Weekend Adventures at Yalla National Park... several weeks back, we took a "family vacation" to Yalla National Park. We heard that if you ever wanted to see a wild Leopard while on safari, this was the time of year for it. So, the guys (naturally) thought this would be a great time to go camping. Mindy, however, posed several questions, like -- Does anyone know WHY this is the best season to see the leopards???... Are they hungrier than usual?... Is it mating season? Have the mothers recently given birth and now they have to procure food for the family?

(Dave, Mindy, Adam, Chris)
So, in the end, we opted out of camping, but we DID go and we did rise at 4:30am for the safari - and here are the pictures... which are not quite as majestic as the real deal -- but at least they offer some idea of the experience.

The splendor of a sunrise that was well worth the effort.

More splendor. In the form of a Peacock.

Mr. Peacock, strutting his stuff for Miss Peacock (and us)!

That's right -- We got the 360 degree show. It was seriously something to behold.

Another Mr. Peacock, hanging out in a tree, scoping out the women.

Monkeys... watching us drive underneath them.

Monkeys seeking shade from the heat... between a rock and a hard place.

Adam was the driver, with Chris in the passenger seat, Dave in the left rear, Mr. "Tracker" sandwhiched in the middle rear, and Mindy in the right rear seat. Adam was trying to drive fast enough to cover some significant ground, and get us far enough into the park to actually SEE animals, but slowly enough to actually spot animals along the way. Meanwhile, the passengers (with heads hanging out the windows) searched intently for anything indicative of the fact that we were on a safari. Periodically, Mindy would gasp - Adam would brake HARD - 4 heads would whip around, trying to catch a glimpse of what Mindy had seen... suspecting that it was most likely either an elephant or a sloth bear... or maybe even: THE LEOPARD.

Then the Tracker would say, "Oh. That's a jungle fowl." (AKA, a VERY colorful, VERY bright, VERY beautiful... chicken.) The guys would then let out a disappointed grunt and return to their lookout positions. After several of these disappointments where Mindy gasped or yelped and was thrilled about seeing something like a Green Bee-Eater (aka, a green bird) or more Jungle Fowl (colorful chickens), or the 53rd Peacock of the morning, Adam coined the phrase "safari foul." Which all the boys would shout with great conviction ("SAFARI FOUL!!!"), any time Mindy was marveling at some lesser miracle of God's creativity and attention to intricate detail (like birds).

The "common" wonders were the flowers, butterflies, birds, monitor lizards, deer, and water buffalo. We did also see a mongoose and a couple families of warthogs.

Another highlight of the safari was when the tracker directed Adam to turn onto a certain path. It quickly became a (very) narrow strip of high ground. Let me define my adjectives -- NARROW, as in, enough room for the truck to fit. barely. And HIGH ground, as in, a good 10 foot drop-off on either side. The "high road" ran in between a pond (to our left) and a marsh (to our right). At first we were very entertained by the scenery and the heard of wild water buffalo (which included several babies... and so also, naturally, several protective mothers) to our immediate right -- and the number of crocodiles in the pond to the left. We had driven about a quarter of a mile, when we came to where the road was no more. As in -- it had recently been washed out, and there was now a 10-15 foot gap. So, Adam, in his ever-excitable way, says, "Uhh. No road." (half statement, half question.) The tracker is equally surprised and he responds with, "Oh. No road. Well, we're on safari." (As in, "Yeah, how about that? What are the odds?")

So, with no option to move any way except for backwards, we all turn around to examine the scene behind us. To find that the water buffalo are now crossing over the road, from the marsh into the pond. And there's one very large mother bull now standing in the road, looking straight at the truck in a somewhat confused but generally less-than-pleased manner. I think Dave tried to climb out of the window to take a picture and was promptly yanked back in. We're all making comments now like, "Oh. Well that's kind of fun. We ARE on a safari... Looks like our options are: Mamma bull, the crocodiles in the pond on the left, the marsh on the right, or a Dukes Of Hazard stunt to get across."
Thank goodness Adam passed the driving-backwards-on-a-narrow-dirt-path-for-a-quarter-of-a-mile-in-a-high-pressure-situation portion of his driver's exam and we all escaped unscathed.

Eventually -- many "safari fouls" later -- we did see a few elephants.

And we saw the leopard! In fact, it was such a big deal to actually SEE the leopard, and to get pictures, that the tracker tried to send us back towards the Park entrance/exit. He assumed he was done for the day since we'd seen the leopard. (Little did he know!!...Mindy was not yet done seeing colorful chickens.)

At the end of the safari, we stopped at the beach (see the picture of the group, above) to stretch our legs and put our feet in the water. Overall, it was another fun, memorable "family" vacation. Wish y'all could have been here with us...