We were up very early for our first game drive in Tanzania. The night, however, was very short because of the roar of a lion or many lions (hard to tell). It was made very clear to us when we checked in that under no circumstances should we walk alone to or from our tent in the dark or at dusk or dawn. We were instructed to shine our flashlights and the guards would come running, which they did.

The first thing we saw when we pulled into the park was the baobab tree that is known as the “Tree of Life.” The tree is a very important part of the habitat as it provides food, shelter and water to both animals and humans. These trees are 100’s of years old.

The next interesting thing was termite hills. I saw these in South Africa but nothing to this scale. The locals take the termite hills apart and make bricks out of them to build houses. Up to this point most of the housing has been huts made out of mud walls, bamboo, thatched roofs, etc. When I saw brick houses I wondered how the people could afford bricks. Now I know.

During the time in the park we got some great shots of elephants.

Some lions taking a nap in a tree.

But the best animal experience of my life happened off camera. We had been watching two cheetahs stalking a gazelle through the grasses. They would move up a couple of feet and then duck down into the grasses. We watched for approximately 45 minutes along with about 20 other jeeps. Our guide decided to turn around the jeep and drive away from the area because it looked like nothing was going happen. Just as we did that the cheetahs attacked and began chasing the gazelle along the field where we were driving. When they tell you that the cheetah is the fastest animal in the world you think, okay. Until you see it, you really have no idea! We were the only ones that saw this National Geographic moment and was over so fast no one could even think about a camera. The cheetahs did not get the gazelle and we have no idea why, but they ended up near the shoreline where we were parked. They began scoping out two water bucks. Below is a picture of the two cheetahs.

When they ended up here, the herd of elephants quickly moved away from the shoreline under a tree. They completely surrounded the baby elephants. The water bucks are not in this picture but the mother and the baby were in front of the tree. Our guide said that the cheetahs were waiting for the mother to walk away from the baby water buck and then they would attack. The mother started to walk away and I thought it was going to happen but she turned around and they both walked away from the danger area. A once in a life time experience.

Next up was a boxed lunch overlooking this gorgeous scenery filled with all these beautiful animals. After several more hours of game driving we returned to our hotel and had a few cocktails on this gorgeous deck before dinner.

This was the normal view from this deck that overlooked a lake.

Next up our first day of people to people interaction – what Overseas Adventure Travel is noted for.