Back to the future....

Our fourth and final safari day started with an early breakfast at the lodge, then we were off again on the hunt for the rhino, our final animal we had to see.  Ema had warned us that it was a difficult find, and even he looked a little tense that morning as we set out on our search.

Retracing our steps...

Day three of our safari adventure, May 28, dawned cloudy and cold.  We could see that clearing would come once the sun was fully up, and we continued our adventure in high spirits, hoping this would be the day we would complete our list of animals we most wanted to see.

Among other animals, we were hoping to view all of the Big Five: elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, and leopard.  These animals were originally chosen for their difficulty to hunt, and the quest continues today as people on safari continue the tradition, primarily for photographs.  While lion, buffalo and elephant are plentiful and easily seen, the leopard and black rhino are very difficult to spot, and we were not at all assured of a sighting.

"Long journey" -the phamly on safari...

The term safari means "long journey" in Swahili, and that is a good word for our extended search for animals on the African Serengeti Plain and Ngorongoro Crater.  It was an amazing, thrilling, once in a lifetime four days for me.  I left behind the cares of the world and enjoyed a mental vacation from reality unlike anything I've ever experienced before.  I had no internet access to speak of, and I was too exhausted each day to write a blog post, anyway.  So I will catch up now in a series of posts for each of the four days.

Saturday, May 26:  Our guide for the safari, Ema, picked us up in his safari truck at 8 a.m. to set out for Olduvai Gorge and the Serengeti Plain.  After a stop for a couple boxes of water, and an interesting short cut around the rush hour traffic (we quickly learned short cuts were one of Ema's many talents!) we were on our way.  Frankly, the road to Ngorongoro Park was better than a few I've traveled in the vicinity of my house, which was the first of many surprises in this adventure.