Friday, January 21, 2011

Safari Part 1

Wow. Where to begin? It is amazing how much can happen in 5 short days. I suppose I better get the bad news out of the way first: I arrived "home" to Moshi today and sadly discovered that the resident chicken familyis now only one adolescent chick. Remember how I mentioned early on that it can be difficult to get the facts here? Well, I am not sure if the mama chicken was found dead in the yard or if she was just butchered, but I do know she was on the dinner table last night. And the other two chicks? No one knows where they are.

This week I went on a five day/four night safari. It could not have been better. We started in Lake Manyara National Park, spent three days and two nighs in the Serengeti and then one day and night at Ngorongoro Crater. We saw all five of the Big 5! Pretty rare. We saw 44 lions and cubs, 3 leopards, 4 cheetahs hunting, 5 rhinos, and 100's of elephants!

I went on a tent safari and, while I know it isn't Wisconsin winter it was much colder than I expected. One of these days I'll learn stop expecting things. Our campsite in Serengeti was literally in the bush. It does not have any sort of protection around it to keep animals out.  Naturally, I woke up at 4am my first night there to the loud roar of lions and the cackling of hyenas.  I found myself thinking two things. The first was that no matter what - even if it cost a thousand dollars - I would sleep in a hotel the next night. The second was that the odds were in my favor that if a lion came to camp it would likely catch and kill someone else first. I stayed awake until 7:30a.m. breakfast, heart pounding, reviewing every last survival skill I knew.

Suffice it to say, I made it through all four nights in a tent and so did everyone ese at camp!

I have so much more to share, but I keep falling asleep. More tomorrow!        

7 comments:

  1. I cannot wait to hear more! Awesome blog rebekah. thank you and god bless you for having such a big heart.
    Debbi asuncion

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  2. WOW! I love hearing all about it! Thank you, honey. I'm so thankful you are safe and that you had an amazing time! Sleep well :) Love you.

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  3. What an awesome adventure! I'd love to take a safari someday...you're blog has renewed my excitement! Pictures?
    Krissa

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  4. Unbelievable and so very, very cool!!

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  5. How I miss you. Thank you for sharing all your adventures with us. I am not on a Safari, but I am on a bear hunt. I don't know if you heard, but we are one game away from beating the Bears in Chicago to go to Superbowl. You will be arriving just in time to see me heading to Dallas for the big game! I thought I should fill you in because people around here seem to forget the ENTIRE WORLD DOES NOT revolve around the Packers.
    I love the way you write. Your tent experience is so real to me. I can imagine you sitting up in your tent, awaken my the sounds of branches breaking and hyenas screaming, hiding under your sleeping bag. I feel bad for whomever you figured the lion would eat first! How did you figure that? Did you spray their tent down with meat juice, just in case? That is why I would never, NEVER, go on a Safari with you. You would put raw meat just inside my tent after I fell asleep so I would be the victim of a lion attack and you could just go right on sleeping knowing that lion would be satisfied... And don't pretend you haven't thought of all this already! ;) you crack me up.
    I am sorry to hear about you chicken family, but as they say in Swahili..."Bora kuku juu ya meza, kuliko hasira njaa Marekani". I love and miss you. Can't wait to see your pictures and hear all of your stories. Keep on writing, keep on praying and keep on living your dreams out. ~Tara

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  6. What a fantastic adventure...lions and leopards and cheetahs...oh my!! You are a brave girl! Can't wait to hear more stories.

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  7. I'm amazed that reviewing all of your survival skills took you from
    4:30 to 7:30! I never knew you had such a library of survival tactics at your finger tips!?

    But seriously, it sounds like every minute of the safari must have been amazing. I'm not gonn a lie, I thought you were going to make a reference to the Lion King somewhere in that post. Sadly enough when I think of roaring lions and cackling hyenas I don't think of Africa, obviously I've never been there.

    Time to read Safari part II...

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