Four volunteers including myself went on safari to Ngorongoro Crater today, and saw lots of great animals! Elephants, lions, hippos, zebra, hyenas, wildebeests, buffalo, gazelle, ostrich, crowned crane, flamingos, warthogs, jackals, baboons, and a serval cat. Here are a few highlight pics! [View Full Entry]

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Thirteen of us all packed into the 4x4, driving 45 minutes along winding, bumpy roads, skidding and sliding back and forth in the muddy ruts, the whole way to Karatu. After spending two whole days in bed with stomach pains and achy blah, I finally went to see the doctor yesterday. I brought two other kids from the children's village who were sick as well, and with both of them on my lap, and seven more local villagers packed in for the ride, we set off uncomfortably tight. As the driver stopped to pick up more and more passengers along the [View Full Entry]

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One of my favorite sounds in the world...children singing. [View Full Entry]

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Matt has almost finished his war and peace Kilimanjaro account so in the meantime I’ll try and come up to date with what we’ve been doing. This blog account is for Aug 18 to Sep 9th While Matt was up the mountain, I organized our Ngorongoro Crater trip. I looked at the camping option but after 7 days in a tent in the cold, I figured matt would probably want some comfort so we stayed in the Ngorongoro resort instead. The crater is about 4 hours away from Arusha and is hailed as a natural wonder as it contains a perfect [View Full Entry]

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I don't know where to start I loved safari so much! Yesterday coming home was such an anticlimax. AND we had no water (it's back on now!) Lewis and Laura sorted out safari last monday with the guy, Tom who chivvied us along to the waterfall last weekend. We wanted to go Ngorogoro, Serengeti and Lake Manyara but the safari lady said we wouldn't be able to fit in Serengeti so we did Tarangire instead. We were picked up by a sooped up extended land cruiser on a almost rainy and cold Friday morning. The drive to our camp site took [View Full Entry]

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After the remoteness and small population of Soki camp in the Serengeti, it's shocking to arrive at what appears to be a tent city on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. Simba A campsite is a much bigger operation and there are already 30 or 40 tents erected in its scenic grounds, dominated by a large, spreading tree and views into the crater. Our tents are pitched in some available spots and we see a few faces familiar from our game drives. A lone zebra potters past the toilet block on its way into the crater. The camp is at 2,000m and [View Full Entry]

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Our luck from the Serengeti does hold. We camp on the crater rim, and take the jeeps down at dawn. The Crater is an immense sight... 18km across, home to an almost self-contained eco-system complete with elephants, zebra, lions, cheetah and hippos. It was created by the eruption of an enormous volcano, higher than Mount Kilimanjaro, which left the larget intact caldera on the plant. From the rim, 650 metres above the crater floor, it looks devoid of life, but once in the crater we realise it is anything but. We pass through a small area of dense woodland, then out [View Full Entry]

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June 27th passed into Tanzania. On the drive to the border crossing we encountered a road block of Massai warriors. They had drug acacia bushes into the middle of the road and were standing there with machetes. We didn’t actually get to see any of this but that is what our driver and tour leader said happened. The first town that we went to in Tanzania is called Arusha. The campsite that we stayed at was called Snake Park and this is located about 20km from Arusha. The campsite was not that great. The cool part was they had a load [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, March 25/Thursday, March 26: Safari!!! Debra, Pam, Brad, Lauren, Mom and I went on a 2 day Safari. First we went to Manyara on Wednesday and then to Ngorongoro 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, " I [View Full Entry]

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Safari After 4 weeks of studying we finished on friday and went for a safari for three days. We were 10 students in total and two jeeps. We visited 3 different parks which all gave us different experiences. I might write a bit more later, but I think the pictures will tell the most of the story from this trip. Enjoy [View Full Entry]

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