zebras at the water hole.  the best time to go on safari is in the dry season.  All animals need water, but fewer locations to get it so you are guaranteed to see an abundance of animals.

Elephants were the most entertaining.  They played with each other, and are very aware of their surroundings.  When elephant populations get to high, they don't kill one elephant here and there, they kill whole families prides.  The reason for this is that elephants have a great memory and would remember that humans killed one of their own and would become aggressive to humans.