Camping

The posts are edging ever closer to describing our actual Safaris, but first let's talk about our initial camping experiences. We spent two days in the middle of the Serengeti and one day at the top of the Ngorgoro crater (the potential birthplace of humanity). We were pretty pampered with a presetup campfire, a hot breakfast and dinner that was prepared prior to our arrival and presetup tents each day. Meals were extraordinary and camping felt more like being at a hotel with a full time butler. But, we were most certainly in the wild, as the presence of hyenas, giant buffalo, bushpigs (150 lbs pigs), elephants and zebra would prove. Our nights in the Serengeti were punctuated by the antics of hyenas eating our trash, walking around our tents, and generally messing up the kitchen while we slept (or didn't sleep in my case while I listed to the whooping of the Hyenas). I didn't see it, but there was a large buffalo laying beside our fire the first night, less than 20 ft from my tent. On the second night, there was a pride of lions who wandered into our camp while we slept and drank water near the bathroom (we saw the footprints in the morning). Finally, in the Ngorogoro crater, there were zebra in our campsite and while Michelle was in the bathroom, an elephant wandered literally 5 feet behind the permanent stall. I have never felt more connected with nature, and more glad that no animals wanted the sweet smelling deodorant that might have attracted them from my bag.