Ye of Little Faith

I should know better by now than to doubt Tanzania. 

After a peaceful and relaxing evening at Ndutu Lodge, we set out for the vast Serengeti. Our two days in the plains were exhausting and wonderful.  The ride to get all of the way out into the serengeti from the Ngorongoro lands is a hot, dusty, bone jarring, marathon of a drive. 

On our way, we were fortunate to spend time sitting in the middle of large groups of elephants, watching them interact with one another.  There were babies and old bulls with everything in between in a group of about 30.  Just shutting down the engine and sitting right in the middle of one of these large groups is a blessing pictures cannot capture.

We completed our sighting of the “big five” (lion, leopard, black rhino, elephant, water buffalo) by catching just a glimpse of a leopard lounging high in an acacia tree.  We were doubly blessed by finding ourselves in the midst of a big portion of the great migration, which should have moved north of this region by this time of year.  Tens of thousands of wildebeest and zebras literally as far as the eye could see.  One single-file line of zebras stretched out for many miles through the long golden grasses of the plains in a scene so beautiful it felt like a dream.

 

At the end of our second day on safari everyone was tired but profoundly grateful for all we had witnessed.  I was secretly a little disappointed however, that we had not come across any Cheetah along the way.  We pulled down the vehicle roofs to close up for the long dusty drive toward the border when we saw a couple Jeeps off to the right. 

When we pulled up close to see what they were looking at we found ourselves just feet away from a gorgeous female Cheetah with three very young cubs!  We popped the roofs back up and sat with the Cheetahs as the young ones played with each other and ventured two or three feet in front of their mother to satisfy their curiosity by staring up at us!

After we finally tore ourselves away from the Cheetahs, we traveled out of the flat Serengeti and back up into the sweeping valley below the Ngorongoro range.  We stopped into a Masai Boma (village) where we were welcomed with songs and dancing and a display of vertical jumping done by the young Masai warriors.  Turns out, Masai got hops!

Click on the picture & check out that vertical!

Taken From Our Room!

Our group had yet to get a good clear view of Mount Kilimanjaro.  It is not uncommon for the mountain to remain hidden behind the clouds for weeks at a time.  As our tired gang traveled back toward our home base at the Lutheran Uhuru Hostel in Moshi, the mountain suddenly appeared in all its glory and stayed out the rest of the evening.  We piled out of the Jeeps and tried to freeze the moment in pictures but those who have been blessed to stand in front of this mountain as it reminds you how small you are in God’s good creation will tell you… you have to see it to believe it. 

Close encounter!

As for me, I was beginning to doubt that my group would see either a Cheetah or the mountain.  I was sure that our daughters were having an experience here that will last their entire lives but that experience would not likely include seeing a Cheetah in the wild or seeing the largest free standing mountain in the world. 

I was beginning to doubt… but I should know better by now.