Taryn Romanczak: july 12 updated

July 12, 2016

Last night we went to a restaurant called the Boma.

It was so much fun! They had people doing African dancing and singing and music as we walked in.

The food was buffet style and like nothing you get at home! I am a super picky eater but I am pretty proud of myself at the things that I tried: Crocodile, Impala, and Warthog.

Yes I am eating meat here. Most of you know I won't eat commercially produced meat at home because of the way the animals are raised and their diets. The age at which they are slaughtered due to them being fed such an unnatural diet is also a concern. Conditions for the humans working in and the sanitation in processing facilities are horrendous. But I will eat locally produced and processed meat at home. Everything here is what we consider grass fed, free range, or organic. And you can taste the difference. It has a taste. But don't worry, as soon as I come home I will not be eating US meat! They also taught us how to play the bongo drums and all I kept thinking was the episode of Big Bang Theory when Sheldon can't get a haircut and he starts playing the bongos in the middle of the night because the world is going crazy! We got our faces painted, danced, and played the bongo drums! We had a great time at dinner!

Paula was the only one brave enough to eat a Mopani worm, and she got the certificate to prove it. Sorry to disappoint Kiki, no one else would do it.

In Victoria Falls they actually had tourist police specifically to protect the tourists.

Today I went on a safari in Chobe National Park in Botswana. The park is not fenced in so the animals can come and go and move as they please. We saw so many animals! Hippos, crocodiles, elephants, buffalo, Impala, kudu, puka, waterbuck, giraffes, water monitors, warthogs, zebras, and so many species of birds. I think I need to buy a book to name all the bird species I saw!! I am so overwhelmed with the information the guides gave us on all the animals and the names! The animals were all so beautiful! It is the dry season so in the middle of the river is an island that the animals can get to so they all go down to the water and a lot cross to the island during the day and they go back across to the main land for the night. The water was so blue. The buffalo are my favorite. I still can't get over that they are the most dangerous animal in Africa. There were a lot of baby hippos and baby elephants and we even saw a baby zebra and a fairly young giraffe!! Sorry you will all have to wait until I get home for pictures of today because I was so afraid of either dropping my phone off the boat or out of the safari vehicle so they are all on my camera. And it will probably take me a while to go through all of them because I'm pretty sure there are close to 1000 pictures just from today! I hope the pictures that I took can do the landscape justice... The sun shining off the water and all the animals grazing and drinking everything was so peaceful.

Sign posted on the dock as we were leaving on the boat ride safari. I feel like this is right up there with the “caution hot liquid” warning on coffee….

View from the boat ride.

Many people mistake these birds for snakes…they dive under water to catch fish and then have to sit in the sun for a little while and dry their wings out before going back in the water.

Crocodile sunning itself…it was wintertime in Africa so the reptiles aren’t very active.

One of my favorite animals to go see at Adventure Aquarium...so neat to see them in the wild!!

Cape buffalo… they are so beautiful! Still so hard for me to fathom they are the deadliest animal in Africa!! They don’t give any warning or bluffs before they charge. They are responsible for more deaths than any other animal.

This guy was a giant!!

Another view from the boat.

Termite mound

Water monitor!! This one is for you Erin Mellini!! Baby Lizzy’s!!!

Saw a LOT of impala!! Kind of like the deer in NJ!!

Thought it was awesome to be able to get multiple species in one picture!

Another one of the Big 5!! Crossing the river to get to the island in the middle.

Group of hippos…there were several babies with them!

Hippo, waterbuck, and elephant

Male impala in the foreground

Male sable…our guide told us it isn’t common to be able to see them. Males and females BOTH have horns!

We saw a LOT of elephants! The population of elephants in Africa is about 3-4 times the amount that the land can handle. They cause a lot of damage to areas.