The Serengeti

Our last  journey of our Amazing African adventure was in the Serengeti.  We spent 3 days here and went on several more safari drives. 

This is the hotel room we stayed in 2 rooms at the bottom and a top room above.  We are facing out into the plains of the serengeti

Reading the hotel's warning in the room.  Every night we had to call for a guide to collect us and take us to the dining hall.  At the end of dinner we again  had to get someone to take us back to our rooms.  The guides were only armed with a flashlight so not exactly sure what they could do if a wild animal happened to come out to greet us...One of the guides said he could recognize the animal in dark based on the reflection the eyes had once the flashlight hit the eye..again not exactly sure what he would of done except out run me!

At this hotel every evening after dinner they had African musicians perform some traditional music

dancers and even acrobatics

These flags were around the hotel grounds.  the area we were staying in had Tse Tse flies and we were told they are attracted to blue and black colors, so these flags were treated with some kind of poison to kill the flies.  I have to say they seem to work as we didn't noticed them at the hotel.  However during one of our game drives (away from the flags) we went thru a part that was swarming with the nasty little things.  Our driver did let us know that while the flies were annoying they don't carry the sleeping disease in this particular area.  All I know is those little things bite and bite hard:(!

We went on 2 different safari drives while here but the very first thing we saw right out side the hotel entrance was this green snake which we were told was a Green Mamba!  Also know as the 15 paces snake...meaning if it bites you, you will have about 15 steps before you die.  Our guide told us that these snakes are very smart as they can size up their prey and inject exactly the right amount of poison to kill it:)

The Serengeti was so different from the other places in Tanzania we had explored.  While the majority of the Serengeti is a vast plain there are many small rocky sites called Kopjes.  In fact according to our driver here is where they got the vision for the Pride rock for Lion King.  In fact somewhere in my thousands of pictures I have the rock that was the inspiration for Pride rock, unfortunately I can't find it  or else I took so many pictures of rock outcrops that I can't tell one from another:(

Another Kopjes:)

These Kopjes are home to many different wildlife.  Here we found very colorful lizard that my kids loved to see.

At this Kopjes hidden in the tress (you can barely see its head) is the last of the Big five animals we wanted to see...A Leopard.  We were so excited that we found it as we were told they are very difficult to spot.  Throughout our many different safari drives I found it truly amazing how well informed the drivers were and he often went on the HF radio to communicate with other drivers to find out where the animals were.  Some times we were the first to see the animal other times we were in a long line of safari vehicles waiting for our turn to get a glimpse of an animal.  My kids thought it was very funny.  At this particular location we had to wait a good 15 minutes before we got close enough to see the Leopard:)

There are no paved roads here only dirt rocky paths but every once in a while you see a sign in the middle of no where.

another road sign

Another rather unusual site in the middle of the Serengeti a rest stop and rest room.  Restrooms were of the very basic model.

Rock Hyrax

Every evening between 5:30 and 6 pm at the hotel outdoor bar the bush babies would appear, leaping and jumping from the trees.  They were so fun to watch.

On our last morning we woke up to this wonderful sight outside our hotel room.  A herd of elephants that couldn't have been more than 15 feet away from us.  There wasn't anything stopping those elephants from getting to us except a very short 3.5 feet wall.  It was amazing to watch them.

This is Ally our amazing driver and guide.  He answered all of our questions and helped us to understand the culture of Tanzania.  He was absolutely a delight and pleasure to be with.  We couldn't have asked for a better guide.  My family came to love Tanzania and all the amazing people we met along the way.

Unfortunately it was time to head home and we took this little bush plane from the Serengeti back to Arusha to await our flight home.  My kids were amazed at the size of the plane!

The Serengeti from the air and a lone road.  We were sad to go.

A view of a Maasai village from the air.  This was the only thing we did not get to do while touring Tanzania as both times we were scheduled to go my kids got sick and we had to cancel.  While I reported on another post how ill Little Man got.  Princess also came down  with  signs of fever and illness, only not so severe, thank goodness.  Once again we had to call for a doctor, luckily the hotel had one on staff and we were again able to get antibiotics.  This time around I was a bit calmer:)

This is just a small section of the animals we saw I didn't repeat animals I have already posted about.  I came home with over 5000 pictures which my husband now has to tag:)  It was so hard to pick the best of every animal as I had so many fabulous pictures.  This was our trip of a lifetime and while we had a couple of bumps in the road (kids getting sick) it was absolutely amazing and I may never be able to go to a zoo or safari (in England/states) ever again.  It has been nearly 3 weeks since we returned and we are still looking at our pictures and talking about our amazing adventure.