Serengeti!

OK here's a REAL blog post finally! Sorry about the delay...

So today we got back from our 5 day expedition in Serengeti, which was incredible. On the way in on the first day, we stopped at Olduvai Gorge, which is where the oldest human footprints and also a bunch of fossils of extinct animals and homonids were discovered. That was really cool but rather touristy. Once we got into the park, we saw two lions pretty close up on the way to our campsite. The next day I not only saw a bunch of lions, including a family eating a freshly killed zebra and then later the same family sitting literally 3 feet from our landcruiser, but I also saw a leopard and my first (and only) cheetah! She was also really close to us at one point- she crossed the road right in front of our car! Over the course of the trip I saw a bunch more lions, another leopard, two baby crocs, a python in the road. and a lot of the less interesting animals that I've been seeing everywhere else a lot such as various gazelles, warthogs, zebras, elephants, hippos, giraffes, etc. And a lot of cool birds, which we did an exercise on one morning that some people got really into, but I personally prefer the mammals.
The other interesting thing about Serengeti was how much the animals seemed to love our camp site. One night I awoke to hear was I could have sworn was every creature in Serengeti having a party in the middle of camp, and found out the next morning was a wildebeest being killed and eaten by a family of lions right behind the bathrooms. There were also multiple buffalos and hyenas spotted within feet of my tent. I don't know exactly what the askaris do to keep us from being eaten, but they had their work cut out for them this time and they did a wonderful job. Then today on the way back we stopped at this restaurant called Happy Days that some American woman opened in town and it was really nice. They have great American food and play great American music. I had mac & cheese, which was awesome.

So before this trip we recently had 2 visits to Lake Manyara National Park, which is about a 30 minute drive, and 1 to the Ngorogoro Conservation Area/Crater, which is a bit further. Although we didn't see any animals in Lake Manyara that we hadn't already seen (except storks, which there where A LOT of) it may be my favorite park so far because it is so different and beautiful. Most of it is really lush forest with lots of little springs/streams trickling down to the lake. It was a nice change from dry, dusty Kenya. We did an exercise there where we observed baboon behaviors, which was really cool but a bit overwhelming (there were A LOT of baboons...) Ngorongoro was also really cool. We saw a few lions, although they were all pretty far away, and... 2 RHINOS! That was really cool and lucky, since they're so endangered- I think the whole Serengeti has like, 20. So I have officially seen the "Big 5," (lions, leopards, elephants, buffalos, and rhinos. )

I think that about does it for tonight. Pretty soon we're going to get into our DRs, so I will let you all know when I know exactly what I'm doing for that. And I will try to do another post sooner than I have been...

Pole sana...

...for not posting in forever. But things have been pretty crazy since our expedition. Here's a brief summary of why I haven't posted in half a month:
We got back from Tsavo (which was awesome) and then had 3 assignments due in the next 2 days. Then we had exams 2 days after that. Then we had the next day to pack and move into tents so the other group could come in and take over our bandas. Then everything was chaotic and stressful until we left for Tanzania. We've just been just settling in here since.

And now I'm really tired and have to get up early. I will try to write a more elaborate post tomorrow.