Our week on safari

We have been home for a week and feel incomplete if we don't wrap up the blog with our final week on safari.    Safari, by the way, means journey in Swahili...  and a journey it was indeed.

Arusha is the base of operations for many safari company's and is where we connected with Roy Safari company and turned ourselves over to them for a week.  We met our guide, Peter, on Sunday morning and loaded up the Toyota Land Cruiser and off we went to Tarangire National Park.

Our hotel in Arusha

Our guide Peter

 Peter was perfect for us. He has 16 years of experience as a guide and displayed a passion and reverence for the animals, land , and people.  He not only provided an in depth knowledge of the animals and birds, he advised us on tipping and how to get the best rooms at the lodges we stayed in.

  The first afternoon was spent game viewing in Tarangire where we  saw our first cheetahs among many other animals.

  Late afternoon we headed to our lodging for 2 nights,  a tented lodge on  a bluff overlooking the Tarangire river ( which is a dry river bed at this time of year).   The manager told us the rules and we took them seriously.   After dark you are escorted to your tent by the Masai security guards and you stay in your tent until it gets light,  or you get an escort back to the main lodge.   In case of emergency we had a whistle in the room... and they were very clear that hearing animals outside the tent is NOT an emergency.    

  It was a very nice tent on stilts, with hardwood floors and a full bathroom.  After the first night Bob decided he has a new name.  "He who sleeps with lions".   We heard hyenas and lions during the night , and in the morning there was evidence of elephants having walked through the camp.

"Our" permanent tent

Tarangire Permanent Camp main building, open air lobby

Foot bridge if the river was impassable

Crossing the river to the camp

Day 2 was an early morning game drive, starting at 6 am before daylight  ( and yes, when we poked our head out of the tent the Masai was right there to escort us to the lodge)   What a wonderful experience to be among the animals as the day begins.  Herds of wildebeest and zebra at the watering hole.   Elephants everywhere.

Hornbill

The watering hole

Elephants negotiating the riverbank

Lake Manyara was next on the itinerary.  It's a relatively small park with a very different look and feel.  Tropical lush vegetation around  a lake that was receded because of the dry season. One of the highlights was seeing the hippos out of the water lounging around on the bank of the lake.   When hippos are in the water you don't see much of them other then their ears and snout.  Seeing them out of the water is quite impressive.

One bird at a time seemed to be the rule....

"INCOMING"!!

This would be under water in the wet season

Morning light over Lake Manyara

Lake Manyara is the only park where you can go on game drives at night.   We entered the park at 8 pm in an open vehicle with a driver, a spotter and a ranger with a rifle.  We saw big African porcupines and a leopard on the hunt.   The experience was quite surreal -  the driver would stop, turn off the engine and the lights and we were under the canopy of stars listening to the forest at night.

  On to the Serengeti and the endless plain,  and endless dirt roads and dust.  The roads in all of the parks are dirt very rough roads with washboard and potholes.   The ride was bumpy and dusty and nicknamed
'the African massage'.  

..."endless plain", in all directions....

Lodging was in a mobile tent camp that was our most remote experience.   A central tent housed the dining area and a little lounge with tables set up under the stars.  Breakfast watching the sunrise over the Serengeti was an unforgettable experience.

Peter found a pride of lions, 2 big males, and 7 females who were working on a kill.  The meal was a Cape Buffalo and one female was still feasting while the others were napping with full stomachs.  We were amazed at how close we got to them.

Near our tent camp we found a leopard in a tree with his kill.  He was also sleeping and unconcerned about the cars stopped near him.   The next day he had moved to a different tree and was totally relaxed.

This guy had an impala kill in the tree with him...

Final stop on the safari was 2 days at Ngorongoro crater.   A huge crater that has 4 eco-systems in it and is home to many different animals.   We took a walking safari with a ranger who explained their system to protect the rhinos.   The population has grown from a low of 15 to 35.  There are 80 rangers who keep track of all of the rhinos and if they try to leave the crater they return them to the bottom.
We were lucky to see one,   even if he was were sleeping in a field.

"He who sleeps amongst lions"...

Serengeti Sunrise

Egyptian Goose

...typical but rare caravan...

Grant Gazelle and Thompson Gazelle

Love Bird

Kori Bustard

Morning fog cascades over the Ngorongoro crater rim

Last look in the hotel on our way home

The journey home was a long one.  As we reflect on our travels we realize how fortunate we were to have seen and experienced so much.  Thanks for the read!