Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Safari

Ok- let's lighten things up a bit and do the safari pics! We had the awesome priviledge of going on an African safari!! I just looked at Kelly several times that day and said We are on a safari in Africa!! How cool is that??We took 3 cars to go on the safari. REALLY needed 4 but 3 is what we got! So Jeff, the kids and I piled into a car with Kelly and her kids and a driver. In case you lost count, that is 9 people!!! And I'm no fool, I played up the car-sickness thing real well all week so I could ride up front!!:)ok I'm kidding- I REALLY do get car sick and I hate it!! It makes me feel so weak! I'm not a fan of feeling weak! But sweet Kelly and sweet Jeff let me ride up there while they were squished in the back with 2 or 3 kids!:) thank you!! Ok so anyway- we drive for about 2 hours on paved roads, dirt roads, winding roads, hills, bridges etc. I thanked the Lord several times for sparing me of the sickness o' the car. I actually couldn't believe it- I just knew I'd be tossing my cookies all the way there and back. Ok seriously on to the safari...
Our driver did not say ONE word from the time he picked us up (around 5 am) until he dropped us off that night- SO, not so much explaining going on or hints at what we may or may not see. Sometimes we would stop and clearly there was some amazing animal for us to see but we wouldn't be able to find it or know what to look for anyway. But the car in front of us would stop so we stopped. About 5 minutes into the safari we came right up to these....
well hello there

aren't you just the cutest thing ever?

And these..
just beautiful!

 And then some more winding hills and bumpy unpaved roads and we happen upon.....

The scenery was amazing! It was kind of a surreal feeling- really our family is on a safari?? VERY cool!
Doesn't that look SO Africa? There was some definite Toto being sung in the car!

LOVE him!! And so thankful that he led our family here!

Beautiful girl!

Love these kids!  
AND sweet friends!

Precious family- can't wait to be with ALL of them next time!

Notice the baboon in the background!

Love this picture of Kelly pointing out the many animals we could see at once!
Very cool cactusy-tree thing  Regular trunk and leaves but then dead looking cactusy limbs- anyone know what this is called?? I thought it was a dead cactus in a tree at first but then we saw several in Kigali like it too!
Yeah I'm just hanging out right by you if that's cool with you

And this is where we got out to use the restroom- um I don't think so
Sweet little monkey! both Grami and Chandler's friend Allison both asked us to bring a monkey back with us for them! Sorry- this is as close as we could get!!
Cool pattern on this giraffe!
Very beautiful! I thought this was a cave in the side of the hill so I took a picture- then we noticed 2 water buffalo just standing up there. They were so still, we thought they were fake!!:)




The car behind us!


Hippo!!


There were 8 of them just feet away from where we stopped for our picnic lunch!


Sweet little nursing deer type thing. I am obviously great at identifying animals- maybe Jeff should have done this post!


Crocodiles!! this is at our picnic spot too--- got a little too close for comfort a few times!

And those are the highlights of the safari! Didn't see lions or elephants which we were kinda bummed about. But then can you really be bummed after all that??

6 comments:

  1. Those pics are amazing! I'm a little scared of that baboon attacking you! :) Not so close next time!

    What a chance of a lifetime! So glad y'all got to do that!

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  2. So cool!!! And, I'm with Heather. A little distance next time please!

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  3. It really was the zoom lens (that we bought specifically for little man and Mccuiston baby!) But yeah probably still could've been a bad day!

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  4. Love these pics!! What an adventure!

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  5. What? My comment didn't work the other day? Take two.

    I LOVE seeing the safari and the adventure this was for your sweet family! I can't wait to be doing the same thing soon with our girls! It is stinkin' crazy that you are just feet away from such beautiful animals...they are so amazing and they LIVE there! I know that sounds so silly, but every time I see a safari I'm amazed at how close we can come to them in their natural habitat...without zoo bars!

    Thank you for all your wonderful posts about the trip. I get excited every time a new one is up!! Keep 'em coming!!

    Love you guys!

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  6. So amazing! God is so creative - love seeing how uniquely he made these animals. Corey & I went on a mini-safari type thing in Kenya many years ago & our driver also said very little - his only comment when we asked about what any deer-type animal was, "gazelle". Pretty sure they weren't all gazelles, but that was what we got! Whatever all these animals are, they are incredible!

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