Hey Look, Twigas!

As promised, here comes another blog post, this time telling the tale of our Serengeti safari experience...

Kate, Shannon, Kate's mom (who came to stay in Mwanza for just over a week), Vicky (a friend living in Dar es Salam who flew in to safari with us) and myself awoke anxiously on a bright Sunday morning to prepare for our trip. We were picked up (early**) by our driver and cook who then stopped at a small store to pick up the rest of the supplies needed for our excursion. It was a 2 1/2 hour drive to the gates of the Serengeti, where we waited for Papa (real name: Charles, common name: Big Papa) our driver to pay our park and camping fees for the next 2 days. We were finally off to see the wizard the animals, and it sure didn't take long! Our first sightings were the wildebeests, zebras, and about 8 different types of 'deer like creatures' which all of us (except Shannon who could tell them ALL apart) called them for the remainder of our trip. 

The very first big things we saw! I call them skeleton horses since they aren't very attractive, but they are really wildebeests.

Zebras! 

 We had a long drive ahead of us to reach our campsite, but luckily we had many interesting stops and things to look at along the way. We saw baboons, black-faced vervet monkeys, antelope and many types of gazelle (under the deer like creature heading), many types of beautifully coloured birds, snakes, hippos, giraffe (twiga), warthogs, elephants, and many other creatures by the time we reached our campgrounds. 

Huge hawks!

The cutest little black-faced vervet having a snack

Game! Name that deer-like creature! If you guessed impalas, you would be correct!

The hippo pond

Hippo out of water. I referred to these creatures as 'the wiener dogs of the animal kingdom'

The most beautiful twiga right next to our truck

 We arrived at camp where Edward headed for the cooking hut (with the rest of the camp quest's cooks) to begin preparing dinner. We set up our 2 teeny tiny ghetto tents in a surprisingly fast time (with the help of Papa) and were ready for a hot meal. There was a pavilion of sorts that each safari group ate in. Our cook set up our own little table and stools, along with all of our dishes and cutlery... we were dining in style at least!

Kate and her mom stayed on the left, and Vicky, Shannon, and myself fit like a glove into the slightly bigger tent on the right

We woke up Monday morning prepared to take on the day (sleep or no sleep) of game drives. We had a delicious hot breakfast, and were on our way. We saw SO much on Monday. We got to see 2 leopard moms in separate trees, one with a little tiny cub, and one with 2 larger cubs, a tree with 6 lions (yes, 6!), a lion pride protecting their wildebeest kill, a parade of elephants right next to our truck, and a huge heard of at least 300 buffalo. It was such an exciting day to see such a variety of animals! We saw all of the 'big 5' (lion, buffalo, leopard, elephant, and rhino) except for the rhino, which can only be seen in Ngorongoro, the national park next to the Serengeti with a huge crater. 

A tree of lions- 2 mothers and 4 cubs

They were quite comfortable

Right up close!

Some of the many elephants

A leopard and her cub in the crook of the tree just up and to her right

Mufasa 

Probably the best photo I took on the trip- a lion chasing away a vulture trying to get a mouthful of their kill

 Tuesday morning at 4:50am our group woke up, made our way to the washroom building with lots of flashing flights to keep away any unwelcome wildlife and got ready for our balloon safari. I have to say that this was one of the coolest things I have ever done, and hopefully through pictures will never forget the jaw-dropping epicness of the experience. Our basket had 16 people, plus 1 pilot (named Frank, who grew up in Guelph, ON) and were loaded in rocket ship style, laying on our backs with our compartment buddy next to us until hot air was added to our balloon to pull us upright. The ride was as close as I can imagine to floating on a cloud, and we could drop in seconds to see any animals below. We were the first of 3 balloons to take off that morning, and got to watch the other 2 land behind us. We then gathered as a group to have a champagne toast, all proclaiming 'maisha marefu' or 'long life' as per Tanzanian tradition. We were driven a short distance to where our traditional English breakfast was served under a large lone tree in the middle of a Savannah, with table clothes and cutlery... not a bad way to dine. We met some lovely couples in our basket, and in one of the baskets someone was even proposed to! Papa and Edward were waiting for us as we finished our delicious breakfast, and we proceeded to tear back to Mwanza.

Ready for the ride!

Successful fight!

Frank with some champagne on his head

Our breakfast spot

Fellow balloons

We look cold, but when the flame was on, it was hot ,hot, HOT!

Vicky and Susan

 We had 4 cameras between us, and would take turns taking pictures to save our batteries. There were only 2 plugs at the campsite, and the power would be shut off around supper time, so it was great we were able to share! Our group ended up with around 1000 pictures, and I wish I could share them all with you now!

My accounts of Dubai will be up next!

Asante!