Africa!

A must for any animal lovers!  This might be the most memorable vacation we’ve been on.   Molly’s quote was “I don’t think I can ever go to a zoo again, mom.”    We left on Friday, March 29, flew into Nairobi airport, took another short flight to Kiliminjaro, and then a drive and overnight stay in Arusha.  After being awakened by the ‘cock a doodle dos’ of some early morning roosters, we drove to Lake Manyara, where we stayed for 2 nights.  The previous rains had taken a toll on some of the bridges, so our stay here to see the animals wasn’t as awesome as the rest of the trip, but it was absolutely STUNNING from our hotel.  We did see about 1000 baboons and our first sighting of a giraffe, which was very exciting!!

Then we went to Ngorongoro Crater, which was the animal hotspot.  It was so amazing and such a large quantity of animals, that it almost seemed staged.  One of my favorite highlights was visiting a Masai village, which the pictures tell it all.    The Serengeti was our last drive and visit, complete with 2 million migrating wildebeest! Seriously surreal.

On the 6th day, we traveled east to Zanzibar to a beach resort. I left at that point to go back to the states, but Wesley stayed with the girls with the three other families we were traveling with.  They had a very fun time in the pool and beach non-stop for 3 days.

I took about 500 photos, and it is truly impossible to narrow it down….but I’ll do my best.  Here are some of my favorites:

Here is our entire group, taken on the last day of our safari before heading to Zanzibar.

Caroline & Grace, Nicholas and Emma at Kiliminjaro Airport

Taken on the roads of Arusha, on our drive to Lake Manyara. They were working the field. Entire families were outside working, certainly not something we see in America.

Masai villagers on our drive to Lake Manyara.

Our very first sighting, a giraffe, right outside of Lake Manyara.

We saw lots of baboons this day.

A family of baboons.

Our stay on the very top of Lake Manyara.

The evening view from the pool!

At the pool at Lake Manyara. You can see the lake in the background….toward the later part of the afternoon/evening, much of the water evaporates.

Grace & Isabella (friends), Molly, Caroline and Lucy with our amazing and extremely knowledgeable guide Saied.

Very excited about our adventure!

Overlooking Lake Manyara.

In the morning, the lake is much fuller. What an amazing view!

A visit to a Masai village. This was my most memorable part of the trip.

The girls interacting with the Masai people. They were all warm and friendly and “down to earth.” Check out that adorable little girl who couldn’t keep his eyes off these ‘light’ people.

As is the tradition in Masai celebration, men carry a rangu and jump to show off for their company.  Wesley showed off his healed Achilles by jumping, but didn’t come close to how high the Masai men could jump!  The man can give his rungu
a. To another man as a sign of friendship
b. To another person as a way of greeting them
c. To a woman as a marriage proposal
d. To someone as a way to seal a business deal
e. To a man to challenge him to a duel

In one of their dung homes, with no furniture or beds.  Eye-opening!

Lucy on the shoulders of our guide, David.

Love this one. They are standing in front of their school.

Carly & Emily White with Molly and Caroline on our backporch at Lake Manyara where there were 40 baboons hanging out within 10 feet of us.

Caroline trying a local red banana – much sweeter and not as mushy as yellow.

A pretty photo along the local roads.

Ngorogoro Crater with the quintessential African acacia trees everywhere!

Ngorongoro behind us.

Our hotel room at Ngorongoro – Molly and Caroline relaxing by the window.

Ngorogoro Crater behind us. Stunning expansive view!

1 of Big Five – elephants!

2 of Big Five – leopards!

3 of Big Five – Cape Buffalo (apparently the meanest animal in the world)!

4 of Big Five! – lions! Sitting on his fresh zebra kill – can you see it?

And last of the Big Five, rhinocerous.  We saw the least of these – there were only 3 in Ngorongoro!

Lion RIGHT NEXT TO OUR JEEP!

Wildebeest…definitely not the prettiest of the creatures out there, but I think we counted roughly 2 million.

Check it out – all in one field, you can see elephant, flamingos in the way back, rhinocerous, gazelles, various birds, zebras, wildebeests…

Kori Bustard bird who was strutting his stuff for the ladies…

Just a lion…

Serengeti behind me and Caroline.

Serengeti!

Wildebeest, wildebeest everywhere. All those little dots in the way background…all wildebeest.

More Masai villages along the way.

Pride of 9 – 5 here.

The Big Chief; a young male.

The leopard that we watched for along time…finally jumped into this tree. What a shot!

Beautiful girl.

There she is walking up to our friends’ jeep, and then just strolled across the road.

Serval cat.

Lilac-breasted roller.

Ostrich

More giraffes!

Check out the mouths on those!

Hippos

The only cheetahs we saw.

Our front porch one morning – see the little monkey under the chair.

My favorite place we stayed. Serena tented lodge on the Serengeti, complete with armed guards that would walk you to your room at night to protect you from any big game that might be out at night hunting!

Acacia against horizon

Dinner on the Serengeti our last night. (Note Molly on the right.)

The animals during dinner.

 

Wesley, Emily (friend), Molly and a monkey.

This is the five star airport in Arusha where we flew to Zanzibar.

The plane I was on from Zanzibar to Dar Es Salaam to fly home to the states. The pilot said “Everyone raise their thumbs up if you are belted in?” YIKES! But it was very calm and easy flight.

 

Thanks for spending the time to check out our photos! Next up on blog….Caroline & Lucy’s 7th birthday party…”American Girl Doll Party!” with 17 little girls!