TIA, part 3 - the EXCELLENT (Tanzania 6-day Safari)

Hello everyone. This is the 3rd TIA (This Is Africa) post, and the first two we posted yesterday and you can find them below. Sorry for the barrage of postings.

Just so you're updated, these are pictures (we won't write too much except to caption the pics) from our Tanzanian 6-day safari, July 22-27. (Yes, even though we are wearing the same thing in every single picture, this was a 6-day safari. What can we say, we're backpacking.)

Tomorrow, we start our 4-day mountain climb! We are going to climb Mount Meru (aka Baby Kilimanjaro) and we're very nervous/excited. We're treating ourselves to a nice(r) hotel to relax when we get back, and will report back on the hike at that point. Enjoy our safari pictures! Many more (quality) pictures to come once we're back in the states with faster internet.

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1) LAKE MANYARA NATIONAL PARK:

(what an African scene...the pink tint in the back is hundreds of flamingos along the lake).


(there were approximately 1 billion baboons all over the place)


(a fair warning. good to know they bite)

2) SERENGETI NATIONAL PARK

(the drive there was so foggy and terrifying!)


(us at the entrance to the Serengeti)


(our first lion sighting!!!!!!) In all we saw 28 lions, and they were all about as boring to watch as this one. (we did see babies too!!)


(us having a Serengeti beer in the Serengeti, to celebrate our first lion sighting)


(one lion...14 vehicles)


(probably the most beautiful things we witnessed - a herd of elephants taking a mud bath!)


(twigas!!! Twiga is the Swahili word for giraffes, which were also plentiful in the Serengeti)


(a massive pool of hippos. We estimated about 100 were in here!)


(oh, look who else was in the Serengeti...hehe)

3) Olduvai Gorge:

(this is the site where Homo Habilis, the predecessor to Homo Sapien, was discovered).

4) NGORONGORO CRATER:

(what a natural wonder...there are no words!)


(another classic Africa scene...hippos and zebras in the Crater)


(zebras here were not skiddish at all, and hung out right near the roads)


(our sad attempt to put an M hat on a wildebeest)


(awww....mommy and foal)


(CHEETAH!!!)

5) TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK:

(the scene of tons of baobob trees, which is about all we saw there. This was day 6 of the safari and we were pooped out!!)


(a stop at a local women's cooperative to buy some souvenirs. Note the drooping baby on P.)

'Asanti San', Everest, for driving us around for 6 days!!!