SAFARI!

I spent the last 4 days on an incredible Safari on Kiboko Safaris in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia. The group I went with ended up being 14 people from the United States, most of them from New England, some of whom attended Hebron Academy or Bates College, both in Maine. This coincidence just goes to show how small the world is and what crazy coincidences happen! These guys were a blast, and made my trip so much more fun!! Over the course of our trip, we went on 4 different Safari Excursions in open air jeeps. Each time I saw something more incredible than the last!!

Thursday - We left Lilongwe, left Malawi, and entered Zambia, heading for the National Park.

Friday - After sleeping in a tent, I was woken up at 3am by a full grown and very hungry hippo, snacking on some grass right outside my tent window. There was only the screened in windows of my tent and less than 5 feet between myself and the hippo. It was absolutely incredible. Then we went on an early morning safari... we saw elephants, hippos, giraffes, lions, and many other animals. We came back to camp for some rest and relaxation around the pool and in the sun. Then we went on an evening safari.. where we saw lions mating and hunting a hippo, a buffalo, and other animals.

Saturday - We did two more safaris: an early morning and an evening, again. In the morning we saw two adult male giraffes fighting each other, an amazing sight. Also, we saw a mother and baby elephant about 10 feet away from our jeep. The baby elephant was playing around and charging back and forth at our jeep, warning us that he was protecting his mother. During the night safari we spotted a leopard and a couple of incredibly large porcupines.

Sunday - 4 fully grown elephants and 1 baby elephant woke me up by munching on the grass and the trees surrounding my tent. There has never been a more interesting alarm clock than these massive animals 5 feet outside your window. We got up early, packed our things, and headed back into Lilongwe! P.S. For anyone who is concerned, I took over 500 photos while on Safari! There are tons of pictures to be seen of all the amazing animals I saw!

If any of you ever gets the chance to go on a Safari, DO IT. Absolutely it is an incredible experience I would recommend to everyone and anyone who is traveling in an area with these types of animals. It is an experience like no other!

This week I will be working at the hospital Monday through Thursday. I'll be in surgery with Jenn, teaching a presentation to the nursing students about burn contractures, and doing some more burn prevention education in the primary schools at the orphanages. Friday I leave Lilongwe and Saturday morning I arrive in New York City. I cannot believe that my time in Malawi is almost over! Time has absolutely flown by! I'm going to treasure every moment of the upcoming week and savor the rest of my adventure!

Thanks for reading!