Safari Day 3: Tarangire National Park

 We got on the road early so we could get to Tarangire and see all the things. This park was the most like I had pictured Africa in my head. Brown, dry and very hot. It was similar to the crater in that there were animals everywhere. It was filled with lots of excitement as we had a chance to see so many cool things.

There were so many wart hogs. It was hard to get a good picture because their heads were always down.

A huge herd of elephants. So cool!

We saw a mom and three baby cheetahs. This is what a traffic jam on a safari looks like. The guides talked over the radio and told everyone where the cheetahs were and all came to see.

You can only see two of her cubs in the pictures. The other one was hiding behind the termite hill. We watched them for a very long time. They were so cool.

After a while of watching them the mother left and went about 100 yard up ahead. We followed her on the road and got to see the best show of our lives. We got to watch her hunt an impala. it was so crazy. She just snuck up on three of them grazing in the grass. Once she made her move she got the slowest one. It took a good ten minutes for her to take it down. Then she called her three cubs over to come eat. It was wild!

An elephant up close!

The watering hole in this park was magic in the afternoon. So many animals all just hanging out. Giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, wart hogs, gazelles, impalas. We even saw a family of mongooses close by. It was so cool to just sit and watch them all hang out together.

African Impala

The blue ball monkey. Named blue balls because they literally have blue testicles. Like bright blue. So weird. They were all over at lunch trying to steal food.

The male ostrich.

The famous baobab tree.

The acacia tree.

We also got to watch another herd of lions. This time they were very close to the road. Seriously so cool! There were four or five female lions all with one male. One of the females was in heat. We learned that the female in heat and the male will mate every 20-30 minutes for a 24 hour period. We got to see that in action a couple of times.

The male.

Ostrich just cruising along.

Tarangire was so cool. We saw so much and had a great day. The only down side was that there were tons of tsetse flies. I actually got bit by one on my foot and so now I have to watch that bite for the next little while. It hurt and now it itches like crazy. Super annoying. It bit me by my ankle right through my sock. . . lame.

After we finished in the park we had a long drive back to Arusha. The drive was very long. I was so ready to fly home at this point. I was tired of traveling. We got to the hotel and crashed for the night. Then we had to hang out at the hotel the entire next day because our flight wasn't until the evening. We also had to get a COVID test on the way to the airport. Such a pain. The testing building.

Take a selfie and pray you get a negative test!

The flight home was better for my body than the flight there. I tolerated the one 10 hour flight and one 9 hour flight ok. I was just so happy to finally be home. The first thing I did was unpack my bags and make the nasty dirty clothes pile. I started my laundry before I went to bed!

Traveling is so weird because after a few days it almost feels like you never even went. It is so cool to set a goal and have a dream and then to finally accomplish it. This one is extra special because it was delayed by COVID. I am grateful I still got the opportunity to go and experience Africa.

Safari Day 2: Ngorongoro Crater

I was pumped for Ngorongoro Crater. It is well known for having lots of animals and I was excited to see them all. We got to the park nice and early. It was winter in Africa so it was actually pretty chilly with the roof up. One cool thing they do on safaris is all the guides tune into the same radio station and then they can tell each other when they find a more rare to spot animal: leopards, cheetahs, lions and rhinos. That way all the clients are happy. The crater was absolutely beautiful in the morning light and there were plenty of animals to see.

I took so many pictures of zebras. They just look amazing and we got really close to them.

Wildebeests are not the cutest animals. There were so many of them as well. It was so cool to see them and the zebras together. We got to see them moving in a huge group together. The animals in the crater don't migrate but they still move together in herds.

We saw lots of ostriches. This is a female one. She blends in so well.

We saw hippos a couple of times. Early in the morning we saw some on land and then at lunch we saw these guys. They are so big and apparently very very mean.

The water buffalo are so ugly. They are also really mean.

Cyndee and I in our safari vehicle. Such a cool car. I really want one to take camping and hiking.

This day was awesome!!! We saw so much and it was all amazing. We got to see a pack of lions. They were too far for pictures but we watched them for a long time. We also saw a few rhinos. They were also too far away for a good picture but we took turns watching them through the binoculars. There was also a huge elephant we watched from a distance. We also say Hyenas multiple times I just never got a great picture. This day was fun because we just saw animals everywhere. It was really cool to see how they all just hang out together at the watering hole. All the non prey animals can be friends.

In Africa people on safaris want to see the big 5: buffalo, elephant, rhino, lion and leopard. They are the big 5 because they are the hardest animals to hunt in Africa. After this day we had seen everything but the leopard. We weren't close to all of them but we saw them. It was a good day. We left the park around 4 and headed back to our lodge for the evening.

Safari Day 1: Lake Manyara National Park

It was a relief to have the hiking portion of the trip done and move onto the safari. I didn't quite know what to expect. I  had not done any research on the safari part of the trip I just wanted to get through the hike. Our safari guide picked us up early in the morning because there was a 3-4 hour drive from our hotel in Moshi to get to Lake Manyara. The drive was long and I slept for a good chunk of it. My body was still recovering from the hike. Also the beds in Africa are so hard. I usually slept great for 5 hours but then I couldn't sleep anymore. Our guide was Ebenezer. He was very knowledgeable on all things Africa and Tanzania so he answered so many questions and taught us a lot about their culture while we drove. I got excited about the safari as soon as I saw our safari car. It was the coolest Toyota Land Cruiser. They get them to Africa and then modify them to make them safari ready. It is so fun.

Lake Manyara is famous for it's birds and tree climbing lions. We did not see the lions but there were lots of birds. The park was way different than I anticipated. There was dense brush and it was green. It was very different than the picture of Africa I had in my mind. The dense brush made it harder to spot animals. 

The first thing that we saw were Baboons. There are so many Baboons in Africa. 

We drove out to the lake. It was huge! They had a wet winter and so the lake was flooding. Some of the normal roads were closed because they were covered in water. We got to see some birds and watch some Hippos. The hippos were too far away to get a good picture.

I loved that we could stand up in the car once we got inside the parks. We would stop to get all the paperwork figured out and then our guide would lift up the roof. We could stand or sit. It was nice to have the option. I did a lot of standing while holding on for my life. The roads were all dirt and it was a bumpy ride.

We saw giraffes and zebras but they were too far away for a good picture. Our guide promised us we would see them at the other parks up close. We ended the day by watching two elephants play in the water. I love elephants. It was pure magic.

The trees in Africa are so different and cool. I took lots of pictures of them. Here are a couple from Lake Manyara.

It was a good first day but I didn't feel like we saw a ton. We left the park and headed to our lodge. The safari lodge we stayed in was so nice. The food was good and buffet style so we could find things we liked. The shower was amazing. They had a nice pool, which we didn't use. The rooms are all in these cute little huts. It was a fun place.

We got to stay here two nights which was super nice. Bedtime is early on safari because they want you up early to go find the animals. It was so funny. We woke up earlier on the safari then we did on the hike!

Day 7: Mweka Camp to Mweka Gate

 One thing I loved about this trek was that we did a loop of sorts. We hiked a different way up and down. It was awesome to see something different while we hiked. Day 7 we woke up after it had rained most of the night. I had slept great but was in no hurry to get out of the tent, except that I wanted to get down the mountain to shower:) It was wet for most the hike out. Luckily it was a fast 6 miles to the finish. We needed to climb from 10,171ft down to 5,900ft. The only bummer was that it was slippery and we had to be careful.

Taking a sign picture as we leave Mweka Camp.

The weather cleared up a couple hours into our downhill hike. It was still slippery but we could at least ditch the rain gear.

We made it!!!!!!! It was long. I was tired. But we did it. Just so happy to make it down another mountain in one piece.

This is the face of a girl that just wants to get to her shower.

On the bus headed back to Moshi.

Overall I really enjoyed the trek. My only two real complaints were the food and sleeping in a backpacking tent. I have been super spoiled on other treks I have done and climbing in and out of a tent to go the bathroom in the middle of the night is not my favorite thing. And the food was fine it was just different and not my favorite. Most people probably wouldn't be bothered by it.

I hate when people ask me how hard it was. Is there a scale for such a thing? As far as treks go the summit night was the hardest thing I have done mentally and physically on a trek. It was just long, cold and very high. The altitude plays a huge role in how hard something is. That being said it was very doable. I am glad I was able to go and do this. I have been blessed with a body that enjoys movement. My mind and body tolerate physical tasks pretty well. I still think to this day nothing has been as physically challenging as playing high school basketball my freshman year. Just the increase in demand that was placed on my body does not compare to what you do on a trek. Part of it is experience and part is probably fitness. I don't know. I just know I can't say it was the hardest thing I have ever done, but I can say the summit night was harder than Everest Base Camp. But when comparing the two treks side by side overall Everest Base Camp was probably more challenging. It was so long, so cold, and we spent a lot longer time period above 15,000 ft. I will say I don't feel like I need to go back to Africa but I would go back and hike in Nepal again in a heartbeat. The Himalayas are maybe the most amazing mountains I have ever seen. The two experiences are so different it probably isn't fair to compare them. I am very grateful I had the chance to go and give this mountain a try. I am truly blessed. And my shower was amazing!!!!!!