Safari Adventures, Part I

When we were making plans for this trip, I knew that the safari portion would be very cool, but I wasn't expecting to fall in love with it.  Since we've started with our game drives, I can't get enough of the animals and eagerly look forward to every time we venture out to look for them.

On Friday, we arrived at the Ngala Tented Camp, which my friend Nina would tell you is not like camping in a tent at all, and she's right.  We were most definitely "glamping" while we were there, and I loved every minute of it.  I think all those years of Girl Scout Camp has made my interest in sleeping on the ground lessen considerably.

Sure beats sleeping on the ground.

That bathtub was amazing.

One of the coolest things about Ngala was that there were some animals who lived on the property.  You had to be careful when walking around them, but it was amazing to be so close to them.  I took the picture below from right inside our doorway of a warthog who liked to roam the campground to look for food.

Our first afternoon at Ngala we went out on a game drive right at 4:30.  We were out for about four hours and it was incredible.  Some things we got to see during our stay included zebras, a singl male lion who lost his pride, giraffes, and a leopard with her two baby cubs. We even got to see a pride of lions at night!  They walked within ten feet of our Jeep.  It was out of this world.  Sadly, none of the pictures from that came out very well, but the ones below did.

Riding in the Jeeps with us was another couple from California and a father with his daughter from Germany.  Our guide, Derrick, and his tracker, Jonas, took us around to see all the different animals.  They made an amazing team and definitely didn't disappoint.

Each morning, we'd get a wake up knock on our door at 5.  One of the staff members brought us coffee and tea to drink while we got ready for our early morning game drive.  We then left at 5:30 and were out until about 9.  Then it was breakfast from whenever you got back to whenever you were done, lunch from about 1 to 2:30, tea at 4, evening game drive at 4:30, and dinner whenever you got back, so around 8:30.  I felt like I was back at sleep away camp with a daily schedule, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

On our way out on a game drive.

I loved staying at Ngala, even if the monkeys that hung around camp were super annoying.  Those cheeky monkeys stole bread right off our table during lunch on our first day there!  And then they proceeded to run across our tented roof nonstop while we were taking a nap.  I really do not like monkeys anymore.  Except for Plepleus.  He's cool.

Up next, I'll talk about the lodge where we are currently staying.  It's out of this world.