wanyama of the serengeti: part 2 (the veggies)

lots of appearances by the herbivore wanyama in the serengeti & ngorongoro as well:sleepy hippos...
(they would yawn and then find a good spot in their pool to roll, feet sailing into the air, and covering themselves in a fresh layer of mud!)
and buffalo (one was even smiling!)...
There were more ellies,
a small croc,
gazelles,

(the guy at the back is an eland, related to the wildebeest)

wildebeest...
with a few zebra mixed in...
a black rhino that was quite a popular attraction...

(all these cars came for a view)

and enough bird pics you would think we had been on a bird safari (yes... they exist!)... but the birds are beig saved for my next post...

wanyama of the serengeti: part 1 (the carnivores)

funny thing. "nyama" means meat (nondescript). So to say animals is to say 'meats' ('wanyama') - its like the tanzanians view all of these guys as walking lunch.

and at least a few of these cats sure considered some wanyama for lunch for themselves.

(poor gazelle, but hungry cheetah)

we saw numerous lions stalking and chasing their prey - but no kills in action

(here we arrived post-meal, the lions were thirsty... and tired)

we saw a few sleepy leopards too (hiding way up in those trees):

to finish off, i provide you with an action sequence of a lioness hunting zebra (unsuccessfully):
post run, someone was a little tired:

the grande finale safari

and so my days are numbered here in TZ...
mike and i spent last weekend on our one expensive 3-day safari to the serengeti & ngorongoro

(we made it to oduvai/oldupai!!... the anthropology geek in me was ecstatic)

(sadly safaris here are SO expensive that ours could not include any of the luxury lodging, but rather we opted to camp... in a little tent and dirty sleeping bags, with no pillows (except our clothes stuffed under our heads) and the wild animals roaming nearby...

(evening at campsite #1 - this was the dining hall, but it was too full for us...)(can you read the sign behind michael? it says 'caution these animals will eat you' - or something like that...)

(sunrise - 5:55am? - tents are not the most comfortable places to sleep - you look forward to the crack of dawn...)(breakfast at campsite #1 in serengeti)

(this poor gal was tired too...)

the animals were all around us while we slept... but perhaps it was the wind in most cases...
(only one wild call of an animal in the night, likely a buffalo - no worries, they are only one of the "big 5" aka. 5 most dangerous animals... )

(one of these guys... come one, they look friendly enough?)

we were told not to leave our tents at night (which made for an interesting midnight pee adventure one of the nights)

(beautiful ngorongoro crater and it's soda lake, seen from above)

we had a great time - the scenery was beautiful, the animals stunning, and local masaai people so colourful

(dinner at camp #2 - ngorongoro crater rim: apparently also closely resembling a refugee camp)

(sunrise at camp #2)

but we were exhausted upon our return home. that, combined with a bunch of work from various sources and the sheer volume of photos to go through has led to the significant delay in this post...

(candid shots of mike & i, departing from the crater)

(what's a safari without the purchase of an Obama kanga?)

the many photos i took also means that i will have to make more than one post to display them all.

so hang in there & bear with me and my slow internet and you shall have many photos to look through! (animal pictures are coming, i promise!!)

xo

(the dust!!! it's not an african safari without the dust!)