Hamsters' Honeymoon in Africa!

Hellooooo, Hive!  Ahem, I mean - Roooooarrrr!

I've been away from the 'Bee for a few weeks, and I sure missed you all!  Mr. Hamster and I just returned from our fantabulous honeymoon in beautiful Kenya and Tanzania, and I'm so excited to share some tidbits with you!  We spent 10 days camping under the stars in the Serengeti, the Masai Mara, and at the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. It was a far cry from the hustle and bustle of NYC, I'll tell you that!  But where else can you have lions, hyenas, zebras, buffalo and elephants wandering outside your tent at night? I kid you not!  Here are just a few things we saw:

We first stopped at Lake Nakuru, where tons of flamingos and other birds congregated:

See that mass of pink in the background? That's thousands of flamingos!  We've got some stork in the foreground.

We were super lucky to see the critically endangered black rhino - estimated to have dwindled to 700 in the world due to poaching:

We also saw numerous baboons:

...tons of buffalo (they look docile, but when they are grazing behind your tent at midnight, it's a bit unnerving!)

...giraffes galore:

and that was just Day 1!  We then headed to the Masai Mara - where we saw even more wildlife!

The cheetahs were breathtaking:

and the lions were magnificent!

Additionally, Mr. Hamster and I woke up at 4:30am one morning for a hot air balloon ride to get a bird's eye view of the Masai Mara, and it was so fun!

Of course, breakfast on the open savannah afterward (with hyenas watching from afar for table scraps) was unforgettable - with an environment like this, even plain toast tastes delicious!

We then continued onto the Serengeti, where this wildlife feast (for the eyes) continued, where we saw several elephant families, such as this mother and baby:

who made my hold my breath in nervousness as they later walked by an interested group of young male lions:

and hungry hungry hippos:

...warthogs (or Pumbaas, as I found out they are actually called - yes, Lion King was correct!)

...and hyenas - they really do sound like they are laughing!  They would forage our campsite every night for food scraps.

We timed our trip to coincide with the annual wildebeest migration - there were wildebeest EVERYWHERE!

We saw two bull elephants fighting, which was exhilarating as they were about 30 feet away and much bigger than our jeep!  I got some video of it here:

One tried to make-up, but the other wasn't having it:

I also unwittingly took some video of ostriches like these:

um, mating.  It certainly didn't look like how I'd imagine ostrich mating to be (not that I had given it much thought) - it looked quite graceful!  Anyhoo, sorry ostriches. I feel all bird-voyeur now.

We also saw the circle of life in action, as these buzzards dined on a wildebeest carcass:

and a tense scene where this lioness:

was hunting this warthog family, hiding in the bush:

And then we were in for a real treat - we found the elusive leopard, thus completing our search for the Big 5 (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, rhino).  Notoriously shy, leopards are by far the most difficult of the animals to find, but he was just breathtaking:

Our trip then felt complete - we had found the Big 5, and everything else that would come was a bonus.  Of course, we still had Ngorongoro to discover, and as one of the natural wonders of the world, it wouldn't disappoint!  Still, we were heading back to camp after a long day of game driving, when we saw what would become the highlight of our trip:

These lion cubs were just the tiniest, most entertaining little guys! I got some video of them as well - one passed right by our car.  Under the watchful and protective eye of their lioness mama, they were in good paws.

Our last stop was Ngorongoro Crater, a UNESCO World Heritage site.  With its reputation as a protective oasis for its animal inhabitants, the animals we saw here were larger, older, and seemingly less fearful of predators.  We saw HUGE elephants:

old and regal male lions:

even the zebras looked more dignified:

and more lions than we knew what to do with!

I admit, camping for 8+ days wasn't the most luxurious or conventional honeymoon - at one camp, our bath setup was quite intriguing:

Those are the showers on the left, the water tank on the right, and the fire in the middle to warm the water.  At least we had hot showers!

But camping allowed us to have views like this:

 

sunsets over the camp like so:

sunrises like this to wake up to:

and action like THIS:

AHEM.  I'm talking to the right of Mr. Hamster, what were you thinking?  That's a zebra tail in a tree - one night a baby zebra wandered into camp.  Four lions wandered in after it and had a little meal.

And I wouldn't say we suffered too much in the food department either (no zebra though, phew):

Mmm.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I took all of the photos in this post!  Mr. Hamster got this shot of me in action:

Our honeymoon safari in Kenya and Tanzania was definitely a trip of a lifetime.  Mr. Hamster, who doesn't even like vacations (and this is the man I married! Bah!), proclaimed it the best trip he's ever taken - by far.  Camping and "roughing it" was definitely new to us, but we enjoyed every second of it.  It was so difficult to return to the confines of a cubicle afterward! This trip may not be for everyone (if you need a mirror and hot showers every morning, camping in the Serengeti might not work for you), but if you're up for it, you will have an unforgettable experience. 

Up next - my farewell! (Sob!)

Where are you honeymooning?