Around the world in 168 days: SAFARI!!!!

I finally got some decent internet speed, so here is part uno of our safari!!! There are far too many pictures to share all of them, so I picked some of my favorites from the first few days. (There are also far too many pictures to narrate them all, so I think I will let most of them speak for themselves). Part two to come ASAP.

Katy, Robert, and I in Ngorongoro Crater

Day 1: Pick up from Kilimanjaro airport (we had just flown back from Zanzibar) and introduction to our awesome guide, Robert. This is the part when we realized that we had a 7-seater Land Rover to ourselves for the entire week.......pretty sweet. Robert drove us to Arusha, where we spent our first night in what would be a week's worth of super swanky hotels....something we were definitely not accustomed to after our 3+ months of backpacking lifestyle :)

Hanging with all our friends in the backseat :) (Hey, after the breastfeeding mother whilst on tiger safari, we were elated to know that we had this vehicle all to ourselves)

Day 2: SAFARI!!! Today we headed to Lake Manyara National Park, the first of four national parks we visited in the Northern Safari Circuit in Tanzania. When we had spotted lions within our first hour or so of safari, we knew we were in for a good week :)

First, we had to leave Arusha:

Landscape of Manyara

Monkeys!!!!!!

Stealing some food from mom

And more monkeys.....many people get bored with them quickly, but they are my favorite!

To think we spent HOURS searching for zebras while on safari at Chobe a few years back....and here they were as common as impala!

After our day of game viewing, settling down at this lodge wasn't too bad :)

Day 3: Up bright and early the next morning to head to the Serengeti! One of the most famous safari parks in all of Africa, this one's claim to fame is the Great Migration, which is the annual movement of over one million wildebeest (not to mention tens of thousands of zebras and antelope) in search of better food and water sources as the seasons change. We weren't in the heart of the migration (timing was a little off), but we did witness tens of thousands of wildebeest moving together from time to time.....pretty amazing sight to see. We had a game drive en-route to the park (you enter via the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (8292 square kilometers), which encompasses the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and other surrounding areas), and then one once we actually got inside the Serengeti.

First.....time to watch some vultures finish off an antelope :)

Next up....we were able to see two cheetahs hunting (not trying that hard, however) in a pack of wildebeest:

Crossing in front of us to go in search of food:

En route (with some giraffes in the background!)....don't worry, safe to get out here :)

This lion had no idea all these zebras were behind him, checking him out

Wildebeest!! Robert said they were part of the "Ugly 5" (play on the Big Five), but I tend to disagree

Pack of hyenas.....these guys definitely belong in the "Ugly Five"

Chillin on some rocks.....

And if seeing the cheetahs chase the wildebeest wasn't enough....we stumbled upon three taking an afternoon nap :)

A beautiful sunset as we left.....

Day 4: Full day in the Serengeti.....and it did not disappoint. We ate our lunch in the safari car, deciding whether we should watch the scene on the left: A leopard with his kill (dik dik, a small antelope) in the tree, protecting it from the gaze of a pride of lions in a nearby tree.....or the scene on the right: about 15 lions relaxing under a tree, right next to the road, occassionaly getting up to feast on their kill (wildebeest) that was located 50m or so from the road. Decisions, decisions.....