sunday funday

Today we went to the game park (that is what they call safari type things here)! When we first got there it turns out that we had to call ahead of time, which the group that organized this forgot to do, but they were able to work it out that we could do a 1.5 hour tour of the grounds in our bus...so all was forgiven ;) I think a lot of us went in without expectations just because we knew it was something that was organized really quickly and they threw a tour guide in our bus (by the way his name was Anyways - the names here are great). Haha. Fun fact: These photos were taken without the zoom...we were actually that close! 

Here is Mari and I on the main grounds of the place.

We started off the "safari" seeing the lions (one of my favorites...you can ask my old roommate Brooke- one night we spent 2 hours looking at lion videos last year...mainly at this one ) They were in cages which was kind of a downer, but cute none the less! 

Me and my new friend. 

The ellies (my new favorite nickname for elephants) 

And yes, that is me touching an elephant...what?! The thing was HUGE...he looks really calm in this picture, but that trunk was uncontrollable. Haha. That and the fact that the guide told us not to make eye contact made all of us just a tad hesitant to give his tusk a big hug ;)

And this is the adorable lady giraffe that was right at our bus...the guide put down food so she would bend down to eat it. Isn't that hilarious? They don't bend their knees, they just look like Bambi on ice when they eat :) 

Then we got out of the car and walked to see the rhinos. We were all on this huge rock and they came right up to us from about 200 yards away...a few people even touched them!

And lastly, these are the buffalo (the most dangerous animals there). Interesting story is this elephant was brought to the park when she was 2 years old and was the only elephant, so she started hanging out with the buffalo. Well, 40 years later she hasn't stopped...she thinks she is a buffalo! It's the cutest thing...she has seen the other elephants before and doesn't associate with them...because duh, she's a buffalo ;)

The safari far exceeded any of our expectations and we ended up having a great time! I can't believe I am only here for a few more days...I don't want to leave!