Family Safari

While I waited in the terminal for my 10AM flight to Tanzania to board, I had butterflies in my stomach. It wasn’t the flight I was anxious for, but three of its passengers that awaited me! Of course, nothing in Ethiopia goes as planned, and as I looked up from the book I was reading to scan the terminal for possible boarding information, I caught my brother’s eye. There was my family, going through security to join me in the terminal!

It was an epic reunion, filled with hugs and tears, and before I knew it time was flying by. Hours, which felt like days as time lead up to seeing them, turned into minutes. Before I knew it we were stepping into the humidity of Tanzania and our safari had begun. Lions, leopards, cheetahs, not to mention countless giraffes, elephants, zebras and wildebeests; It was like being thrown into The Lion King. While my brother will cringe as he reads about these Disney references (he also wasn’t my biggest fan when I sang “Hakuna Matata” while on safari), I can’t help but compare the safari to something unreal. Each day kept exceeding my wildest expectations.

We traveled from Kilimanjaro International airport to the Ngorongoro Crater, to Serengeti National Park, then retraced a bit to Tarangerie National Park, and finally wound up in West Kilimanjaro for a couple nights. On our first afternoon in the Serengeti, we drove right up beside two cheetahs.

 After a moment of watching them, the one other Range Rover in sight flashed their lights at our driver and just 100 yards away we saw a lion, and following his line-of-sight, there lay two more!

The next day in the Serengeti NP, we were driving along a side road when we spotted a group of at least 10 elephants on the horizon. We were the only car in sight, and decided to stop, turn off the engine and observe them for a bit. We watched in awe as they walked right towards us. Maybe twenty minutes later they crossed the road around our vehicle.

 Half were in front of us and half were behind us, and we were speechless. Later that day we pulled around this large rock formation and saw another car stopped, always a good sign that there is something to see. A leopard was perfectly perched on a branch overhanging the rock.

That was a set straight from The Lion King. Moments after arriving, the beautiful animal stood up and wandered back off the branch to rest in privacy I suppose. Lunchtime was approaching, so we decided to park there and eat our boxed lunches while waiting to see another glimpse of the leopard. With binoculars you could see the unmistakable leopard print through the brush. Just before we gave up waiting, he decided to grace us with his presence again, going back to prone position on the branch.

One of the last days, when we were staying in private game reserve in West Kilimanjaro, in the nicest tent I’ve ever stepped foot in, we had a little scare. We piled into an open-air range rover and headed out for a morning game drive. The lack of walls between me and animals that could attack me didn’t faze me at first, I was anxious to see them up close! We spotted our first group of elephants outside a National Park and we approached with excitement. Our guide, used to NP animals instructed the more inexperienced driver to pull up close… the elephant swung his trunk, flopped his ears, and made a noise that made us wish were movingin the opposite direction (as I snapped pictures, obviously)…and the driver stalled the vehicle.

 

 We all survived the weeklong safari in Tanzania, and had an adventure of a lifetime! It would have been a wonderful vacation all on its own, but as it was, it was just the beginning of ours!