Hakuna Matata!

We met up with Eug’s parents at the Kilimanjaro airport after six tough days of endless hiking without showering.  Besides the fact that it was very nice to see them again for the first time in 5 months, it was a great relief as well.  We could be like kids again enjoying a family vacation without having to worry about looking into accommodations and planning out daily itineraries.  We could just sit back and relax for the next 10 days; 5 days on the Safari and 5 days in Zanzibar!  Woo!

The Safari was seriously awesome.  An Australian traveler we met in Syria told us it would be as if you were in the Lion King movie, and she was absolutely right.  We went for 4 of the so called ‘Game Drives’ where our Safari guide drove us around in the different national parks in a big safari jeep to look out for animals.  The roof of the jeep extended up so we could stick our heads out to get a clear view of the animals.  And when I say animals, I don’t mean just any animals, I’m talking about leopards, cheetahs, lions and their cubs, and countless herds of elephants, giraffes, wildebeests, gazelles, buffalos, hippos, etc. etc.  Every sighting was jaw dropping until we got tired of seeing them for the 100^th time (sorry gazelles, there’s just too many of you).

We did game drives in three national parks: Ngorongoro Crater, The Serengeti, and Lake Manyara.  The crater in Ngorongoro was really cool and we saw a rhino there, but the Serengeti was bigger and that’s where we were able to spot the hard-to-find leopard and cheetahs.  Lake Manyara is known for bird life, so we saw tons of pelicans and flamingos.  Our favourite was seeing the lion cubs walking right by our jeep.  As you can see from the picture above, they were adorable and they completely ignored us.  I think the animals were all very accustomed to the Safari jeeps.  We were like ghosts to them.  We also saw a female lion’s attempt to make a kill.  Lions do have a lot of patience when it comes to hunting; she waited for a good 45 mins before she decided to make her move.  Up to then she was slowly creeping in the tall savannah grasses, poised in the “ready to strike” posture.  The suspense was killing all of us.  When she did attack it was over in about 3 seconds and the gazelle she was targeting got away.  Though we’ve seen it a million times on TV, witnessing a hunt this close has a completely different effect on you. 

Another highlight of the Safari was we somehow got upgraded to a very nice hotel for 2 of the 4 nights!  The other hotels Eug’s parents booked were already really nice, but this one was out of this world.  We were told by our driver only 2 hours before we were to check in that there was a change to our hotel because there was a problem with the original one (which was supposed to be a gorgeous luxury camp).  We had no choice so we were expecting something worse.  But it turned out to be the Kempinski Bilila Serengeti, the nicest hotel we have ever stayed at!  Eug found out that the promotional rate for the hotel was $700/night, I couldn’t even imagine what the regular price would be.  Since we didn’t have to pay anything extra, we got a great deal.  And what a treat it was after hiking Kilimanjaro!  The hotel was right in Serengeti National Park, so we saw zebras from our bathroom window on the first night.  In front of the hotel there is a natural watering hole, and elephants drop by regularly as they traverse the savannah looking for a drink.  We were told by the staff that the morning of our check in, they sighted 45 elephants right by the hotel.  It was a truly beautiful hotel and we were unbelievably lucky to spend 2 nights there.

We were actually fortunate the whole time we were here.  It’s rare to spot a leopard or a cheetah, and we saw both very close to our jeep.  It’s almost impossible to comprehend the beauty and the power of these large cats when you gaze upon them.  Though we only saw one leopard and one cheetah (with 2 small hidden cubs) we saw a lot of lions.  At one point as I mentioned earlier we were surrounded by a bunch of cute cubs as the whole huge pride walked right by our jeep.  Seeing them 6 feet away allowed us to really experience their grace and magnificence.  Watching a lioness hunt was extremely powerful and memorable.  At one point there was a huge herd of elephants to our right, another big herd of giraffes to our left, and an innumerable number of zebras and wildebeests in front of us.  It’s no wonder the safaris of Africa are among people’s list of dream vacations; to be able to witness the rhythm of nature in all its glory is magical.  It’s the Circle of Life, And it Moves us All. (Eug had to throw in the Lion King/Elton John reference).

If you want to see some pictures of the animals we saw on our safari, click on the flickr icon on the right.