I had an absolute amazing time on safari this past week! I got to see soooo many animals up close and personal which was amazing! We got lucky enough to see the big 5 animals: lion, leopard, rhino, giraffe, and wildeabeast. On top of that, we saw lots of lions, zebras, gazelle, a saber cat which is supposed to be extremely rare, warthogs (pumbas), a cheetah, hyennas, and so much more. We went to three different parks on our weekend extravaganza: Lake Mnyara, the Serengeti, and Ngorogoro Crater. It was a 4 day, 3 night safari very jam packed with driving, game driving, and setting up/taking down our campsites. The roads here are not paved and were extremely bumpy to ride on. It should come as no surprise when I say I slept like a baby in the car despite all of that. I can sleep everywhere in any con
picture above: Two lion cubs came up right next to our car and decided to lay under it for shade! 

I got so excited they were next to our car instead of the 15 other jeeps parked and watching the tree full of lionesses. When I jumped up, my sunglasses flew off of my head onto the ground and I pretty much kissed those goodbye. Lucky for me, when the lion (simba in swahili) decided to lay below the front of the car, our driver, Chewy, decided to hop out of the jeep and get my sunglasses for me. Quite the wild man Chewy is but he also taught me a lot of dirty words in swahili I have been using on two of the guards here at the house. It makes them laugh quite a lot, but mama Neema comes after us with a stick/spoon/utensil or object of some sort to hit us jokingly whenever we use these naughty words. haha she's a funny lady!
Picture: A group of elephants came right out of the bush and around our jeep in all directions to cross the road. 

It was the first up close experience we had on our safari and it was absolutely amazing! Made me think of you Lisa when you almost got stampeded to death! Such beautiful animals and the babies were adorable! Throughout our trip we got lucky to have seen so many animals, especially up close. Chewy said most people see 2 or 3 of the big 5 and some of the more common animals but we were a trip filled with some of the most animals he has seen in one trip in a long time. It was very cool to witness the animals in the wild environment, but took a little while for me to realize they weren't caged in like at a zoo. 

The leopard mom and two babies up in a tree were very cool to watch as they played and walked around. The next day we got to see the same family of leopards eating a gazelle up in the tree. They were ripping it apart and going to town on it. It was very national geographic like if you ask me. Had quite a few of those moments on our trip. I got to see and film zebras having sex which was interesting. We witnessed a group of lions hunting a heard of buffalo but never got to witness any actual victory and take down of a buffalo. The lions surrendered in the end. 

At our campsite the second night, a group of about 12 lions walked right through without any of us even knowing about it until the next morning. We had just all gone to sleep and the cooks and guides witnessed it all happen. Hyennas were in our camp site as well. The next night we had buffalo and hyennas walk through and around our campsite as well. It was quite amazing to be sleeping in a location with so many deadly animals and never have any problems.

picture below: Me with our driver Chewy (left) and cook William (right) at our last lunch stop. We ate over looking a lagoon filled with hippos! Quite a treat to have such wonderful and beautiful locations to experience so many wonderful things with a great group of people! 

It was a great weekend filled with too many amazing experiences to write about and pictures to show. I filled my entire camera! Cra



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