Tanzania Day 11

Fire Ants

Giraffe

Trevor next to the lions

Lion yawning

Giraffe

Water Buffalos

Elephants and baby

Lion stretching

Impalas

Hippopotamus

Trevor next to hippo pond

They let us sleep in a bit and we started at 8:30...wait, make that 8:15am. As I was venturing up the hill I heard the Land Rover's engines roar. Needless to say I began to sprint. I made it...barely. After I had left breakfast to get my things they had decided to move up our leave time to 8:15. That would have been a bad day to miss a safari.

Safari #2 didn't prove as eventful as Safari #1. The journey started exciting enough. We crossed a line of army ants that had build a one inch wide trench across the road. Warrior ants were out, trying to crawl up our legs as worker ants carried eggs across the road. How can insects without a brain coordinate all this? Amazing stuff. We crossed a rickety bridge that had enough creaks to make anyone squeamish. Makes for great video!

Its funny, but the "awe" quickly evaporates and you say..."well, there's another impala or there's another elephant." We were spoiled on our first expedition. We did get some better close ups of giraffes. Amazing animals. It is funny how they all stop and stare at us. You wonder what is going through their brains. Maybe we are the attraction. I learned that there were three types of giraffes. These were Massai Giraffes. They each have unique patterns, but not as distinct as giraffes in Kenya (I forget their name). Generally, the darker the giraffes, the older the giraffes.

We spent the middle of the day beside the pool. Some white frog jumped in. Kianna will love that picture. We saved a gecko from drowning and some weird bug with an antenna out its posterior. Wow. Lunch was crazy. Someone spotted a green snake poking its head around the corner. Only a 75% chance that it was poisonous. :o) The locals were split in the end. From the faces of our tour guides we believe it was a Green Mamba. They were backing away. After lunch, some of the team went down by the pool and found the snake again. Right there on film it hunted, killed and swallowed a large gecko. That doesn't happen in Michigan.

Safari #3 took place at 4pm. We went until sunset. We saw a silver jackal...it looks very much like a fox. The leopard still eluded us. It is the hardest animal to see in the park. They are very adept at hiding. The manager of the camp said it took him six trips to see one. Needless to say...we need more trips, I guess. We also saw some amazing birds and a bill bob tree that was bigger than our 8 person Land Rovers. I got out and climbed the tree.

No excitement that night other than a Preying Mantis getting in our snack mix. When I went to return to my tent there was a Massai man that acts as our guide. I guess he is there to make sure we don't get eaten by something. I asked him what happens if a honey badger came across our path and he said "don't know". That wasn't all that reassuring. It also made me think...I probably wasn't faster than this long legged, hundred and twenty pound man. Good thing we didn't come across a badger.