Guest Blogger: Christie "Mama" Sumner

CIA-type investigation at kilimanjaro airport comes up empty as mama-traveller goes undercover to arusha with the u.n. envoy.  all were reunited in a tearful, ecstatic gathering, in anticipation of "things to come."  first, striking out in 4-wheel drive to tarangire to find the big game. find it we did: elephants, baboons, giraffes, zebras, thomson gazelles, smaller types, and to amazement of our guide, aaron, a lion in a tree, not generally found in tarangire. next, off to serengeti, which gave us more of the above, and many lions, both male and female, and some very sickly year old cubs, giving us a first look at natural survival.  we saw our first leapord and then a very grisly stop at three cheetahs on a wildebeest kill (another first for our guide, the wildebeest kill by cheetahs) which we watched for an hour, as they took turns feasting and resting, as the scavenger storks, vultures, etc were at bay at some distance, waiting their turn with the 'beest! pictures and video to follow. by now, we are totally engrossed in the safari experience, appreciating the experience of our guide, if not his gregariousness despite ryan's best efforts.  the landscape is different from any. the animals drawing our attention on a fairly regular basis. okay, so what about this wildebeest? look it up online, as a matter of fact the wildebeest migration should show up on youtube, and we came up right in the middle of it as we crested a hill on our way to ndutu, southern serengeti. think buffalo herds in early america.  we are utterly entranced.  the wildebeest, along with zebra, migrate in a clockwise pattern following the feed as the rainy season circles the serengeti.  we continue through the herd where we can go off road and they are all around us, making their way across the rivers.  our first "tented camp" is right "out of africa."  we have two nights there, with game drives during the day.  the second day, we are treated to another exciting event.  we have observed a couple of very lazy male lions in the dry riverbed and soon realize there are a couple of females in the grass, not far away.  we go back and forth, watching each group, when the males struggle forth and saunter toward the females who also have a kill of some sort. as the males come closer at one point about 2 feet away, one of the females strikes out at them.  they are easily cowed, and back off, at which point the female struts out her three 3-week old cubs directly in our view, about 10 feet from the jeep.  our next area is ngorongoro crater, one of the largest volcanic craters in the world and home to many animals, some of which are a first for us: flamingos and black rhinos. we get up close and personal with annie's favorites, the elephants, as well as a pool of "laughing" hippos.  our accommodation for the night is on the crater rim with a view, a long view, of the whole panorama. after 7 days of riding and game viewing from our 4-wheel, it is time to stretch out and start the walking and camping portion of this 14-day journey.