Serengetti / Crator!

Okay where to start! I actually had to make a list in my journal of things to remember to say because the past few days have been so eventful and wonderful. So we have been doing loads and loads of driving , which is trying at times but the scenery is great and we stop along the way and see interesting local markets, supermarkets, cafes, etc. So it's all part of the experience!

The roads are SO bad around here, it takes FOREVER just to drive a short distance because of the quality of the roads. It's frustrating because what would take an hour to drive in Canada (good roads) would take all day here. So it's slow going, but we can tough it out. luckily most of our group are able to read while driving, so I've almost finished a couple of books. I read The Book of Flying, an enchanting story which brings my mind back to home <3 and now I am reading Eating Animals- so fascinating.

We stayed one night in a Snake Park- which is a place which collects snakes if they find them (poisonous and non) and keeps them locked away. There are a lot around here !!! I learned all kinds about poison snakes vs. constrictors- very interesting!!! I also got to see 3 crocs being fed raw meat ! SO COOL I took a video and will post it when I get home on Facebook!

Asanti Sawna= thank you very much
Mambo (instead of Jambo) = hello
pua= cool, good, no problem

We got to spend a night in the Serengeti park -- Amazing!!!Serengeti means : Endless plain in Swahili, if you are interested. It's just like you might see on Oasis or BBC. So cool. The most amazing part is the animals, they don't care at all about the safari trucks, and so they are so close! We were actually slightly disappointed in the park, because at the Maasai Mara we were spoiled with close animals of all sorts, and the Serengeti was a lot bigger and therefore it was not as common to see as many animals. But when we DID see animals , they were in enormous numbers. We saw hundreds... no thousands of wild Zebra just roaming around. Buffalo galore, and like a billion gazelle, other types of deer, hippos , crocs OMG just every kind of animal you can think of is there in HUGE numbers. The highlight of the Serengeti for Matt and I (and I think the rest of the group too) was a few things. 1. this incredible rainbow that occurred over the vast field, it was deep in color and so solid and even had a reflective twin. It was so very cool. 2. a wild heard of female elephants (apparently male elephants go off on their own and the females/babies stick together! that was an interesting fact that I didnt know! ) and finally........ 3, we saw 6 lions (female) and they were just hanging out beside the road! We stared at them for maybe half an hour before we realized they were planning a hunt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we followed them and watched them and they spread out around the fields (on either side of the road, the trucks were right in the middle of the action!!! ) and they surrounded this small group of zebras and they were like stalking them , as the cats do so silently and crouched down it was SO COOL.

Our driver was trying to get us to leave and go have lunch but we were all like NO WAY!!! SKIP FOOD! WE ARE WATCHING THIS HUNT!!!!!! so we did. But the zebras went too far out of reach and the lions gave up and came together for a "better luck next time" snuggle. It was quite interesting. The safari driver was even excited (this is how you know you've seen something cool!!) hahahaha

So then after the big eventful day of bumpy driving through African wildlife we set up camp on the edge of "The Crator" ... creative name. So literally this place is a volcano which never erupted and the inside of it collapsed and now it is jam-packed with animals who can't get out of it because of the steep outer walls (which we dangerously had to drive on...)

It was cool at night, and hot in the day (every day is like this) it's amazing. perfect perfect climate for living. I want .

After a lovely night's sleep (minus my horrible raspy cough) we got up at 6am (like we do every day) and went inside the crator to explore! Inside we saw some animals, but mostly the exciting part was the scenery. I can't wait to show you my photos of the crator. it's wicked wicked wicked. We did get to see about 10 hyenas working together to get a huge dead hippo out of the water . that was kinda cool!

It rains every afternoon around 3 or 4 and only for about 30 minutes, I guess this is "short-rain" season. It smells SO great. I love the rain. and it's such a temperature relief at that time of day.

I have so much more to say, so many more simple details that i want you to know but everyone is waiting for their turn on this sole slow-internet computer.

I la-la-love you all! Wish you could see everything as I go along. Thanks for supporting my trip here, it's incredible.

And, I couldn't ask for a better travel buddy, Matt and I are getting along famously.

xoxoxoxo
Jess