Visiting the Masai - A Great End to a Great Vacation

On the last day of our trip, we went on a hike and Garrett stumbled into this spider home with a lid.  Luckily, the spider wasn't home.

We also stumbled across a baby tortoise and its mom.  Grant is holding the baby and Garrett is holding the mom.  As you can see, we had a Masai guide lead the way, protecting us with the spear that he's holding.

Later in the day, we visited a Masai village.  When we arrived, the entire village came out to greet us, singing and dancing.  They grabbed our hands and we danced (basically jumping to the beat) with them.

They allowed us into one of their huts.  As you can see, Charlie is taller than the hut and Grant and Garrett are not far behind.  They also had handicrafts hanging on the outside of the hut which they make and try to sell in the larger towns.

This is one of the Masai women who liked to sing and dance.  She made sure we were included at all times.  Notice all the colorful garments and accessories.

One of the Masai children who was very happy to spend time with us and pose for the camera.

Garrett and Grant huddled together with the Masai children.  They had a nice time getting to know each other despite the language and cultural differences.  Our guide Bonny in the background.

Some of the Masai women taking a moment's rest from the dancing.  The jewelry, especially the earrings, were fascinating to see.

Kim playing with the Masai children, with Grant and Garrett participating as well.

There was a hole in this tree all the way to the other side.  Charlie is keeping an eye on the Masai kids, and they are keeping an eye on him.  Grant is helping to keep an eye on everybody.

A beautiful, heart-felt smile from one of the kids as we were leaving.  We cherished our time with her and everyone else in the village.  They made us feel very welcome.

Our Travels Through Tarangire

On the last leg of our trip through Tarangire, we came upon this herd of elephants.  Elephants have poor eyesight, but an excellent sense of smell.  They are lifting their trunks to identify our scent, which they did not like.  Moments after this photo, one of the elephants started to charge us.  Our guide gunned the jeep forward and stopped.  When we saw the elephant still charging us, he gunned it again and put plenty of distance between us and the elephant.

Our cabin lodge in Tarangire sat among the boulders at the top of a hill overlooking the valley below.  This is a picture of the glorious sunrise peeking through the clouds, taken from the front porch.

Grant and Garrett in a hollowed out portion of a baobab tree.  We learned a ton of information about these strange yet magnificent trees.  Garrett did a science fair project about the baobab tree when he returned to school after our trip.

This elephant was one of our favorites to photograph.  She seemed to pose for the camera, showing us her full ears, her flirtatious eyelashes, and her protruding tusks.

Tarangire is well-known for the elephant populations that roam through the park.  Here is one such family of elephants hanging out under an incredible baobab tree.

A giraffe perfectly framed between the trees.

At the very end of our last safari drive, we experienced our closest encounter yet with a leopard.  You can clearly see his spots and other features.  What an amazing creature!  Many people go on safari without seeing a single leopard, but we ended up seeing four (three fairly close and one far off).  Our guide was as thrilled as we were, suggesting that we were very lucky.  This was the perfect ending to our game-viewing experience.

Grant and Garrett had the opportunity to watch one of the local villagers make bows and arrows by hand.  They were then able to practice shooting with them, using a cardboard box as a target.  We then learned how to unstring and restring the bows so that we could carry them onto the plane and practice with them back in India.

A rare opportunity to get all four of us in a picture with our eyes open, smiling, and no bunny ears.  This picture was taken at sunset on a terrace at the lodge, overlooking the Tarangire valley.

Life In and Out of the Crater

Garrett and Grant admiring the work of Mr. Macho, a local artisan painting in the Tinga Tinga style.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time at this shop.

Some Masai people walking past Mr. Macho's art shop.

Earlier in the day, while we were down in the crater, we came across a pride of sleepy "teenager" lions.  It looks like we ran over this one, but it actually plopped down in the shade underneath our jeep.  It was only a couple of meters away from us!

Another sleepy lion near the jeep.  Grant and Garrett don't seem to mind.

Garrett enjoying life in the crater along with the other safari-goers.

We didn't think we would see hyenas on the trip since they tend to hide and relax during the day and hunt and scavenge during the night.  But the crater was jam-packed with hyenas.  Here is an adult hyena checking on a baby.  We also saw a hyena running alongside our jeep and another gnawing on a long backbone of some sort.

The Great Migration and Ngorongoro Crater

On our way out of the Serengeti, we saw hundreds of thousands wildebeest and zebras.  They had just begun congregating, moving north toward Kenya.  We were very fortunate to have seen this--an awesome sight with herds of animals stretched across the plains all the way to the horizon.

Garrett was captivated with this male agama lizard.  According to our guide, it was mating season, so the males were out on the rocks in plain sight, bobbing their heads up and down to attract the attention of the females.  Who could resist the vibrant red, blue, and yellow colors?

Along the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater, Grant and Garrett stopped to pose with the skull of a Cape buffalo.  We needed to have an armed guide with us, not to protect us from lions, but to protect us from live buffalo.  We learned that humans are more vulnerable to attacks from buffalo and elephants than from lions and other predators.

This is one of our favorites--what looks like a mutant giraffe towering over the trees.  The giraffe was actually eating from small bushes that look like trees.

Kim and Charlie at the top of the crater as the sun was setting.  An unforgettable moment.

Day of the Serengeti Predators

A monitor lizard waiting for a meal of insects or small fish.  As we were watching, a huge catfish plopped out of the water right in front of the lizard.  It took us all by surprise, including the lizard.  The lizard went after the huge catfish, but it was no match as the catfish wiggled its way back into the water.

As we were driving by this tree, our guide suddenly stopped and pointed out this leopard in the tree above.  There was a dead impala wedged in the branches.  Our guide seemed to think this leopard was taking advantage of an unattended kill by another leopard.

A group of three lionesses (out of six total) starting their way towards a herd of impala and waterbuck at sunset.

The lionesses began to spread out and slowly make their way towards the prey.

An amazing sunset on the Serengeti plains after an incredible day of seeing many different predators in their natural habitat.

Another Day in the Serengeti

This was one of our favorite trees as we were on safari.  It was by itself in the middle of the Serengeti plains.

Here is a bat-eared fox.  Garrett says it only eats plants and insects.  We enjoyed watching him scurry about.

Mug shots of Grant and Garrett with a huge African elephant right behind them.  This was one of several days that we saw large herds of elephants.

A family of elephants drinking from a small watering hole just a few meters away from our jeep.

We saw a few different types of jackals on our trip, but they moved around quickly.  We were lucky to get a picture of this one.

Exploring the Serengeti

Some more of our favorites during our time in the Serengeti.

Grant and Garrett outside of our tent in the middle of the Serengeti.

A beautiful lioness laying in the tall grass, posing for us.

A pond full of pink flamingos with a lone umbrella acacia tree in the background.  The colors were so vibrant against the plains of the Serengeti.

A crowned crane - weird but majestic.  We were happy that we stumbled across it.

Drive Into the Serengeti

We started our safari adventure in the Serengeti after our brief stay along the shores of Lake Victoria.  Within in minutes of entering the park, we were bombarded with wildlife.  We selected our favorites below to share, but this was just a taste of the huge variety of the game that we saw.  And this was just our drive into the park on the way to our campsite.  The safari hadn't even officially begun.

One of several shots with layers of wildlife.  The gabbing ostriches are of course the focal point, but make sure to look through the trees as well.

The Grumeti River with crocs basking in the sun, looking tough.  This is one of the major crossings for the wildebeest migration headed toward Kenya, normally occurring in June.  Just upriver, we had seen a crocodile take an amazing dive off of an 8-foot drop in the river bed.

A male lion escaping from the heat.  This was the only male lion with a noticeable mane that we had seen on our entire trip.

Lion cubs eating a chunk of zebra with the mom lioness laying next to them, paws up.  We were so fortunate to have seen this.  Zoos just won't be the same.

An enormous hippo yawning in the local watering hole.  We were mesmerized by their size.

A "Yellow Fever" tree full of storks along the edge of the watering hole.  One of our absolute favorite spots on the safari.