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Published: April 13th 2008
Not Jackie and Lesley
rather, some of the lions we saw on our first game drive!I'd been looking forward to, and counting down, Jackie and Lesley's visit for months! It had finally arrived! I was excited all day during school, and kept checking my email to make sure they didn't write me from Dubai to say the flight was delayed, or worse yet, canceled. No emails, so I left right after my football club at 2:30 to drive out to the airport and pick them up! I could see them looking for their bags and talking to each other and I just wanted to yell through the glass to say hi. But, seeing as I was surrounded by several other people also waiting to pick up friends, loved ones, colleagues, etc.... I kept my cool and waited for them to walk through to the outside waiting area. We hugged and shrieked as girls do, and then we piled into my car and headed to the exact opposite side of Dar, to go and pay for the safari that we were going on the next day. With rain and traffic, this proved to be a very long endeavour for the poor, jetlagged girls. We got home around 6:30, they showered, and we had dinner which had been
Rooftop Safari
One of the best reasons to get a safari company and not drive yourself! lovingly prepared by my cook- George. We hung out and talked until they crashed at the decent hour of 9:30.
The next day, I went to work, and left my two best friends snuggled up in my big bed. I was very jealous! I came home right when school ended, we grabbed our stuff, found our driver (who had gotten a bit lost) and headed off for our weekend safari. We went to my old favorite, Mikumi National Park. We battled traffic and rain, but managed to get there right before park closing time. On our drive in, the girls got to see their first wild giraffes, elephants, baboons, etc. Very nice welcome! We checked into our hotel, put our stuff down, and had a lovely dinner. The next day was spent going on 3 game drives, saving other cars that had gotten stuck in the mud, and eating our faces off with the lovely meals provided at our lodge. We saw several groups of lions, buffalo, elephants, giraffes, zebra, etc. Rainy season doesn't stop those animals! It was great to see their excitement, and remember how cool it is to live in this country that has so many
Traffic Jam!
Whenever there were animals in the road, our driver Moses would call it a traffic jam. beautiful things to see!
On Sunday, we went on one last game drive, then had a goodbye lunch at the hotel, and drove all the way back to Dar. We ordered dinner in, and had a relaxing evening at home. Monday, I had off from school, so we decided to drive up to one of the nice beaches. We picked the right one, because we barely had any rain all day, while it apparently poured everywhere else! That night the girls came and watched while Kibo and I had our first puppy training class, and then we all went over to my friend Freddy's house for a South African Braai (barbecue). They learned about the SA love of meat, and got to meet some more of my friends, which was great.
Tuesday I went back to work, sigh, while the girls went up to a hotel pool with a great view of the Indian Ocean. I met them there after work, and then we went to do some shopping of Tanzanian goods. We went out for a farewell dinner on the water, and had a lovely relaxing afternoon evening of reminiscing about the game park already! On Wednesday,
Road Side Lounging
These girls were just waiting to be noticed! the girls came to visit me at work and got to be under the spotlight as my students asked them questions about their lives. After work we had a little bit of time together before I had to drive them back out to the airport to leave me.
Although the visit was short, it was so great that my best friends could come all the way out here and see what my life is like! I'm so glad that they could meet some of my friends, see my work, my house, and that we got to go on a safari and see what wild Africa is like! I feel so lucky that I have such good friends, and even though this posting might be really gushy and sentimental, that's how I feel because my friends came all the way across the world for me!
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mom
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so special
That was so special .. to have friends come all the way and enjoy your new country and home and all that is has to offer .. fun too share .. nice pics ! hugas mom