All the Animals

We've had a request by my friend Dan for some posts about animals on our safari. I'm going to write about what comes to mind on each of the animals we saw:

Lions (Simba): Lions are lazy. Think of house cats, but bigger, meaner, with huge claws, big mouths, and very cute (at a distance) faces. They will hunt (typically in a group) once every four to six days. They typically hunt zebra or bigger prey (there are a great many types of large, four legged antelope type creatures). Once they make a kill they will eat for a bit, then rest for a while, then eat some more, rest, etc... until they've had their fill. Hyenas, vultures, and other animals will finish off whats left.

After the kill the lions will sit around in the shade. We saw one pride of lions that seemed to have either made a kill recently, or were super lazy that had hordes of Thompsons Gazelle (a very small, fast deer like creature) literally about four to five feet in front of them. The lions seems to care less.

We saw at least twenty lions on the safari, and then often seemed to look right at us. Very, very cool. Being a Leo, and super fond of lions, this was one of the highlights for me.

Giraffe:

The giant giraffe are so amazing to watch. I believe they are distantly related to camels. They just don't seem real. The size and gait are hard to fathom when you are right in front of them. When they run it really looks like they are in slow motion, and will fall down at any moment.

Elephants: As much as I love lions, the elephants were my favorite. They are so huge and plodding, yet seem very very intelligent. We also got quite close to them a number of times. It is quite fun to see them eat with their long trunks and amble around.

On our way into the Ngorongoro Crater we saw an elephant burst through the brush in front of us, bolt across the road, and then plowed through the brush on the other side. It was moving very fast. Like many elephants in that area it had huge tusks. A most impressive sight and one of the highlights of that day.

More animals soon!