Our safari started at 8. At first I was a little unimpressed. We drove around 30 minutes and saw nothing. And it wasn't this vast emptiness of space with little Lion King trees sticking out all over the place like I had imagined (stupid disney movies have it all wrong)
we were on a road and there was brush so thick we could hardly see through so we were basically staring at the road for 30 minutes. Then we round the corner and BAM open space and Rhinos! It was AWESOME! I don't think I'll ever go to a zoo again. I loved seeing them so free and us actually in their environment rather then them caged up in ours.
Next we take a drive and run into some Impalas, not to be confused with the cars. They kind of look like deer, except the male impalas are beautiful, you'll have to google them, I had never seen one. They were everywhere, they had just given birth so their were little babies everywhere it was adorable. Then we drive some more and spot some more Rhinos again (turns out later we found out we were in the 'Rhino section' of the park, that makes sense). Next to the Rhinos on the other side of the truck (yes we rode in a nifty Land Rover truck, the whole shebang) there were little warthogs, like Pumba, they really are ugly little things. Pumba was a way better rendition. But it was a mama with her babies, so that was sweet. Then like this herd of Impalas start running across the road up ahead and that was pretty cool! I was hoping hyenas or a cheetah were chasing them, but no, they were just running because they were free.
Then we continue down the road and see nothing. nothing. nothing. Then baboons were running to our right, that was cool. Monkeys are always the most depressing things to visit at zoos, they were so happy here.
Then we head into the elephant and the lion section! Oh yea! Now I'm excited! Our driver has a walkie on the whole time, Kev spots 2 Elephants in the distance, but our driver stops for about 5 seconds and says we need to move to the watering hole because he was just told there are a few over there. We drive up and there is another truck (hence the walkie call) and sure enough there are 4 mama elephants and a baby! 5! It was ridic!
Our driver had told us about how last year he had gotten charged by an elephant and how dangerous they are etc. Don't be mad, but I was secretly hoping we'd get charged by an elephant! That would've been a great story! Anyway, the elephants stick around for a sec for us to get some pics and then wander off to be alone. We wait for a sec for them to get their distance and then head down the road. But WAIT! to our right is now the Dad elephant!!! HE'S MASSIVE!!!
and we're about maybe 20 feet from him!!! I can tell the driver is slightly nervous, he says this one is major aggressive, so we stick around for about 10 seconds and then haul down the road so the elephant doesn't get all worked up! It was AWESOME!!
We're heading back to see the other 2 elephants we saw when we first came in when our driver gets another call that the other truck has spotted a LION!!! I'M totally STOKED now! I'm was trying not to get worked up about seeing a lion because our odds are very slim. So I don't believe it until I see it. Sure enough we spot the other truck and they lead us to the tree where Mufasa is chilling under a tree! I instantly think 'okay how can we get this lion to move!!! what does it eat??' I ask the driver. "Impalas" he answers. My initial response, 'dang we should've grabbed one when they ran past us!!!" the truck laughs, but I'm serious. Don't worry, nothing happened, Simba laid under that tree the whole time. No growl, nothing. Except, the other truck bailed first and something about them going down the road made him perk up a little bit and we got to see him, oh he was beautiful! Still laying might I add, he's totally unimpressed with 10 americans cramped into a truck, but I got some pics.
So my safari experience was complete now. Thank you Mom & Dad for the extra moohlah in my account so I could do this!!! Love you!
