Serengeti Part 3

We spent another night at the Serengeti camp and Tuesday morning is when we really woke up early. At 5:30 a.m.  Except for Rahim who woke up at 6 and made us wait an extra 20 minutes haha.

We didn't even bother having breakfast because we were coming back to the camp around 11 a.m. to load up the car and head the Ngorongoro. 

So off we go, at 6:20 a.m. to see animals! And first thing we see is two lions mating...so that was fun. Haha. But then, after they finished, the male started walking towards us and I got some amazing pictures! Even with my crappy camera!

Isn't he gorgeous? That's Simba all grown up! And he even walked right past us growling for his mate. It was just mind blowing to be that close to such a magnificent animal. 

And then we stumbled upon more lions. These ones were mostly sleeping, but I was able to get a video of one of the lions walking right towards us and sitting down. Then we took pictures with it in the back ground. 

There's Rahim and I trying to get the lion to attack us...I'm still alive so it obviously didn't work haha. 

That's two baby cubs cuddling!

And then we saw more cheetahs! These ones I was able to get good pictures of. 

There are two of them in the second picture, if you can see them. 

After that we headed back to pack up and have brunch. Then we headed off to Ngorongoro. The drive was supposed to take maybe 4 hours when we left around 12:30-1. But a few things happened...

First off, it rained like crazy. I'm talking thunderstorming. And then, our car broke down. The front end started smoking inside. And this is how laid back I am, I saw the smoke after everyone else also noticed it and I was the one who was blocking the door. Rahim freaked out and yelled at me to get out and I was so tired, I just looked at him and said "why?" He thought the car was going to blow up...which it didn't. But he was laughing at me afterwards. 

When Edrick and Paul inspected under the hood, they found that we had a short circuit and needed a new wire. Thankfully, after about 30-40 minutes a South African man pulled over (because remember...we were still in the middle of the Serengeti) and he had an extra wire. Then after he left the issue because, well we need tape or something to keep the wire from sparking. And this is why I call Paul a gangsta. 

Every time some one pulled over, he wouldn't even greet them. He would just say "tape leta." Which means "give me tape" in Swahili. No please, no hello, just give me tape. Hahahaha. 

But anyways, we didn't find tape so they just wrapped a plastic bag around the wire. And then we got a push start with tire to tire (as in the back tires on the truck for spares pushed eachother with another jeep). But we had no electricity anymore (no headlights, windshield wipers...) and we couldn't shut off the car because then we would have to push start again. 

But we finally made it to Ngorongoro, around 7 or so. With the complete African experience of the car breaking down! 

Serengeti Part 2

After the first night in the Serengeti, we woke up early to head off for another game drive. And by early, I mean at 7 or so again. 

We saw these cute little things called "dik dik's" ...don't ask me why they are called that...

It's right underneath the tree. So cute! 

And then we saw two giraffes doing the famous power stance with the neck fighting! 

I think it was the most calm fighting I've ever seen in my life. I didn't even notice until Edrick pointed it out! 

Then we came across a pride of lions. They were just chilling in front of a great line of wildebeest. 

It's a bad pic, but I have better ones! Anyway, the family consisted of a male, 3 females and 2 cubs. As we were watching this family, I noticed one of the female lions looking across the field at the wildebeest. Then Alkarim said "look! Cheetahs!" Three cheetahs took down a wildebeest! It was amazing to see!! I've always seen kills on Nature but never in real life! It's freaking scary! And after the wildebeest was successfully killed by those cheetahs, the lions got up and scared the cheetahs away so that they could eat. Talk about lazy!! Those poor cheetahs got jipped hardcore! 

After that, we saw some "honeymooner" lions...so you can guess what we witnessed...haha. 

And then, we saw another leopard! This one was the most difficult to see. It was at the base of the tree and because there was so much grass you could barely even make out it's body. But still, we could see it (with binoculars). 

Before we headed back to camp, we stopped at a store to get some snacks. As we were there we saw all these baboons. (The store was in the middle of the Serengeti). Then, I headed out to the car to get some water and Zuby was in the car. All of a sudden, a HUGE baboon jumps through the window, Zuby screams, I may or may not have cussed explicitly as I am standing outside the window opposite. The baboon quickly snatched a packed of biscuits, gives me and Zuby a look and jumps out the roof onto the store roof! EVIL MONKEYS! It was so scary!! Worse than the other monkey! All the guys were laughing at us, especially at poor Zuby who was in the car. 

There is one of the baboons. Not sure if he is the one, but he could be. 

Also during this safari we were able to see a serval cat. 

One of the cutest kitties ever! 

As we approach the campsite we see a whole group of elephants, with the babies!!! 

The baby is to the left. 

They were surrounding our entire campsite! 

Then Rahim and I did something very stupid. First off, Rahim decides he wants a picture (we have already gotten back to the campsite and all the elephants were by the bathrooms). So he gets Alkarim to stand with the camera as Rahim approaches the elephant. Alkarim was actually taking a video. And so Rahim is getting closer and closer and all of a sudden the elephant shakes it's head and stomps. Rahim yells "ya Allah!" And runs. 

Then, he decides to try again but this time he wants me in the picture also. So we are cautiously approaching and as we get closer the elephant does a roar (or what ever you call it) and lifts up it's trunk and takes a couple of steps. Rahim and I don't even bother turning around to look if it's chasing us and just run like we were  being chased by an elephant (haha). It didn't actually chase us, it was just giving us a warning. But we learned our lesson...don't approach a momma elephant...ever.