The End!

This is it folks. My African adventure is coming to an end. We arrived in Nairobi last evening and tomorrow night I start the long trek home.

But the last few days were incredible! We left Zanzibar for Arusha, our safari departure point. Monday morning we were picked up in proper safari vehicles and headed for the Serengeti. These were comfortable vehicles with a removable roof for ideal 360 degree viewing. A nice treat from our bumpy overland truck! When we reached the Ngorongoro Conservation Area we stopped for lunch. While enjoying our little picnic, we were visited by an ugly bush pig, giant storks and kites that swooped down from behind and stole your food before you knew what hit you. Needless to say I ate in the truck. Then we had an afternoon game drive in the Serengeti and two more the next day. We saw all the animals again that we've already searched long and hard for during previous safaris, but better and closer. Saw lots of hippos on land and lions right beside our truck. One of the coolest things was seeing part of the widebeast migration. Incredible numbers of them dotted the plains. There are also an incredible number of zebras grazing with them. We stopped at a watering hole to watch them drink. All of a sudden they began to scatter and right in front of us was a lion with a wildebeast by the throat. We actually got to see a kill. It was over pretty quick but the lion hung on for a while before beginning her feast. In the meantime she had to protect her meal from the vultures and hyena that were around to collect the spoils.

On the third day we visited the Ngorongoro Crater and saw an incredibly large pride of lions. After viewing them for a while, we were in awe to see a male and female coming toward us through the grass from far away. To our surprise they stopped right in front of the six trucks that were watching and decided it was time for a little procreating. Who knew lions were such exhibitionists!

In the crater we also added cheetah and flamingos to our list of animals, but the leopard continues to elude us! Oh well - can't complain. At camp on the second night we were visited by elephants and enjoyed meeting these creatures on foot just before the sun set.

See you in Halifax!