Luckily, Eli’s treatment worked well and her state improved so fast that we did not have to cancel the last part of safari: Ruaha National Park. It is located at the great Ruaha River, on a high plateau in south Tanzania and provides a beautiful landscape besides an abundant wildlife. Even if it is said to be rather remote compared to Serengeti, it almost felt overcrowded to us after having been totally alone in Katavi. We spent a wonderful day there despite the fact that by changing the program without previous announcement, our guide Hussein apparently tried to cheat on us. Our new driver Raman did his best to make our stay unforgettable and we regret not having booked him from the start. We saw zebras, antelopes, kudus, giraffes, storks, marabous, crocodiles, hippos, jackals, elephants and lions, including a whole family with babies. You might think that the savannah is bursting of activity, but you should take into account that it is still Tanzania. Actually, most animals sleep all the time or trot around until finding a comfortable place in the shade to take a rest. And the Master of Laziness is the King of the Savannah: the indeed majestic and also pretty idle lion. We cannot but admire this animal. Lying around all the day surrounded by 3 to 6 females, he lets time pass by. Once in a while he commands his harem to go hunting and bring him some food. After that sometimes it’s mating time, sometimes not. And for this exhausting way of life, he receives the highest respect of everyone else …. well done, lion!

Disappointingly, Hussein failed to book our accommodation at the Bandas, located in the center of the park. This is a cool place because elephants and giraffes love to come and greet you there. We had our lunch at this place and saw an elephant walking between the huts, chasing an incautious visitor. Slowly, we approached him with Eli walking a few steps behind. Obviously, she was respectful and a bit frightened although she considered the elephant to be nice and cute –– a rather female attitude. When her view was blocked by a bush while we could see the elephant, we counted to 3 and started sprinting away. Her face changed in a fraction of a second from slight fear to blank horror. We could not stop laughing and a ranger found this trick so funny that he fell to the ground because he laughed so heavily. Sorry Eli for this joke but we are happy to have you here

In Ruaha we ended our safaris in Tanzania. Since we still have a few days left before travelling to Zambia, we went to nearby Iringa and spent two nights in this little town. It is an unspectacular but agreeable place, where you can stroll over the market, walk through the tiny, lively streets and experience local everyday life. The other day we went to “Isimila Stone Age Site”. They have some pretty old stones and archeologists deliberately decide which ones of them were shaped by humans and used as tools like knives or hammers. However, what is really rewarding is the landscape. You can walk through a canyon with bizarre shapes and bright colors. As you can see below, erosion can be very creative when it comes to performing rock-art.