The first day was in Tarangire, famous for it's quantity of elephants. We were fortunate to have a very close encounter with a group right by the side of the jeep! We saw lots of Giraffe, by far the most interesting of animals. They are fascinating and completely surreal! Tiff and Marni had an encounter with a very large and hungry baboon. We were stopped for lunch and just as i handed out the lunch bags to the girls, a huge male baboon attacked them and literally fought them for the food. The girls were very protective over their food and refused to give up! That is until he began to bare his huge teeth and growl at them. It was still quite a challenge to convince Tiff to let the bag go but reluctantly she agreed and the baboon feasted on a huge tub of veggies right in front of us!
Baby elephants are the cutest! We watched one walking along with his trunk in his mouth as if it were a dummy (pacifier)!!! Soooo cute!
Our hotel was out of this world with the most spectacular view! Each room had an indoor balcony with ceiling to floor windows. We woke up with the sun rising over the Ngorongoro crater. Just stunning! We enjoyed a huge breakfast then an early game drive. The highlight being just a few feet from 2 lion cubs! They certainly challenged the baby elephants cuteness! We also saw 2 black rhino, one quite close which is rare. Among the ones already mentioned we also saw impala, flamingo, gazelle, monkey, wilder beast, zebra, hyena, warthog, dik dik, eland, jackal, hippo, hartebeest, topi, and antelope.
What made the whole experience so special was sharing it with Marni and Tiff. The 3 of us were like little girls, very excitable! Nathan certainly had his hands full!! It was a memory that will stay with us always. We can't wait for the day when we can all enjoy Jehovah's creation to the full.
