SERENGETI

Lions and leopards and cheetahs…oh my!  The wildlife in Serengeti has been the best we’ve seen so far.  For the first time I saw a leopard, a cheetah,  hippos walking out of the water, and lions really close up (and even mating)!  We went on a game drive each day, accompanied by afternoon lectures with the Chief Ecologist of Serengeti National Park and a researcher working with the Lion Project, the second longest mammal project only to Jane Goodall’s study on chimps.  She even showed us a lion decoy they used for one of their studies. 

At night, buffalo hung out behind the bathroom and stared us down, while hyena came right into our campsite and fought over scraps near the kitchen while we were sleeping.  You could hear lions roaring from the campfire and the first group of the Great Migration casually ran by our tents about 100 feet away the first day we arrived.  Literally nothing could have topped this.

The first day we stopped at Olduvai Gorge on the way, the birthplace of mankind.  It is an archaeological dig site where the oldest human footprints have been found.  It was really cool to hear about the evolution of man from the guide.  

 

This is Charles and I at Olduvai Gorge; he is the staff member who picked me up at the airport the first day I got here!

 

When we got to the campsite, we had already driven past all kinds of wildlife.  There were hundreds of zebra, wildebeest and other antelope within site from my tent!  It was a struggle to put up the tent, I ate out of Tupperware that was only cleaned in cold, bug-filled water, and I went five days without showering and sleeping on the ground in the dirt, but I didn't even care.  It was such an amazing experience!

       How would you like to see this when you wake up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night...

 

When we weren’t just driving around on safari, we were “in class” cruising around observing elephants and identifying bird species.  One of the days we went to the Serengeti Serena Lodge and had a buffet lunch and swam in a gorgeous pool.  It was amazinggg to have American food once again!

On the drive back home, there was a lion in a tree, a really rare sighting!

Overall the staff said this was one of their favorite groups/expeditions and the group got a lot closer on this trip.  I’m sad to leave Tanzania to go to Kenya in only a few days!