My safari was incredible!!!!! I can't describe in words what it was like so I will describe in pictures! 

Enjoy!! 

On the way to our lodging as we drove towards Ngorongoro Crater (3 hr drive), we stopped at a Masai village. They were so friendly, so happy, and they greeted us with a traditional dance and made us join. Right when I got there they put that big necklace around my head and had us jump up and down with them (apparently how they dance?) as they sang some song in their language. The Masai tribes are the ones who have the HUGE holes in their ears as earrings dangle from it. A lot of times they've been referred to as "bushman." Afterwards they sold all their jewelry to us, in which I bought a couple things because you kind of have to as "thanks" for allowing us into their village. It was a really interesting experience!! 

Right as we were entering the Ngorongoro Crater National Park, in the front parking lot where the gate is there were dozens of baboons!! Look at this cute baby and her mother! 

I got so close to them!! After being close for too long though I got too comfortable with it, and one time I got too close to one of them. The baboon started chasing me and kind of yelling at me. I screamed and ran away while the rest of the people in the parking lot laughed. The monkey wasn't actually attacking me - just scaring me off. It worked. 

Right after we passed the gate about 100 meters down this elephant was right off the side of the road!! Sad story goes with this though. On our way back from the crater we passed the same spot and there was a group of ranger-type people grouped over here. When we drove up we saw this elephant laying on her side with her eyes open but not moving right in this bush area. She was apparently really sick. The vet apparently tried to fix it, but later on in the night found out that she passed away. She was very old - about 60 years old. You can actually tell by how sunken in her cranium is and how brown her tusks are that she was old, sick, and ready to pass away. It's the circle of life. 

This group of lions were lying RIGHT off the side of the road! Amazing creatures. Out of all the animals I saw today - even the monkeys - these were my favorite. You can see their sense of pride and authority. It's so incredible to see these kinds of animals in their natural habitat.

If you can see it, there are spots on his leg still. That means he's still young. They fade as the lion gets older. This is a male teenager. 

Amazing birds with zebras and wildabeasts on the ground. 

Apparently it is very rare to see rhinos!! We got lucky today! (they were pretty far away though so this was the best I could do)

Zebras!! I love how the stripes mess with your eyes. They look exactly like donkeys, just with incredible designs on them.

Saw A LOT of zebras. Also blocking the road half the time so I got a lot of close ups. 

See his spots still on his belly? A little older, but still not all the way there. 20's maybe.  He's probably my age :)  He's actually looking up at a plane here but it made for a great picture! 

He was right off the road

These are the girls from my group at CCS! On the left is Jessica and the right is Kayleigh. Both really great girls!! 

 Very convincing sign. 

Ngorongoro crater. It was a volcano before, erupted, and the caved in on itself (or something) and created this amazing crater. Very diverse landscape, all with plenty of water and great habitats for most of these animals. That's why so many safaris are done here. All the best animals in one place!

They wanted me to do a thoughtful looking into the distance picture. I hate those. That would be my facial expression describing those thoughts. But great background, huh?! This is from a different viewing point. Notice how the clouds reflect off the lake on the far side of it. 

As we were walking outside our lodging area to see the sunset, we ran into these kids and tried talking to them for a little bit. They lived in a village right next to the lodging. Extremely poor, as you can see. They were so adorable. It is heartbreaking to see children in this state though. Again, if only there was something I could do. 

DAY 2 - Lake Manyara. These are our tour guides the whole trip. Extremely knowledgeable in just about anything to do with animals and really great guys. 

Here you go Trent! This is the best I can do. I will not bring them home in vials, but I will take pictures of them. It crawled around like an ant, and there were multiple. Tell me all about them in a comment. I'd love to hear it. 

As I was joking around with the driver, telling him he looks tired maybe I should drive, he says "ok" and gives me the keys!! Haha he knew I was joking but he said he'd let me try it.  So yes, I drove a safari jeep, on the wrong side of the road, wrong side of the car, stick shift, in an African wildlife park full of wild animals. Sweet, huh??!! I did an amazing job by the way - all 5 mph I was going. And no, no wild animals attacked us. I'm sure the tour guide knew that. I think the closest thing to us were some zebras. 

DUMBO!!!

This family of elephants - right next to our car!!

This biiig mama elephant walked RIGHT next to our jeep. See the railing? I could have reached out and touched her.

Baobab tree!! I love these trees so much! 

It's not a toucan but something like it! 

Look how small this little baby baboon is!! Mommy and Daddy are right there too. 

Can't remember the name of the species but here's another monkey!!!! 

Giraffe!! 

Here is our jeep with the other girls!! This was the most amazing trip I've ever been on!!!