I have a dismal night's sleep that's only partly alleviated by the egg and sausage that appears at breakfast, and the rest of the day sees me coughing and snivelling. The other three bear the presence of the contagious Englishman with admirable fortitude. Lake Manyara NP is close to the camp and is famous for its hippos, tree-climbing lions, and (at certain times of the year but not now) quantities of flamingos. However we strike out on much that's new and the six hours we spend there seem to last for twelve and the visit begins to drag - yes, just [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, March 25-Thursday, March 26, 2009: Safari!!! Debra, Pam, Brad, Lauren, Mom and I went on a 2 day Safari. First we went to Manyara on Wednesday and then to Ngoragora Crater on Thursday. Rod stayed and studied with more people at Maji Ya Chai (35 on Wednesday!). The safari (it means journey in Swahili) was incredible! We saw such a different variety of animals. It's a lot different than seeing them in a zoo, too! Thursday we went to a Masai village. It was a little freaky...but very interesting! I have to steal Lauren's sentence when she told me, " [View Full Entry]

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Well, we have finally set off! We left home at 06:30, not the anticipated 06:00 as the boys were investigating facebook! I was amazed that Glen's stuff fitted into the small hole left in the back of the truck, perfectly! Having said a last goodbye to the dog, and fed her the last Vienna Sausage, we set off through the Nairobi early morning traffic. Thankfully much quieter than last night when we braved it before rush hour was finished to pick Glen up from the airport! The road to Namanga (border crossing to Tanzania for those not in the know) has [View Full Entry]

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Tag #19 Heute bin ich mit zwei deutschen Ladies zusammen. Mit der Erwartung, Tiere am Lake Manyara zu sehen, starten wir diese Pirschfahrt. Es ist ein kleiner National Park und zu Beginn ein Urwald. Wir begegnen Elefanten, Zebras, Loewen, usw. jedoch immer in kleiner Anzahl. Den See, sehen wir nur von weitem. Seit ein paar Jahren sind die Pirschfahrten bis zum See nicht mehr gestattet. Am naechsten an den See kommen wir beim Hippo Pool und geniessen da die Sicht ins Weite... Am Abend werde ich zur Lodge in Mto Wa Mbu gebracht um dort zu Uebernachten. [View Full Entry]

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After extensive negotiations, haggling over safari tour itineraries and making our way through the maze of shady tour operators we finally landed on a company that allowed us to make our own itinerary. We rented a 4WD Land Cruiser and guide (named Audi) for 6 days to explore Lake Manyara, Ngorogoro crater and the Serengeti. This country is amazing and lived up to our expectations. Every scene was a picture out of National Geographic and by the time we were finished Peter was ready to take our camera and sell it for a nights rent....I took alot of pictures! Although we [View Full Entry]

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Prior to returning to Moshi from the safari on Sunday, we had the opportunity to meet the kids at the Shalom Orphanage Centre, which was just down the street from the hotel in which we were staying. Upon meeting the kids, we got to play games, sing songs, and run around. When I walked into the orphanage, one kid ran up to me and grabbed my hand. This was obviously normal. The young children we have met have almost always been extremely excited to see and play with us. But what I found interesting was that the little boy who grabbed [View Full Entry]

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Today was a LONG day! I had some really crazy dreams and I felt weird when I woke up, so I didn't eat much for breakfast. We walked a short way down te road to Zainab's orphanage that she startd, the Shalom Center,home to about 40 kids (almost all orphans and some with AIDS). I felt kind of awkward there at first because it isn't a school, at least not formally, so I didn't know if English was okay or not and it was kind of unclear what we were supposed to be doing and whether or not we should [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Tanzania! We have just returned from the Safari that we took at Ngorogoro Crater. My feelings are mixed about the whole thing. First off, the Safari itself was amazing. We were able to see so many animals that I had seen previously only in zoos. We also got lucky and saw all of the "Big Five" animals: lion, buffalo, leopard, elephant, and rhino. Although it was so amazing to see all of these cool animals in their natural habitat, I have to say that the days we spent safari-ing were the most depressing yet. This is for two reasons. [View Full Entry]

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In the morning we drove to through the park and saw a lot more monkeys as it was heavily forested in places. It was very lush and green and pretty and it was on the edge very high cliffs that went on forever and was known as the Great Rift, which runs all the way up into Kenya forming the Great Rift Valley. We went back to the lodge and had lunch before driving back to Arusha. We got home around about 4pm, but our truck got a flat tyre just as we got into Arusha. We drew a large crowd [View Full Entry]

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Joseph, our safari guide, picked us up at the Key's Hotel after breakfast and we departed for our first day of safari at 8:30am. In the truck were the four of us and Joseph. We asked how many more people would we be picking up? We were amazed when he said this was it! We would be getting our own semi-private safari for a week. We get along with Kim and Steve very well, and were excited they were our only safari partners. We drove through Arusha to our to Kirurana, our tented lodge. We would be staying here for one [View Full Entry]

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