Safari Mzima (Good Safari)

I took a 4-day safari to Lake Manyara (near Rift Valley), Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Oldevie Gorge (I'm sure I spelled that wrong). It was awesome. I traveled with three other volunteers, a guide, and a cook who made some of the best food I've had in a while. We started at Lake Manyara, where our camp site was much nicer than I expected. It was fenced in and had a pool and warm showers...the first warm shower I've had here. At Manyara park we saw a group of about 40 baboons who climbed all over our jeep. We also saw a large group of giraffes (twiga) on the plains. The best thing there was that we had a pack of 10 elephants (taymbo) come close enough for us to touch (although that wasn't allowed).

Serengeti was the best of the parks. It seems like you can see for 20 miles or more across the plains. We went there on days 2 and 3 of the trip. The first day we saw two lions together who had just fed and were laying in the grass next to the road. We also saw a croc swamp, where zebras were running in and out to get water. Unfortunately they already caught something shortly before we arrived, so they weren't hungry. This is migration season so there are millions of zebra and wilderbeast traveling in groups of thousands. The camp was interesting. We stayed just outside of the park, although there is no fence. It was darker than any place I've ever seen. The moon wasn't out, so the stars were more visible than any place I've ever been. We slept in tents and any animal in the park could have come into our camp. Our guide hired two guys with homemade bows and poison tipped arrows to stay up overnight and guard the camp. We didn't have any problems though. The next day we saw some leopard, about 20 elephants, several giraffes, and a huge hippo (kiboko) swamp.

Day four we went to Ngorongoro crater, which was created a few million years ago when a mountain collapsed. It is one of the most fertile areas in Africa, so it is rich with animals. Our camp was on the rim of the crater and we had zebra, buffalo, and elephants walking through. The wind was intense and it was raining like crazy, so I slept with the wind pressing the wet tent against me all night. Worst nights sleep ever. The crater was great though. Very scenic (picture attached). We saw a rhino (kifaru), which is pretty rare. There are only 20 in the park and they stay in the trees for the most part. We also saw a pack of lions attempt to hunt some zebra. They didn't catch it, but it was very cool. All-in-all, great safari.