Tuesday's Tanzania

Tweet

A big part of our trip was a 4-day, 3 night safari through three of Tanzania's incredible national parks - Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorogoro.  We were accompanied by our guide, Swalehe, and cook, Bakari, both pros at the "safari game."  When booking the trip, we had a choice of tent camping (platform tents with beds in sites with full bath facilities, etc.) or lodges - we chose the tents (more on that next week). :)

Our first day was a trek through Tarangire where we found very dry conditions - the "short rains" season had just begun - but a variety of animals were still active.  The animals appeared to be very accustomed to the safari jeeps as they did not get skittish or avoid us at all although we were clearly warned that getting out of the vehicle was not an option.

We were greeted by a very playful group of elephants.

Well, at least they were playful until this one thought we were taking a few too many pictures.

Note:  flaring elephant ears may be cute, but not a good sign.  Time to hit the road.

My favorite shots from this day were the giraffes. 

We tracked this lioness for quite a while.














Swalehe explained that she probably was looking for food for her cubs as from her looks she was a nursing mama.

We never did find her cubs, but we did discover another pride deep in the grass.





That night we enjoyed an incredible camp-cooked dinner (leek soup, chicken, best instant coffee ever....) by Bakari and after a long day in the sun on the safari road, were glad to find our beds waiting for us!

Next week:  Serengeti and wait, where did the beds go?