My vacation: Staffer shares photos from African safaris

Tina Copsey, a program manager with Western Washington University's AMSEC program, recently returned from safaris in Tanzania and Rwanda with her husband, Reed.

On the trip, a followup to a 2010 jaunt to South Africa, the couple took photos of black rhinos, gorillas, zebras, giraffes, lions and a thousands-strong herd of wildebeest crossing the Mara River.

The encounters with the gorillas was among the trip's highlights, Copsey says. The Rwandans are respectful of the gorillas' territory and allow only one hour of human interaction with them per day and require a minimum buffer of seven meters, Copsey says. The gorillas don't pay attention to the buffer, though -- in the hour the Copseys spent near the gorillas, the largest silverback in the country brushed Reed's leg.

Photos by Reed Copsey and Tina Copsey.

Have photos you'd like to share? Contact Western Today editor Matthew Anderson at matthew.anderson@wwu.edu.