SAFARI!

---

Hi guys
Sorry its been ages since i updated but its been a really busy few weeks on the big yellow truck for us so im going to try to sum it all up 😊

We managed to survive our stop over in Ethiopia for the night! Lived it up in the Hilton room service etc very nice! (thanks dad 😊 !) Even though in the morning we had some strange man come and knock on our door! We managed to survive the 2nd flight onward to Nairobi too, and even better so did our luggage! We didnt see it for the night we were in Ethiopia but it turned up in Nairobi fine thank God!

Our actual Safari started on Monday 16th March. We were picked up by a massive yellow truck called Tokoloshe! All together there was about 24 of us and me and luce turned out to be basically the youngest- also i better mention how overpowered by aussies we were for the majority of our trip only about 6 brits most of the time! We were on the truck for a long drive for the first day- drove from Nairobi into a campsite in Tanzania and set up our tents about 7ish (this was going to become a very regular routine- me and luce could put that tent up with our eyes closed now! (getting it down to fit in teh bag is a completely different problem!))

We spent the first 2 days of safari in the SERENGETI!!! It was amazing. We all had our own jeeps with about 8 of us on drive us through the planes all day. Saw soo many animals elephants, giraffs, lions. We even had a leopard come and walk up between our jeep and the jeep infront! Saw some cheetas and cheetah cubs too 😊 On the first night teh sun was just begining to set and we had a call about a leopard citing so we hurried over and managed to see a leopard dissapear into the long grass. We then got stuck in the mud. Badly. We were stuck for about 45mins in total everyone else sat in their jeeps and laughed or drove off whilst our jeep was stuck in teh middle of the serengeti, the sun was setting and we had leopard and hyena nearby! Despite this us girls still all had to get out and push. We got very muddy but eventually got out! By this time it was officially dark we were by ourselves and a biig storm was approching. Again somehow our driving (driving like an idiot) managed to get us stuck. so again all us gals were out in the dark shovelling and pushing the jeep out of the mud! We were tired when we got back to camp to say the least! The stars were amazing that night- you coul see literally the WHOLE of the milky way they were all so bright it looked really fake!

Quite freaky when your lying in a tent in the middle of the serengeti and you can hear hyenas and elephants in the middle of the night! The next morning was an early one, up driving whilst the sun rose and back on the trail again for some animals! We found an elephant roaming EXTREMELY close to our campsite- that would explain the noises! Today was more of the same saw soo many zebra- the more you look teh more you realise how un camoflarged they really are- apparently their coats are to create an optical illusion to predators so they cant decifer one from another. Managed to see a lioness and her c ubs up close today, very cute but very lazy! The next night we camped at the Ngororngoro crator. Again scary stuff- all gathered round the camp fire sharing stories and hear some weird noises and its PITCH black. Turns out we have some wild boar type things roaming through the campsite going into peoples tents! Another slightly sleepless night- when its so quiet around you can hear a LOT of noises! The next day we spent at the crator itself- its MASSIVE!. Saw a lot more animals- this time the landscape was just a massive flat plane which went on for what seemed liek ever. It was broken up in the middle with a big lake which was just bright pink there were soo many flamingos in it! We then managed ti get up close to a lake full of hippos - they were massive! quite sinister too with just their eyes sticking out of the water!. Our jeep chose to brake down at that moment. So the guy had to get out and jumpstart! Just kept getting more and more exciting. After the hippos we were lucky enough to stumble across 2 black Rhinos which are very rare!- a mother and child. Obv they are dangerous so we had to keep our distance but was still amazing to see! Again our truck chose this moment to break down. We then saw a third rhino not that far from us. This time we were all holding our breath as our guide had to get out and jumpstart the engine AGAIN! Not the best idea when your less than 100m away from a Rhino looking like its about to charge! Still a good experience. We got lucky again in teh afternoon when we found 2 male lions walking along the track! For a while we drove alongside them so close one guy managed to touch the lions tail! Was amazing to be so close to them, eventually they stopped walking and lay around and did nothing for a bit. Was such a good few days of wildlife! We then headed back to camp and back to our big trusty yellow truck!.

---