Africa the Serengeti

There's no doubt that you've all been hanging onto every word of our vacation waiting for the next post, right? ... and alas, here we are. After a fabulous birthday in the Ngorongoro Crater we were off to the Serengeti. I probably don't even need to write anything - you can just look at the incredible pictures and know that it is other-worldly! Simply amazing. There are TONS of animals in the Serengeti. The way the national parks are set up in Tanzania you can't "off-road" to get physically closer to the animals. Sometimes they're really close, and other times they're far away. Also in the Serengeti there are a decent number of other cars - but fortunately there are enough animals to go around! Check out some of our incredible encounters. Clearly I had a hard time editing which ones to put on the post.

A family of elephants were really close to us at the end of the day. It was cool to observe their interactions, two intertwined trunks, one momma watched closely to protect her baby, another couple were about to make a baby, several growled and trumpeted while splashing in the water.
The baby flapped it's ears at us then went and hid on the other side of it's mom.
Our "tent" in the Serengeti. Running water and 3 course dinners - sounds like my kind of camping!
Don't mind the leopard in the tree. We were lucky enough to see three while there.
Sweet hair and gorgeous sunset.
This giraffe was on the lawn right in front of our tent. Matt wasn't sure if he was real, but as we approached he started to run away. They're super curious animals and if we moved slowly they would just sit there and stare at us staring back at them.
Wildebeest a plenty! This was part of the great migration.
Looking for a Tommy Gazelle.
One of many stunning lions that we saw. There were actually 6 or 7 sitting in this open area on top of mounds like this. We watched two different groups of lions attempt to hunt - both were unsuccessful. The first was a singular lion going after a gazelle, the second was a wart hog. It was super cool to see the lions crouch down and stalk through the grass. When the lioness missed the gazelle the lady in a land cruiser next to us started clapping.

Who knew, but wart hogs are seriously fast. This was the second time we had seen a wart hog escape the finesse of a lion. In the Serengeti experience, the wart hog bobbed along nonchalantly until he was about 5 feet from a lion ready to pounce. She went for him, he dodged her, and several other lionesses who were in the back field went for him, yet he remained unscathed. He was the best running back I've ever seen.
Their cub hidden in the grass near one of the mounds.

"L" is for the way you look at me
Confusing predators like crazy with all those stripes going every which way


This circle of life... (or at least a quarter circle). Lions eating a zebra.
Hyena's ready to eat the lion's remnants of the zebra.
Vultures and weird old man bird waiting to eat the hyena's left overs.
Nothing left.