Capturing the Moment

  Wow. A stunning view of an early morning leopard. We only spotted her initially because a group of lions we were watching stood up and stared at a far off tree. Our guide Enoch noticed this behavior, looked down the hill and saw this leopard moving down. We sped off to try and find her in the tall grass. This photo was the only moment she paused in her stealthy advance through the grass and looked right at us. After witnessing a river crossing and a crocodile kill yesterday, we felt like anything we encounter today would be icing on the cake. The Serengeti is a massive national park here in Tanzania, and somehow, no matter how long you are here, or how many times you visit, you will always be surprised by what this place has to offer. It is the true definition of wild, and a world class safari destination. We set out early from our mobile tent camp, Under Canvas, into the beautiful sunrise over herds of migrating wildebeest.

  An action shot of a large crocodile tearing off a piece of zebra meet and sending it down its gullet. What a day! It was sad saying goodbye to all our new friends and fond memories at Kichwa Tembo in the Masai Mara, but after 4 nights there, it was time to move on to our next spot in Tanzania's famed Serengeti National Park. We took a couple of small bush planes and a quick transfer by van across the border into Tanzania. We were pleasantly surprised to have the entire 12 seater plane to ourselves as we entered the Serengeti. Our new guide from andBeyond Serengeti Under Canvas was there at the airport, ready to meet us, and he even had a table of drinks and cookies set up in the shade of an acacia tree for us. Enoch, our guide, knew we only had two nights here to explore the Serengeti, so he wasted no time in packing the safari vehicle up for a game drive on our way to camp. First stop... the Mara River.

  Our safari tents were situated perfectly so the sunrise would stream in. This was our view each morning after the butler delivered coffee and opened the flaps. 14 days, 5 different parks, an elephant orphange, giraffe center, 2 countries, and thousands of pictures later, we have come to the conclusion of our East African Safari. Each day has brought new experiences, from the excitement of seeing our first wild animal from the rooftop pool at the Hilton, to have mating lions a few feet from the vehicle. Everyone soaked up a ton of knowledge from James, Jackson, and Godliving. We were cared for, and led, so well throughout that it was easy to fall into the groove of morning and afternoon game drives, delicious meals, and chatting around the campfires. Yet we were still tired each night, as we lay down on our comfy beds out in the middle of the African wilderness. We listened to bird songs, zebra, elephants, hyrax, and hyena from our beds. After starting with very pleasant overcast ...

  We traveled for a while, soaking in the early morning misty plains of the Serengeti from our extended land cruiser safari vehicle. Our morning reverie was interrupted by a group of vultures fighting a hyena over a freshly killed wildebeest. It was the groups first fresh kill. Not everyone was into the gruesome action. You couldn't even see some of the heads of the vultures since they were neck deep into the carcass. But this is the circle of life. Pretty soon there won't be much more than bleached bones left, thanks to the vultures and hyena. We continued on after the vulture show, and quickly came upon two male lions and a female. As we hung out with them we were surprised to see a third male lion pop up, and then a little later a fourth male lion popped up! The mane male and female were the same mating pair we had spotted two days earlier. She now looked like she was pretty over it, and disengaged from the male every time he attempted anything. The mating pair, and two of b...

  The inquisitive stare of a new baby lion.     Today our group woke up in the most beautiful tents, with the sunrise streaming in as our butler laid out our coffee platter. We were eager to get out and see what else the Serengeti had to offer so we opted to have our breakfast out in the bush during our extra long morning game drive. Our driver/guide, Godliving, yes that was his actual name, took us first to these beautiful rocky outcroppings called kopjees. A brief glimpse at a mama lion with her tiny, month and a half old cub. We only got this glimpse for a second, then they disappeared back into the bush.     The kopjees are a different environment that what we had been in during our Kenya leg of the safari. We found rock hyrax and klipspringer antelopes using the rocks as a habitat. Then we got word that a lion was up ahead. We could just barely see her moving around, catching the flick of a tail here, and the movement of an ear there. I was able to see her ...