Thank you!😊

Nice pictures. Curious what your gear is.

But more "real camera" than a smartphone which is what I've been using for 15 years.

A couple years ago, after my old Fuji died, I bought a Canon EOS 2000D & a few lenses (55mm, 300mm, 500mm & a 2x converter so I can go up to 1000mm). I'm still learning how to use it!

And your pics are beautiful!

The lens I have does 18, 24, 35, and 55mm; IIRC all of these were at 35mm (they weren't very far away). I'm worried I got on the end of a dying train by getting a DSLR rather than a mirrorless, but then again I also just got two turntables and a hardware mixer for my midlife crisis present rather than a digital DJ board, so maybe I'm just That Old Guy now.

Thank you so much for sharing those.

I loved Tanzania—the Serengeti is astounding.

We did Tarangire, Ngorongoro, and Serengeti, and then a few days in Zanzibar. What a wonderful place! I even picked up a kalimba that I'm now trying to tune.

Do you know what kind of tree the giraffes are enjoying shade under? They are so elegant looking.

Also called a "whistling acacia" because the ants eat their fruit and leave tunnels in the empty husks that the wind blows through.

I have wondered about them for some time, obviously in passing, it's even more interesting that they make a wind-aided sound.

He had spent days naming every animal we saw down to the regional subspecies (I had no idea there were so many kinds of bee-eater birds) and the first time we saw a stand of the acacias we asked what they were. He looked through his binoculars, nodded gravely, and said "Ah. Those are what are known as trees, sir".

Having done some tour guide work in the past, you have to get your licks where you can!

I went to the zoo one time, at feeding time..I was standing next to the lions..OMG..what a ROAR!! Splendid pics..thanks for sharing...

There was an elephant carcass (natural causes; old elephant) and a pride of lions was eating it when some hyenas came up. The lions did not like that, and made it clear.

Other than that, the only animal we really got noise from was the hippos. They are loud.

great pix.

have a friend who was doing peace corps there and now lives permanently. married a local.

After the safari we spent some time in Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar and it's my new favorite place on earth.

Love the kitty scratching its chin! Also, the elephant is way more brown than gray. He's almost the color of Colorado clay.

The soil in Tarangire is red (it's volcanic) and it makes the animals who roll in it look red

especially the big cats in the tree.

Thank you!

Great pics.

Okay on the Canon EOS. I carry an old 1st or 2d generation Rebel EOS with a cheap zoom telephoto in my old truck where the camera bounces around on the floor. I use it to grab pics of scenery, people, weather, sunrise/set that I just could not get with the phone.

Did you go on a guided tour that planned everything? Or did you organize each stop yourself? If the latter which company did you use?

Going on a safari is on my bucket list along with going to the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg. Well The Hermitage trip won’t be happening, so focus is on the safari.

I'm more than happy to give them the free advert there because they were great. It's not a total turnkey thing because they don't book the lodges for you (though they have a list they "strongly recommend", and you get a discount at them). If I had any advice, it's to spend your money on the guide rather than on the hotel; you're not there for the continental breakfast. But having said that, if you get a chance to stay at Gibbs Farm; it's beautiful and has a ton of activities like horse riding and visiting the local Masai village. It's worth a day on its own with no game drives.

The second leg of the trip (Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar) we organized ourselves, and I cannot praise Zanzibar highly enough.

I didn't even go for a white sky filter or effect; there was just a bright white cloud behind them

So they were all wallowing in the volcanic mud. The ochre-like effect was striking.

I am especially in love with the leopard rubbing its face on the tree trunk and the lionesses sacked out in the branches. As a cat person, I love it when big cats act like giant kitties.

Check the one on the right and you can't un-see it...

But yeah their utter felinity was really impressive. Less so the cheetah, though: it seemed more hyena like (and their claws don't retract so I think they're less related to housecats than the panthers are).

Great photography.