200 - 202 Tarangire National Park

After our hunting expedition this morning we made our way out the crater’s foothills and headed Southeast to Tarangire National Park. The lodge we are staying at overlooks the game park so we could watch the animals (like elephants and zebras) from our porch. Tarangire is a little quieter this time of year but it is packed with elephants so we really followed them most of the afternoon. The story of the day happened after we went to bed...
We walked back to our tent (they aren't just camping tents, they are actually permanent tents with cement floors, but the walls are made of tent material) after dinner with someone escorting us as they always do, to guide us with a flashlight (not that a flashlight will do much if a wild animal attacks but...). Tonight we saw several elephants about 10 feet off the path grazing in the trees. We could hear them making lots of noise as we went to bed. About 1:45 I heard a rush of water outside our tent, figured a pipe had broke and got up to make sure it wasn't flowing inside (it wasn't thank goodness). I couldn't find the zero the phone to call the front desk (because there is no phones in safari tents DUH!) and knew we weren't suppose to go outside, so I just went back to bed. Well come to find out in the morning an elephant had broken the water pipe on our tent. Kate and Randy had woken up to the elephant breathing outside their tent and then heard the pipe bust on our tent. They had used their cell phone to call someone who contacted the lodge to stop the flood. We also found out at the lodge this happens frequently and they think it is the same elephant who has figured out how to get the water from the pipe! Oh the adventures in Africa.

We started our morning drive and it was pretty quiet until our driver spotted two male lions and a female in a valley. We had to just watch with our binoculars, because they were pretty far away, but that was the first time we actually saw the face of the male (the other time he was sleeping). We were all thrilled, because that was the last big thing we wanted to see. After we drove around for a while we followed a herd of elephants who eventually made their way to some water for bath time as we sat about 12 feet away. It was awesome! We spent the afternoon by the pool and then headed out on our afternoon drive.

This morning was our last day on safari. We did our final drive on the way out of the park, where we saw lots of monkeys and baboons running around. We headed back to Arusha for lunch, did some shopping, and settled into our lodge for the night! The safari was a blast for all of us!

198-199 Lake Eyasi and Two African Tribal Visits

After we ate lunch we drove through the Great Rift valley below Ngorongoro Crater and past small tribal villages on awful dirt roads (sometimes I don't think there was a road) towards Lake Eyasi. We stopped to visit a Datoga Tribe family who lived in a boma. The man had three wives and there were numerous children around. The first wife was herding the cattle (as customary for this culture), so the other two wives showed us around. We were able to go into the hut of one of the wives to see the two bedroom place that literally had two beds and a fire pit. The ceiling was so low we just croched down and sat on the dirt floor. Our guide was helping us communicate a little in their tribal language, but it was difficult. The main cash crop in this area is onions and this family also has a small jewelry shop where they melt down small locks and form bracelets, spears for hunting, and other goods. When we finished our visit we went to our campsite which was on the banks of the lake. We did some exploring before dusk, enjoyed a nice dinner, and went to bed early.
(As you can see the woman loved to touch our blonde hair. That is the one thing I have found in Africa they all want to touch my hair)

This morning we got up before the sun rose to go hunting with another local tribe called the Hadza. They are a nomadic tribe who speak in a "click" language. We had to find their small, little tribe in the mountains. When we arrived, the women and children were gathered around one fire and the men around another getting ready for their hunt. We headed out with bows and arrows to follow them as they looked for animals. The main animals they hunt are baboons, small cats, and birds. Unfortunately they only shot at a couple birds today and missed them - one of the men had recently been attacked by a leopard and he had scars all over his body, so I was kind of glad we only saw birds! We then went back to do some practice shooting with them and they also performed a traditional dance for us. Quite an interesting experience to say the least!

Day 196 - 198 Serengeti National Park

On Saturday morning we set off from Ndutu Lodge to Serengeti National Park (means endless place), which was about 30 km away. At the park entrance you are able to climb a small hill to look out on the beautiful African Savannah. It honestly is an endless view of grassland and blue sky! Right now the zebras and wildebeests are migrating to Kenya to follow the water sources, so during our stay in the Serengeti we saw literally hundreds of thousands of them slowly making their way North (no exaggeration. Our guide said it was more like millions). The youngest ones are about 3 months old and they are traveling hundreds of miles. These two animals tend to stay together because one has good ears and one has good eyes. This morning we came upon a cheetah crossing the road right in front of our vehicle as we drove along, we saw more lions, and spotted our first leopard in a tree (we have now seen all the "Big 5" animals on our trip). We also have seen numerous families of giraffes, birds, and so many other things. After we checked into our immaculate tented lodge in the middle of the Serengeti (the nicest place we stayed with beautiful beds and bathroom all in a tent), we started our afternoon drive. We saw lots of monkeys and baboons, warthogs, ostriches, vultures, small crocodiles in the river, and then we went to a hippo pool, where we could get out and sit along the river to watch over 75 hippos wallow in the water!

On Sunday we did an all day game drive through the park and saw most of the same animals from the day before but all in new places. This has been a great time of year to be in the Serengeti (after the rainy season, but before the busy safari tourist season). There is still water flowing, flowers blooming in the tall grass, and picturesque scenery. This will change soon as it dries up. However, it does make it a bit more difficult to spot animals walking through the grass, but we have seen so much and we aren't battling a ton of safari vehicles on the road. We always know when there is some good "animal spotting" off in the distance, because there will be a group of safari vehicles gathered. Our guide is great! We call him eagle eyes, because he will spot things far off in the distance or hidden in a tree. I must say the 4 of us tourists have all had really good eyes spotting little things hidden in the rocks and trees, too! We really feel like we are in the "Lion King" because we are hanging out of with all those animals in this beautiful landscape of rocks and the Savannah.

On Monday morning we did our final drive through the Serengeti, which included seeing a group of elephants about 15 yards away, a leopard in a tree with its kill hanging next to it, and more lions. We headed out of the park around noon. Story of the Day: This morning Kate and Randy had arrived to breakfast before us and were sitting at a table, when a baboon unzipped the tent door, jumped onto the table, and grabbed a handful of sugar packets (this is why they give us little locks for our tents - the baboons come in to take things during the day!)

Day 194 - 195 Ngorongoro Crater

Thursday morning began our 8 day African safari adventure from Arusha. Liz and I, along with our driver, Stephano, and Kate and Randy Young (the wonderful couple we traveled with from Colorado), set off in our Serengeti Select (A safari company owned by the Simonson family that I highly recommend) Land Rover. Our first destination was the Ngorongoro Conservation Area located about 3 hours West of Arusha. This site is considered the ‘eighth wonder of the world,” because it is the largest unflooded caldera (collapsed volcano) that supports over 30,000 animals in the 12 mile stretch of prairie and water sources. This is probably the best place in Africa to view all the animals at one time. We drove along rim of the crater before we made a 2,000 foot descent into the crater. Throughout the day we saw 3 endangered black rhinos, a cheetah eating its kill (mouth full of blood), a pride of lions, a group of elephants, a hippo pool, hyena, flamingos in the lakes, zebras, wildebeests, gazelles, buffalo, and tons of birds and so much more. There are big herds of zebras, wildebeests, gazelles and buffalo everywhere, but it is like hunting for deer trying to spot the other animals. We all just keep the binoculars handy and the cameras ready to capture what we see. After a full day safari we headed up to our lodge on the crater of the rim. The balcony in our room overlooked the sunrise on the crater the next morning! Incredible!

Friday we descended down the other side of the crater to visit Olduvai Gorge which is a famous archaeological site, where they have discovered fossils and footprints from millions of year ago. We toured a small museum and had a short lecture from a guide. Then we made our way to Nduto Lodge. On our the way we saw hundreds of zebras and wildebeests and the Maasai people herding their cattle and living among them. It is just awesome! The best animals we spotted right before lunch was a group of 10 giraffes. Since we were outside the Crater and had not entered the Serengeti yet, we were able to drive off the main roads right up to the them! It is amazing how long you can sit and watch animals eat. Once we got settled in the lodge (in the middle of the park with signs warning us of wild animals outside our cabins), a group of giraffes came right up outside our room. I was within about 15 feet of the animals. We then headed out on our afternoon drive which was pretty quiet at the beginning (just your typical zebra and wildebeest) and finding the National Geographic magazine people filming - again! Our drive spotted three female lions right before dusk, so we drove off across a marsh to get a better look (with the film crew and everyone following us). We watched them for a while and then they started to move, one came within about 5 feet of an open air safari vehicle (you should have seen the people's faces) and then the one sitting closest to our vehicle walked up right next to it (Liz has video). We watched all three descend into the marsh and followed them until we spotted their cubs in among the reeds. To top off the afternoon drive, we witnessed a beautiful African sunset!

(NOTE: Okay, so we took thousands of pictures over the course of the safari and I tried to pick some of the highlights, however, if you log onto our facebook pages in the next couple days there will be more, I promise) ENJOY!