Lions, Giraffes, Hippos oh my!

Hello all!

I'm not gonna do a long post because I have things to do in town, but I will lot you know about our trip to Ruaha National Park! We were there for two nights. We saw giraffes, hippos, elephants, kudu, mongooses, and even LIONS! In one day we saw a total of 19 lions! Our first sighting was of a pride of 10 lions out with some elephants who went to lay down under a tree. Later on our evening game drive (around sunset) we found a group of nine- 4 females and 5 cubs. Boy were the little cubs cute! Eli took our car off rode and drove right up. One of the mamas was about 10 feet from my window. Insane! We're all safe. No worries :)

The first morning there I woke up in my banda to the sound of hippos outside. It was right on the river where a lot are. In the morning they were returning to the river after a night of feasting. What a cool alarm clock that was! I sat on our front porch and watched a beautiful sunrise. I looked across the Great Ruaha River and saw a mother and baby hippo on the grass.

The next morning we had a game drive at 6:30 mainly devoted to birds. It was darker than normal. Hippos are out of the water when the sun is not out. Hippos walk around our bandas at night (Maasai men escort us back after dinner). Therefore this morning was slightly dangerous to be venturing out up to the main dining area. As me and Hannah are walking we see Lisa and Angie (Chaplain and nurse) drive in a car near us and tell us to hop in. They were driving trying to pick up walkers knowing it's more dangerous. We continue driving looking for people. Suddenly we see 5 of the girls booking it for our car. They all cram in to the middle seat breathing quickly. We learn that they were running from a hippo. It came in front of them (about 10 feet from Torie in front) across the path. Let me remind you that hippos are VERY dangerous animals. So they just ran. Luckily it scared the hippo a bit and they made it safely. Glad we were there at the right time! After the adrenaline wore off they could laugh about it.

Well I think that's all I'll share for now. This weekend we have our town homestay so look forward to hearing about that! Love and miss you all!