Safari Trip

Wow what an amazing weekend. We left Rivervalley Campsite around 9 am on Saturday for Ruaha National park. We stopped at a museum on the way that showcased a local warrior that fought against the Germans in the 1800’s. They even allowed us to hold the shields and spears and sit on the seats that were used when people became chiefs. It was strange being able to touch the exhibits.

We got to the park mid-afternoon. It took around two and a half hours to get there. It was very warm and sunny. We saw elephants and Giraffes on the way into the park. Once inside the park we saw lots of impala, zebra, elephants and 6 lions lying under bushes. My favorite was when we were taking pictures of 6 lions lying under a bush. Keith and Laura were standing up taking pictures through the sun roofs and Luke had his window rolled down taking pictures. All of a sudden Luke turns around to me and says “I think it wants us to leave”. One of the lions just did a low growl. We were about 10 – 15 feet away from them. We did move on shortly after that! J

We also got to see elephants really close to us as well. We saw an elephant right beside the road eating branches from a tree. Soon there were others coming up. We were able to watch them walk across the road in front of us.

The lion growling at us

Later in the day we watched about 30 elephants eating and walking around. A family of elephants started crossing the road in front of us when an elephant on the other side got upset and chased them back. They walked passed us and crossed the road behind our truck.

On Sunday we were able to see a lion eating a giraffe that was killed the day before. As we watched another lion approached. We were prepared to see a fight but once the lion eating saw who was approaching he allowed her to eat with him. She must have been ‘family’. J

One of the last things we did on Sunday before leaving the park was stopping by a dry riverbed. There was a cluster of trees with park benches. We were able to get out and stretch our legs. We could sit on the benches and see giraffes on one side and elephants on the other. It was amazing and strange to be sitting on park benches watching these wild animals.

Luke and Nikki at the base of a baobab tree.

One of the funniest things we saw was the warthogs. They look soo funny as they are running away from you.

 Nikki wished we could have seen cheetahs but loved seeing the animals. Luke loved seeing 25 lions. Laura loved seeing all the zebras, especially some baby zebras (her favorite animal). Chris loved the giraffes and elephants. Keith had fun taking lots of video and pictures of all the animals.

We saw hippos, crocodiles, elephants, zebras, giraffes, warthogs, storks, pied kingfisher birds, guineas , water buffalo, impalas, jackals, dik diks (very small deer), baboons, monkeys, and many kinds birds.

Oh I almost forgot, while traveling to and from the park we had to slow down for cows crossing the road. Oh and the funny thing was we also saw chickens crossing the road.