Lots of firsts!

Alarms went off at 5am, and though I tried to insist that my alarm most certainly was not going off Taylor made us get up. Good thing she's the boss! This is what we did before breakfast:

Good morning nyalas!

White Rhinoceros (which sounds like "why tyrannosaurus" when our guide Ammon points them out)

Wildebeest!

Zebras and wildebeests are apparently besties. Zebras have great eyesight, the wildebeests have fantastic senses of smell and hearing. Also, the wildebeests graze on tall grasses, and the zebras like short grasses. Symbiosis, baby:

My favorite moment thus far of this vacation: Coming around a corner in our truck and hearing Taylor's gasp as she was the first to spot the giraffe's head poking out above this acacia tree:

Then we went big game hunting - the buffalo would not elude us! We finally found a group of them with a couple of babies. Apparently of the Big 5 the water buffalo are considered the most dangerous as they are rather aggressive. I think the Seahawks ought to draft this guy to protect Danger Russ next year - look at that helmet!

This little guy is only a couple of weeks old but he knows how to get business done:

Silly photo taken in between safaris by our new friend Tim from San Diego. Damn, that hat looks good.

We saw a lot more of the same on the afternoon safari. Kudus, nyalas, giraffes, impalas, warthogs, pythons, insects. We had some mid-evening excitement when the leopard was spotted (apparently no reserve owns the leopards and this is the first time they have been back here in months). We stared at a thicket for ages before our guide decided to move along. We ended up at a watering hole at dusk where we saw hippos, white rhinos (t-rexes) and the ELEPHANTS!!!!! 

So then Amon (our guide) asked me if I wanted to see them closer. Of course I said yes. This photo looks innocuous, wait until we have enough internet bandwidth to upload the video Taylor took.....

We ended the drive looking for a cheetah, until there was an emergency call from the reserve regarding our luggage (quite confusing) so we all got an African massage (aka hauled ass on a bumpy dirt track in the bush). Apparently some other guest accidentally dumped his suitcase in Wimpy's trunk and didn't notice for hours and hours. I have no idea how this makes sense.

See y'all tomorrow! Today was indeed the best day ever :)

--Trish

PS - BIG news to come! We have an early morning ahead of us, but we'll fill y'all in tomorrow ;) 

--Taylor