Home Away from Home

After roughly 8 hours of flying from Lisbon to Arusha, we finally arrived in Africa! Even though we landed at 11pm, our dear friends came to pick us up from the airport. On my first trip to Africa in 2006, I had a wonderful safari guide named Walter. Over the years, my mom and I have gotten incredibly close with him, his wife, his son, and his two nieces. They are like family to us. After a very joyful reunion and lots of hugs at the airport, we headed to the Arusha Coffee Lodge. Unfortunately, since we were supposed to leave for the Serengeti the very next morning, we didn't get much time with them... But that didn't stop us from staying up until 3am! 

The next morning, December 30, we made our way to the Arusha airport for the one hour flight to Serengeti. In the local Maasai language, Serengeti translates to "endless plains". This UNESCO World Heritage Site protects one of the greatest and most varied collection of wildlife on earth. The Serengeti is roughly 10,000 square miles of endless plains, home to wildebeest, gazelles, zebras, lions, hyenas, leopards, cape buffalo, hippos, elephants, and much more. 

Following our landing at the airstrip in the Serengeti, we headed out on a game drive on the way to the lodge. In our 7 trips to Africa (including 6 trips to Tanzania), we had never seen a leopard. Our safari driver got a call that there was a leopard sighting, but it was very far away. He put the pedal to the metal and hot tailed his way over to the sighting. Unfortunately, we only saw the tail. On the way back from that sighting, we did see a second leopard in a nearby tree but it was very far away.

We finally saw a leopard!

We also stopped to photograph storks perched on the treetops.

Storks perched atop a tree.

Oddly enough, I spent a lot of time photographing baboons on the way back to the lodge. Surrounded by 30 or so baboons, I watched them drinking from a puddle in the road, playing, and eventually fighting. Across the world, there are five species of baboons found throughout Africa and Arabia. They can survive in different habitats ranging from tropical rainforests to the savannas and they eat various crops (which is why they're known as pests).

Baboons drinking from a puddle.

Baboons playing.

The below baboon photograph is my favorite from the day.

Baboon fighting with the others.

The lodge we're staying at has a wonderful waterhole where elephants, ele's as I say, come to visit. As a photographer, I am constantly looking for new perspectives and chose to use the natural framing of the adult elephant to serve as a frame for the baby elephant.  Fun fact: elephants can consume up to 50-60 gallons of water and can eat up to 600 pounds of vegetation per day.

Elephants as seen from the hotel water hole.

The below elephant was begging for a photograph as it was posing!

Elephant at the hotel water hole.

Enjoying a dip at the watering hole during the heat of the day.

From our balcony, I was also treated to smaller sights such as this agama lizard.  People also refer to them as Spiderman, due to the below stance!

Agama lizard from the hotel balcony.

Below is a quick shot of the view from our balcony....

And from the bathroom....

View of the Serengeti

And from the pool area during sunset...

Thanks for reading about my African adventures... Stay tuned for what's to come and be sure to hit the subscribe button to be notified of new posts! As always, follow my instagram @elissatitle for more pics.