It's only fitting that the word Safari means "journey". The family had quite a "journey" getting here!!!! Their flight from KC to D.C. was cancelled, so they caught another flight, but that caused them to miss their long flight to Istanbul and in turn their flight onto TZ :( There were no hotel rooms within a 30 mile radius according to the airlines, so they spent the night in the airport, caught a flight the next morning on Ethiopian Airlines. Then they had a HUGE layover so they were set up with a really nice hotel room for the day or night or whatever it was to them by then! Some managed to get some sleep, others spent time updating friends and family, eating some food, and catching a quick nap before boarding there flight into Kilimanjaro Airport. There flight FINALLY arrived, 24 hours later than expected, at 3:20 a.m.! YAHHH!!! Now the real Safari could begin :)
The 6 of us headed back to the Impala hotel to catch just a few hours of sleep before heading out for Tarangire National Park.
Lots of fun memories were shared, but I think it is best to share pictures rather then trying to relive our last 6 days in words. Enjoy!
Picking family up from the airport in the middle of the night!
Our first stop on Safari, Tarangire National Park
Cody and his hydrax friend, Hank!
Water Buck
Tembo drinking
Tembo wallowing in the mud to stay cool
Punda Milia swishing to keep the insects away! Too bad I don't have one of those, I got eaten ALIVE!
Our first of many Safari Sunsets
Bia Biridi on the deck waiting for dinner
Enjoy Ndovu's on the deck, watching the tembos and punda milias below
The first of many Safari SunRISES!
Poacher's tree
Baby Tembo
Tented lodge at Tarangire
Check out of AWESOME mosquito nets and pit helmets :) We are such SAFARI BAROS!
Thanks for the Entertainment Value Mom!
The crew on Safari, prepared for whatever comes our way!
Second Stop- Lake Manyara National Park
Look what Sam spotted!
Nyani's
The crew at the hippo pools
Our sweet Safari ride equipped with the best driver EVER!
Short lunch stop at the picnic sight!
Well hello there Twiga!
"Don't look em' in the eye Sam!"
Just being dorks!
Coolest driver ever, Mr. F. Ra-him! :)
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil
Ngorongoro Conservation Area- this was actually our final stop but you had to pass through before you reached our third stop, Serengeti
Cody jumping with the Masai, trying to win himself a new wife or cattle
Charlie taking his turn at jumping for a new wife
Me dancing with the Masai women, wearing their traditional jewellery and singing their chants
Mom taking a stab at the traditional apparel and dancing
Marilyn's turn!
Inside the traditional Masai hut
Olduvai Gorge Museum, this is a replica of the 6,000,000 year old footprints discovered by Dr. Leaky! Way cool!
Inside the Olduvai museum
Cody and I posing in front of the famous Olduvai archeological sight
We have arrived! The cream of the crop of Safari parks. I've visited Tanzania now 4 times and I get to experience Serengeti for the FIRST time with family!
The "Endless Plains" of the Serengeti
Mr. Ostrich posing for a pic!
Zebra's resting on eachother
CHEETAH!
Hyena
Sunset on the Serengeti. Doesn't get much prettier than that!
The Kaff family at the Masai Village
Superb Sparlings
Hello there Mr. Hyrax
Tembo crossing!
Lions on the plains
Kiboko - Hippo
BIIIIG YAWN!
What a majestic animal!
My favorite Twiga picture!
Baby Simba
This was by far the coolest thing we saw on Safari. A male lion snuck up on a female lion and her cubs feeding on a kill. I was in tears because I thought he stole the cubs from her. It turns out he only stole their kill, but it was intense to watch the mom defend her cubs and their food!
This is what we call a safari traffic jam!
Cubs again, pre-male lion interuption!
Serengeti sunset!
Tembos right outside the vehicle
Twigas right outside the vehicle
We came across this beauty on our early morning Serengeti Game Drive
Serengeti sunrise!
Simba all grown up!
We pulled up to this beautiful group of 11 lions. Females and young males lounging in the morning sun!
Just getting ready to settle in for a nap
My all time favorite set of pictures! Isn't she beautiful!
So amazing!
Majestic!
WE FINALLY SPOTTED LEOPARDS!!!!!! After 4 summers, I've now seen the BIG 5.... Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Cape Buffalo, & Rhino.
Cleaning eachother
Our last and final stop on Safari, Ngorongoro Crater! What a spectacular view!
It's KILI time!
Sam playing the drums with the lobby band :)
Wildebeest who forgot to migrate :)
Egyptian duck
Flamingos
Hyena our for an afternoon stroll
Wildebeest road block! They missed the memo on heading north for the migration!
REALLY hard to see, but this is one of the few black rhinos left in the world!
Nala laying the road, catching some afternoon rays!
What a beautiful beast!
My brothers, one from anotha' motha' :)
Cody trying some Elephant Mavi' :)
We had a great time and I can't wait to share the rest of the travels with family and friends! I hope you have enjoyed reading our blog this summer.
Marilyn and I are heading out this afternoon for some last minute shopping and lunch with a friend, driver, doctor, comedian, family member, Efraem before heading to the airport for our flight home this evening.
We got reports from our team that they had quite a time getting home so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we can get out of here with few glitches. We also got word from our family that they are having the same troubles as our team had with Turkish Airlines. Their middle of the night flight got delayed 2 hours until 4:20 am so they missed there connecting flight from Turkey to Chicago. They are now having to spend the night at a hotel in Turkey (just like our team) but have a flight tomorrow at 1:30 pm scheduled and booked! Our team then got stuck in Chicago for another night (with the exception of Valerie and Bronwyn who were lucky enough to get out of Chicago that night). We are hoping that family can also get back to KC without having to stay yet another night in a hotel room!
Start saying your prayers for safe travels! If all goes as planned, we look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!
Kwaheri, until next time :)
The 6 of us headed back to the Impala hotel to catch just a few hours of sleep before heading out for Tarangire National Park.
Lots of fun memories were shared, but I think it is best to share pictures rather then trying to relive our last 6 days in words. Enjoy!
Thanks for the Entertainment Value Mom!
We had a great time and I can't wait to share the rest of the travels with family and friends! I hope you have enjoyed reading our blog this summer.
Marilyn and I are heading out this afternoon for some last minute shopping and lunch with a friend, driver, doctor, comedian, family member, Efraem before heading to the airport for our flight home this evening.
We got reports from our team that they had quite a time getting home so we are keeping our fingers crossed that we can get out of here with few glitches. We also got word from our family that they are having the same troubles as our team had with Turkish Airlines. Their middle of the night flight got delayed 2 hours until 4:20 am so they missed there connecting flight from Turkey to Chicago. They are now having to spend the night at a hotel in Turkey (just like our team) but have a flight tomorrow at 1:30 pm scheduled and booked! Our team then got stuck in Chicago for another night (with the exception of Valerie and Bronwyn who were lucky enough to get out of Chicago that night). We are hoping that family can also get back to KC without having to stay yet another night in a hotel room!
Start saying your prayers for safe travels! If all goes as planned, we look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!
Kwaheri, until next time :)
