Cole and I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Tanzania, Africa with the Robinson family. It was an unbelievable trip. We had the best time and will remember this trip the rest of our lives.
Our trip started out with two days in the beautiful Tarangire National Park. This being the first safari days of the trip we were so excited and beyond amazed at all we were able to see in just one day. We stayed in the amazing Swala Sanctuary Camp. It is an outdoor camp that consists of 11 guests tents and a main lodge. We literally had animals roaming around our tents. However, we always felt safe and had the best time "glamping" inside Tarangire National Park.
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| Day 1 of our safari in Tarangire |
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| This is called an "Upside Down Tree" |
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| The first lions we saw of the trip |
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| Baboon Family- there were about 100 of them all up in this tree |
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| This male gave us the glare down, letting us know we were getting to close to his herd. We quickly backed away and left them alone. |
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| Cole on the deck of our tent |
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| Tons of Gazelle right outside our tent |
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| Not a bad view from our tent... ;) |
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| The monkey's loved our tent. It was nicknamed the Monkey Tent! |
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| Day Two of our safari in Tarangire- we named this day "Elephant Day" |
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| Jackel |
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| Those are all elephants. This is all you would see in every direction. So many elephants! |
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| Elephant blocking the road! We had to wait for quite a while for it to move. We had to start honking a little! |
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| One night we got to go to this beautiful look out to see the sunset. The staff presented us with these stunning African robes as a gift. |
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| They also gave us our new safari hats! |
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| Every morning the staff would wake us up with hot chocolate. This particular morning a monkey came and stole Cole's mug and helped himself to some hot coco! |
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| On our way out of the park we spotted this mamma lion! |
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| If you look closely you can spot her 1 week old lion cub right in front of her! There were actually 3 cubs but the mom quickly took them into the bush and hide them from us. |
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| We stopped at Gibbs Farm for lunch |
After a day of driving we finally made it to the beautiful Ngorongoro Crater. This view was simply stunning. The crater was formed from a giant volcanic eruption. Due to its steep incline around the edges all of the animals stay in there and never migrate, creating its own ecosystem. We stayed her for two days and had an amazing time.
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| We finally arrived at the beautiful Ngorongoro Crater |
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| Animal poses |
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| Good looking man right there |
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| Our camp at night. We would gather around the fire and they would bring us out hot chocolate and appetizers. It was actually really cold at night. |
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| The whole group with the staff. The two Massai warriors on the right are the ones that protected the camp and would walk us to and from our tents at night. |
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| Our tent! This was a mobile camp. so it was a little more rugged than the other camps. |
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| Our first day in Ngorongoro Crater we immediately came upon this huge pack of sleeping hippos |
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| Hippo eyes popping just above the water behind us. |
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| This is the only Rhino we saw the whole trip. Very rare to see them anymore. |
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| Our picnic lunch inside the crater |
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| Hippo yawn |
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| Water Buffalo- the most dangerous out of the Big Five |
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| Hippos are the most deadly animal in Africa |
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| Wildebeest |
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| We visited a Massai Village just outside the crater |
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| The girls participated in their traditional song and dance |
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| While the boys participated in their jumping tradition. |
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| I loved seeing the little kids in their school, they were all so cute! |
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| Cole and I inside a traditional Massai hut |
After leaving the crater we drove through many villages and finally made it to the famous Serengeti National Park! It is known for having all the animals in the big five as well as the cheetah. This was the only place that we were going to have the chance to see cheetahs and we were so excited to see if we could spot some. We stayed in another beautiful tented Sanctuary Lodge inside the Serengeti for the last 2 days.
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| Right away we found these 4 cheetahs hanging out under a tree. Our tour guide told us it was a mom and her three sons. Cheetahs stay together in a family until the females are old enough to go out their own. However, brothers will always stay together. |
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| It was crazy how close we were able to get to all these animals and never feel frightened or in danger. |
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| Beautiful sunrises |
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| This picture makes me nervous to look at- I was just praying that Brent wasn't going to lose his balance and fall into the pack of lions. He's crazy! |
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| Hyena |
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| Brothers |
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| We saw this cheetah right after it had taken down this gazelle. We watched it drag it across the plains and find a nice hiding spot to eat it. Crazy! |
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| Baboon family trekking across the plains |
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| The baby baboons would catch rides on their mom's back. It was the cutest thing ever and made me feel like all mom's are the same whether human or animal. We're just packing our babies around and making sure they are taken care of. I felt a connection to this mama baboon and understood her role all too well. |
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| Flamingos |
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| Watching the sunset |
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| Amazing! |
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| A lion hanging out in a tree. That carcass hanging down the tree was left from a leopard. They eat their killings in the trees and then leave the carcasses hanging there after. |
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| 7 Lions hanging in a tree- One of the craziest things I have ever seen. |
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| Our last tent in the Serengeti |
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| Catching our flight back to Arusha |
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| Cramped quarters |
