After lunch at Safariland, we drove a couple of hours through the beautiful countryside, soon coming upon the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. At the entrance to the crater, Abdul went to get our tickets. In the meantime, avoiding the many baboons, we went to the nice little visitor center. You can see a model of the crater area (which I loved) and there are standing displays of the natural area surrounding it, such as human history, plant life, and of course the many types of animals we may expect to encounter. The visitor's center was quite nice and you could easily spend 30 minutes here. Plenty of valuable information to be read. We then got into our truck and continued the drive up the steep slope - it was very steep to drive and there were very ... read more

We were picked up at 7:30 am to make the 3-hour drive to Tarangire National Park, our first safari of the trip! Abdul was our guide and driver, who had 20 years of experience (his favorite safari is the Serengeti, fyi). It was just the three of us, with a full safari land cruiser and surprisingly comfortable seats. There were some drinks in a cooler in the back, and the hotel had made each of us a small packed lunch, which was nice to snack on since we had a quick basic breakfast. This lunch turned out to be the second best of the three, and I absolutely loved the gingham bags they were put in. We made our way from one side of Arusha to the other, which took about an hour as it appeared ... read more

My friend and I planned this trip for months, since about April and we were looking forward to it. I knew I would have availability in December and it would not be during peak season. We knew it was at the tail end of the 'short' rainy season, meaning the length of the season was short and the duration of rainfall during the day was short (we were later told it was usually a couple hours every couple days). The main rainy season is during April, which is a definitely no-go! I was so looking forward to this trip. My friend, A, is a trail runner and physically she could have done it months ago. She had never tried high altitude before, but she took a few trips in California to try some higher parks. On ... read more

I had to make a separate post for the Cathedral when I realized how many photos I had to share. I love history. I love cathedrals. I love detailed old art and stonework. This place had it all. You can see the Cathedral from all over the city in some way. The church was originally founded in the 5th century, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. About 70 years later, King Clovis I of the Franks was baptized here in 490AD by Saint Remigus. King Louis the Pious was crowned here in 816 and soon after began the construction of a larger church more befitting of such occasions as it became the traditional site to crown the Kings of France. The current cathedral was begun in about 1208 with various additions throughout the centuries, including reconstruction after ... read more

On the way back from Jebel Akhdar to Dubai, we visited the old ruined village of Al Hamra. It was a bit off the main road and the directions took us via very narrow streets through date palm farms. It was a beautiful drive. We arrived on the other side of the museum from our colleagues, so did not know they were there already. So, the four of us toured the ruined village of Al Hamra for a few minutes, before meeting everyone at the Bait Safah Museum. One of the cool things we saw was a public bath-house, a little alcove along the street sitting above the falaj where people can wash themselves in water destined for the farms. Al Hamra is a 400-year-old village near Nizwa and Jebel Shams areas. It has some of ... read more