Into the wilds of Tanzania

It is difficult to put into words the beauty of the landscape or the magnitude of the things we witnessed and experienced, but I will do my best. We were very fortunate to see the animals up close and our guide noted on several occasions how lucky we were, in particular with big cats. We re-framed our mugging to an offering for the experience we had. :)
Our trip was six days- Tarangire, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, Lake Eyasi, and two days in the bush.
Some highlights were seeing over 12 lions, including three males. It is pretty unusual to see male lions at all. And not only did we see three, but we saw one mate with a female, one eating recent kill, and we saw two lion hunts... they are very organized. And it is only the females who hunt, but the males who eat first. They lie very still in the grass and during one hunt a family of wart hogs and three zebra went happily trotting towards the lions, oblivious, suddenly the lead warthog stopped dead in his tracks, tail went 90 degrees, and then screamed. They then ran towards our jeep with the lion in hot pursuit. However, I don't think she was very hungry b/c she quickly gave up and none of the other lions joined her. However, there were three hyena and a jackal nearby who were very interested and looked very hopeful (popping their heads up to watch hunt from their low profiles in the grass). When one hyena realized it wasn't going to make a meal from the lions, s/he started his/ her own hunt of wildabeast- chasing them around looking for a weak, sick, or young one, but with no success. They are not as powerful hunters as lions and hunt alone.
Later, the same day, we observed another lion hunt- and this was truly incredible- three females suddenly stood up from their low crouch in the grass and startegically aligned themselves, aiming towards zebras. And as they did so, they passed directly in front of our Land Cruiser- like we weren't even there! I could have reached down and touched her... the guides kept saying, "I don't believe this!"- they are truly magnificent animals... amber colored eyes, huge paws, and gorgeous markings- quarter sized white spots on their stomachs overlaying golden fur. And sleek runners- we saw them charge the zebras, isolate one, but not bring it down- as the zebras were running away, they ran towards the other lions, who were ready, but the male lion blew their cover by standing up... maybe checking out the scene. The zebras gave out loud distress cries to each other (sound like donkeys) as they signaled the lions' locations to one another... and they kept their eyes on the lions long after this experience. Some warthogs got trapped at one point as well, again running around with their tails at 90 degrees. It was interesting to watch the lions return to their pride as well- one at a time, allowing a wide girth, facing the male head on, and then flopping down with the other females to wrestle and play. It was fun to watch these threatening hunters suddenly snuggle, cuddle, and roll around on their backs in the sun. A jackal kept trying to steal a bit of last nights kill, but the male lion would growl and spit and kept the jackal at bay. Several hyenas were hanging about as well.
We were also lucky enough to see a Serval, a spectacularly gorgeous cat with markings of orange and black spots similar to a Cheetah, but smaller and with more elaborate black markings on its ears and face. It is unusual to see one during the day, as they are nocturnal. And we saw a leopard, also a rare event. They are huge animals and spend most of their time in trees and drag their kill, even animals as large as antelopes, up to the branches of trees, so as not to share with other animals. It also had amber colored eyes and an infinate amount of lovely yellow and black spots.
Other highlights included hippos- male hippos fighting- they are really social and territorial, giraffe, dik diks, love birds, bats, flamingos, white pelicans, pink pelicans, hornbills, hammercocks, numerous eagles and bustards, bushbabies (cutest little guys ever), monkeys, baboons, and elephants. We were lucky enough to get close to a family of elephants... including a little baby who gave itself a dust bath right by our car- so close, I got dust in my eyes, and so did the baby, as it used its little trunk to rub dust out of its eye. We watched them feed for awhile and then the male decided we were too close, raised his trunk, trumpeted, and charged at our Land Cruiser! I thought, "This is it," as the elephant made our huge car look like a lego. However, he just wanted to tell us that it was time to go, as he didn't actually roll us over. I learned that trumpeting is mostly to communicate with other animals, as they communicate with each other through ultrasonic sounds in their stomachs!
The primates, such as Vervet Monkeys and Blue Monkeys and Baboons were really facinating to watch- intricate social structures. At one point, a family of baboons was feeding, and then three males started racing around and screaming and shaking some bushes, and out comes a terrified rabbit, racing towards the hills, with the dominant male screaming behind it, shaking a fist. Then, everyone went back to eating. The babies were really cute- carried on their mothers' backs or stomachs and with ginormous pink ears.
I was using the bathroom on the way out of one of the national parks and turned around and there was a Vervet Monkey staring at me through the window, and opened the door and there were two in the bathroom, drinking from the sink. They were scared of me, I was scared of them, and none of us felt safe to leave the bathroom with the other in the way- I had to call for Mike to come help me- he managed to scare them away from the door, into another bathroom stall, so I could race out.
Many times on our safari I thought of zoos and the stark contrast between these animals- vibrant, active, ever in motion with those behind bars- listless, pacing, uninterested, and am so glad for those that have their freedom.