Habari za safari?

How was your journey? Well, I can say my safari was worth every penny and all the effort! The lodging and food were beyond our expectations. And of course, the safari itself was the experience of a lifetime!

We arrived at the Mikumi National Park around 2 in the afternoon after a five hour car drive from Dar. The manager gave us the rundown of Vuma Hills, the resort we stayed out. The only rules were 1) no animals in the tent, 2) call if animals are found in the tent, and 3) stay in your tent after 10:30. These rules were a little unnerving but easy enough! We were then showed the bar and restaurant area, and a nearby swimming pool that was under renovations. Actually, an elephant tried using it as a watering hole and collapsed the side of it.

We were showed to our "luxury tent," which lives up to its title very well. Equipped with hardwood floors, western plumbing, and safari decor, this wasn't what I considered to be traditional camping. Our tent had a balcony that looked over the entire park, a breathtaking view. We were then served a delicious lunch of quiche, potato salad, and fruit. Despite stuffing our faces, we still managed to fit in two more elegant meals, complimentary of ours resort. As we sat for dinner, we were served warm bread rolls with butter, a concept we had given up on in Tanzania. We also ate a delicious, but traditional meal of rice with meat and potatoes. Dessert, a lemon sorbet, was the perfect way to end the day on top of the mountain.

The meals were delicious, but obviously we didn't travel five hours to eat. Our package allowed us two game drives throughout the course of our stay. We first went out after lunch, at 4pm. Our vehicle was a massive Land Rover, entirely open. We saw tons of wart hogs, antelope, zebras, giraffes, elephants, and baboons. We visited a hippo pool and watched them swim. Towards the end of our trip, we even saw some resting lions in the distance. We wished to get closer, but the tour guide explained it would only take 15 minutes before not even a shred of clothing would be discoverable. The best part of the evening trip was watching the sunset behind the Tanzanian mountains, an incredible landscape.

The following morning, at 6:30am we all met again for our second safari. We visited all the same animals, catching some amazing shots! The animals are definitely more lively in the morning. The most amazing (and terrifying) part of our morning excursion was finding the lionesses. Our tour guide spotted a couple in the distance as we rode along the trail. Him and the driver exchanged a few grief Swahili sentences, and then looked at us. They proposed we get our cameras ready and we were going to quick drive off trail, which is forbidden, and get up close to the lionesses. Well, when they said close,
I hadn't expected to get within six feet of them! Even more frightening was learning that female lions are actually the hungers, and at that moment they were thought to be observing the land for prey. Talk about an adrenaline rush!

At 8:30 we returned to Vuma Hills, greeted by yet another wonderful meal. We are yogurt with granola, cereal and milk (a rarity in Africa, sausage, bacon, beans, fruit, and eggs cooked to order. We ate until we could hardly sit up! Not just to be pigs, but also out of strategy. We had another long day of traveling ahead of us!

Anyone who is ever offered the opportunity to go on a safari should absolutely take it! I've always loved the zoo, but it's a different experience all together observing the animals in their natural habitat.

Some facts I've learned over the past couple days:

1. Baby baboons hide by clinging to their mother's belly.

2. Zebras' stripes are like fingerprints, unique to each zebra.

3. Zebras and wildebeest are actually considered "friends."

4. Wildebeest can prolong giving birth until its considered safe, and then all pregnant females will give birth together.

5. Giraffes are about six feet tall when they are born.

6. Giraffes can sleep standing up or laying down, but their necks have to be up either way because of high blood pressure.

7. A male lion sleeps 18 hours a day, while
the female hunts and trains the cubs.

8. The color of a lion's mane tells his she; the darker it is, the older he is.

9. Antelope are polygamous; one male can have 30 to 40 female partners.

10. Jackels (dog like creatures) are scavengers, not hunters. They will eat from carcasses that others have killed.