Hakuna Matata

As previously promised, here are my thoughts (and pictures) from the first half of the safari. More to come later...
 
Howdy everyone,

I left the beaches and culture of Zanzibar behind and am currently writing to you under the most beautiful starscape I've ever seen in the Serengeti. I'm on night two of a four day safari here and later to the Ngorongoro crater.

It's funny how much of my knowledge of Africa's wildlife comes from Lion King. Even though I haven't seen the movie in 10 years, I found myself identifying creatures by their Disney names.

First, and most importantly, there was Simba...

 and his other Lion friends (Nala, Mufasa, and friend).  

Coincidentally Simba is the Swahili word for lion and they really do run the joint around here.

We also saw Rafiki

Unlike the movie, Baboons are terribly mean creatures. This one was trying to get some food off the back of a truck. 

Next up is the lovable Pumbaa.  

 Unfortunately his friend Timon doesn't actually live in the Serengeti. Walt lied. These guys are fairly tough looking but in actuality they are pretty harmless.

Lastly we have the downtrodden Ed.

As the movie portrays, hyenas are pretty dumb animals and the Africans really have very negative things to say about them. But if you see one up close they just look like a dog, so they are alright by me. 

I feel bad for the fisi (swahili name) to be honest. They really drew the short stick in the gene pool.

The remainder of these guys didn't get the fame of Disney but they were amazing creatures and I felt I had to share (with their Swahili names). Enjoy...

Twiga

Tembo

 

 Punda Milia

 

 Chui (leopard)

 

 Swalas

 

 Nyatis (buffalo)

 Kiboko

 Nyumbus (wildebeast)

 

  Ndegechai (Crowned Crane)

Tomorrow morning we do a sunrise game drive here then over to the crater for 24 hours. I'll try to post in a few days with pictures from the second half. 

Until next time....