Safari

Our power has been terrible. Out every weekend both Saturday and Sunday as well as several days during the week. This means I haven't been able to be on the internet long enough to post any pictures. So finally, here they are!

About to enter the park bright and early. We left our place at 5 am and were at the park by 6 am.

Thus we got to watch the beautiful sunrise as we entered the park.

On the lookout for animals. It was quite cold I must say. Anna was in charge of one side and I the other.

Silas took a turn as well to see what he could find.

Our first animal spotting was Anna's favorite. Giraffes. She said her day was good enough now that she had seen giraffes. Thankfully we got to see much more though.

This just strikes me as funny. A giraffe walking down the road. The city is so close to the park. I would never want to live in one of the apartments/houses overlooking the park.

Enjoying breakfast as we continued to look for other animals.

Though the boys enjoyed the day, they did get bored of driving around looking for animals especially since they were tired to begin with. So we made them a little tent where they could watch the ipod or play a ds in between looking at the animals. Yes, I realize this seems crazy but it allowed the adults, who were giddy like school kids, enjoy their day.

I love zebras. Fell in love on our safari two years ago. They are simply mesmerizing. Incredibly fascinating. So beautiful. I could stare at them all day.

Me and my zebra loving boy.

Like I said, I like zebras.

We also enjoyed being tauregs (a people group in the north of Mali) as we looked for animals.


At one point we were able to get out and walk a path to look for crocodile and hippos. We saw no hippos as there hadn't been enough rain but we did see a crocodile laying out in the river bed. This was Silas' response.

I love Kenan. There is no one like him but the boy moves at his own pace which is slow or slower. This is how it usually looks whenever we go anywhere. I said that if we were a family of zebras, he'd be the one who lagged behind and got eaten by lions. Thankfully we aren't zebras.

Our guide with our guide from last time whom we saw as we were doing the walking part (the military guy led us with his gun through the walking area). We joked with our old guide that he was lucky since we had seen lions with him last time but hadn't this time. He said now we would have good luck which we needed since Anna had told us she wanted to see a lion eating a zebra. This was after her initial being satisfied with just a giraffe wore off. Then she dreamed big. I assured her that her request was one in a million and that she just needed to drop that dream. We'd be lucky just to see a lion.

Once we were done with the walking part, we heard that there were actually lions out so we headed to where they were.
We first saw a lion in a bush which actually scared us all as you think there is nothing there and then realize a lion is only a few feet from you.

We kept driving and saw more lions around. This one was clearing the area of birds. She just casually walked in that direction and all the birds knew to leave. Quite interesting to watch.

Silas in his lion shirt looking at the lions under the tree.

Amazingly Anna got her wish. A group of lions were eating a zebra! Now we didn't see the catch, but getting to watch nature up close was fascinating. At least for the adults. The kids were not too happy to hear a zebra had lost its life. And you could totally see it was a zebra. No denying those black and white stripes.

Vultures up above waiting for whatever would be left though it didn't seem like much would be.

Their eyes are simply piercing as if they see right into you. It was kind of scary to look them in the eye not knowing if they would for some crazy reason decide to pounce.

The Lord truly blessed our day. I had no idea that we could have a better time than our trip before but we did. It was so great. Can't wait to do it again. Next time, I want to take a zebra home with me. :)