Ok, now on to the mainland... We spent 4 hours in the airport in the capital, Dar es Salaam.... didn't exactly see the city! From there to Kilimajaro airport. As we landed, we had a spectacular view of Mt Kilimanjaro, which was the last time we saw it! Turns out this is the cloudy season. Would have been nice to have some pics of it, hopefully some animals will make up for it :)
We started out our safari in Lake Manyara National Park:
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| No Canadian Geese here! This is an Egyptian Goose |
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| The Rift Wall. This is a branch of the Rift Valley, but here it's just one sided. |
From here, we drove about an hour, climbing the Rift Wall pictured above, to reach the rim of Ngorogoro Crater. The lake was at 4000' elevation, the rim of the crater is 7500', quite a little climb for the non-turbo diesel 4 cylinders in the safari rigs!
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| The first wildlife we saw wasn't even in the crater, it was on the road to the Lodge, which is on the rim |
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| A cold, cloudy, rainy day as we descend 2000' into the crater |
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| Only a few minutes into the Crater, we found a whole family of lions with their breakfast |
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| The wildebeests, zebras and toyotas all seem to co-exist very peacefully |
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| The Ngorogoro Crater is where old male elephants go to live out their days. There are year-round marshes where they can eat soft grass even after starting to lose their teeth. |
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| The Masai herders still bring their animals through the Crater like they have done for centuries. See the lion running through the middle of their animals? |
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| Our guide wasn't interested in waking up these male lions so we could get actions shots... |
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| There are only a few rhinos left in the Crater, so it was amazing that we saw 2 within 5 minutes! |
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| And finally, the view from the top of the Rift Wall on our way back to Arusha. |
Did we enjoy the safari? YES!! It's an incredible experience! True, you can see all the same animals in zoos, but it was great to see them in nature, living just like they were created to live. We can't wait till the whole continent of Africa is returned to it's original state!
3 comments:
The pictures are awesome!! Thanks for sharing!
I am so happy for you two! Not only are you serving where the need is greater, but you are getting a chance to enjoy some "extra" treats as well! May Jehovah continue to bless you.
Absolutely gorgeous! What a treat to enjoy creation up close...
- yvette t.
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