A Dream Come True - The First of our Safaris

Giddy can’t even begin to describe how we felt when we touched down in Arusha, Tanzania.  Our dreams of an African safari were finally coming true.  We had been fantasizing, talking, and researching this for years, and it was the primary reason for taking our year long journey.  We were ecstatic to be starting a month of Eastern African fun and adventure. 

 

Our safari was starting in Kindegarten we were advised by our tour operator.  We would start with safari 101.  Lake Maynara National Park would be our primer for an epic Tanzanian experience.  A short drive outside of the big city of Arusha, the park is part of the Great Rift Valley (where two gigantic tectonic plates came together to form Africa) and has a little bit of everything - thick forests, wet jungles, dry savannah, a huge lake and all of the various critters that are found in each of those eco zones. 

 

Check out those elephants!  Did you catch a glimpse of those giraffe!  Look at that size of that lion!  Oh my gosh, it’s a wart hog!  That bird is gorgeous!  Those baboons are so cute!  There’s a bunch of wildebeest!  Everything was a first for us and we went crazy with pictures.  In our two days at this park we snapped almost 1000 pictures.  Our guide must have been rolling his eyes.  He knew what was coming over the next 10 days.  We didn’t.  We filled the memory card and drained the battery.  Little did we know that our excursion through the southern end of the great migration was going to get better and better.

We thoroughly explored the park - from our vehicle, on foot and by bicycle.  We were in hog heaven!

   Our camera lense is not very powerful.  No SLR for this trip.  Yes!  We were that close to the lions!   And elephants…  Finally, we’re in Africa.  Pinch us.  A dream come true.