7/8-7/10 Safari!

"Live it, love, it, bleed it." "Love ya Lions!" Being the daughter of two Penn State alumni and the sister of another, I was born with a love for lions. While growing up I saw lions in zoos and of course there was the famous stuffed Nittany Lion in Paterno Library at Penn State. Yet there certainly is nothing like seeing lions a mere three feet away! The latter is what I did this weekend in Mikumi National Park. It was about a five hour drive from Bagamoyo to Mikumi which was an adventure itself complete with one of the land cruisers breaking down leading the seventeen of us to go from three vehicles to fitting in two vehicles. The third land cruiser was fixed by Saturday morning though and it was all worth it as we unexpectedly saw nocturnal lions right on the highway when driving on the main road through the park at 8pm on Friday evening.
Saturday, we woke up early to drive an additional two hours from the hotel at the edge of Mikukmi to Udzungwa Mountains National Park so we could start our day with a morning hike. We hiked to see the largest waterfall in Tanzania, which is 170 meters high. The view was breathtaking of the falls and also of the vast horizon out beyond us. While hiking we saw monkeys all through the trees and an array of various butterflies. We felt as though we were the ones on display as all the locals shouted, "Mzungas" as we drove by, meaning white people. Following lunch we drove back to Mikumi to begin our first safari. After a quick trip through the museum to read up on the animals we'd be seeing we reboarded the land cruiser with the top up so we could stand taking in all the beauty surrounding us. The first thing we spotted was impalas and our guide wouldn't stop to take pictures, insisting, "Impalas are like chocolate at the super market. You'll see plenty." They certainly were everywhere as we went on to see elephants, zebras, warthogs, giraffes, camels, and more! We did get to stop when it came time for sunset, which we watched at the Hippo Pool! While the four hour safari was incredible we were anxious to see lions again as we had Friday night but there were none to be found on Saturday.
Sunday morning, we woke up early for the sunrise safari, entering Mikumi first and beginning with the top closed as it was chilly enough to see your breath. Twice as many animals were out at sunrise and in large groups, including over twenty giraffes together. It was the coolest things to watch the giraffes sprint across in lines after one another. Once the sun had risen enough we took the top up to stand up and I must say my favorite part of the safari was being right in front with my arms spread open along the open paths of nature! Just when we were about to give up hope on seeing lions again we spotted five! We drove extremely close to watch them interact with one another and cross right in front of our land cruiser. I am loving being immersed completely in the land of Tanzania and now even more, I love those lions!