Donna Mayer Todd, a WSB-TV employee, made one of her travel dreams come true -- an African safari. She is sharing some of her days on the continent with wsbtv.com readers.

My husband, Gene, and I have taken a trip of a lifetime and called it a delayed honeymoon. We have both dreamed individually of seeing some of the great animals of Africa alive and free in their own habitat. When we married, we began to move our dream toward reality.

We were really excited with our plan to experience (from the safety of a guide-driven vehicle, of course) one of the great wild places left on our planet, the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania. We hoped to be able to witness some of the wonder of the migration of herd animals. These grazers follow the cycle of the rains and the green grass it brings, moving in great numbers through the Serengeti, into Kenya and the Masai Mara Reserve there, then back into the Serengeti again. As they survive on the grass, so the predators survive on the grazers, and they closely follow the movement.

So June was here and we were off, flying into Amsterdam and then to Kilimanjaro Airport in Arusha, Tanzania. That is about 19 hours of travel time! Arusha is the 3rd largest city in Tanzania, but we arrived at night and left again the next morning on a smaller plane to the Serengeti, so we saw very little of it.

The safari outfitter we traveled with took great care of us. They arranged everything we would need once we arrived in the country, including personal airport transfers, lodging, our very excellent driver-guide and the vehicle we would use. We were met at the airport by Subeda, a great representative of her company and her country. Our driver-guide, Peter, was waiting for us when we landed in the Serengeti. He was knowledgeable, capable and fun, and we became friends along the way.

We are now in the Serengeti, in the Western Corridor! We’ve seen our first herds of wildebeest before we even land, as there are some grazing around the landing strip today. We see more wildebeest throughout our game drive, many more in groups upward to the hundreds, and impalas in large numbers also. The impalas leap when they run, crossing the road in a bound. We see birds large and small, including two different eagles and some in very bright colors. There are over 200 varieties to be found here. The first carcass of our trip is sighted. It’s the remains of a giraffe and has been here for some time. It’s a reminder, along with the space and free movement of the animals we’ve seen, that this is a wild place.

We come to the Grumeti River and find a hippopotamus group relaxing in the water and six of the infamous Nile crocodiles, the world’s largest, sunning on the riverbanks. Two of the crocs still wear the yellow and black coloring of young crocodiles even though they are a good size! Leaving the river, we see and stop our vehicle right next to a hippo lying in a mud wallow right beside the road. He never moves anything more than one eye. This is close, and we are excited again and still at all we are witnessing.

We’ve seen so much in one day. It is hard to take it all in. And as darkness approaches we must get off the (bumpy, red dirt) road and to our lodge, as the park rules and safety practices demand.