Africa ~ On the Wild Side

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I have been promising a couple of young friends of ours that I would send some animal pictures for them to see the "WILD SIDE" of Tanzania. And we haven't had time here in the last few months to actually go out and see them ourselves, but I remembered that during the campaigns it was so busy with all the visitors and news being reported that I didn't have the time to share pictures I took from our trip to Tarangire National Park and Ngoro Ngoro Crater. So I figured you wouldn't mind a few pictures from back in June, when we had guests here from Northport, our sponsoring congregation.

Plus, it has been a gorgeous day here in Moshi, the mountain has been crystal clear all day long and I wanted to share a few of those pictures with you as well. They call Kili the Shy mountain because often it's covered in a layer of clouds where short term visitors may or may not get to actaully see it. But today, it was perfectly clear all day. There's something amazing about living at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro.. The scene from the backdoor, takes your breath away!

You do see some animals outside the parks and out around the borders of where the migrations flow, but being here in town, and it being hunting season and all, you just don't see them daily. Yes it is hunting season.... Brent, Kelly, Garrett, George, Jacob, & Luke are all itching to go when they get a chance, and it will be a great source of food for filling up the freezer with. The animals tend to like to stay away from the herds of people busy about their lives. Now if you go out to the Mtu wa Mbu or Karatu congregations or any time you go up the mountain, you run the chance of possibly seeing some out there. We like trying to make a two day trip of it when we go... and see one of the smaller parks and then heading out to the crater to try to make sure that 1st time visitors get to see a little bit of everything... although, if you have a specific animal in mind, there are better areas for viewing those specifically. We had been wanting to see the elephants, and boy did we ever out at Tarangire.

Tarangire National Park is most commonly known for its Herds of up to 300 elephants and how they scratch the dry river bed for underground streams, while migratory wildebeest, zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle, hartebeest and eland crowd the shrinking lagoons. - and the one place in Tanzania where dry-country antelope such as the fringe-eared oryx and peculiar long-necked gerenuk are regularly observed. During the rainy season, the seasonal visitors scatter over 12,500 sq miles until they exhaust the green plains and the river calls once more. But Tarangire's mobs of elephant are easily encountered, wet or dry. The swamps, tinged green year round, are the focus for 550 bird varieties, the most breeding species in one habitat anywhere in the world. On drier ground you find the Kori bustard, the heaviest flying bird; the stocking-thighed ostrich, the world's largest bird; and small parties of ground hornbills blustering like turkeys. Tarangire's pythons climb trees, as do its lions and leopards, lounging in the branches where the fruit of the sausage tree disguises the twitch of a tail.


The Ngoro ngoro Crater is one of the natural wonders of the world. A large volcanic caldera, with an area of 259 square kilometres, it contains a huge variety of game and birds and is often referred to as a microcosm of Africa with its dramatic weather changes and varied terrains consisting of forest, grasslands and both freshwater and soda lakes. We enjoy the trip to the crater, because that's where you see just a little bit of everything, from Big cats to Rhinos and everything in between.

Perhaps someday, when you are able to come help with the work in Tanzania, build a church building or two, work with the Safari for Souls campaigns, teach at the nursery school, help with the orphanages, do door to door evangelism, work in medical clinics, teach at seminars, help with training workshops, teach at the Preacher training schools, spread the gospel across east Africa and sleep a good tired sleep like you've never had before, then we can get you out to see a few of God's natural wonders of Africa while we're at it!


Enjoy the animals kiddos! (old and young alike)
In Christian Love & Service,
Julie Richardson

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Photos

Be Still and Know
Ps 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

The whole Mountain...
Uhuru Point is located at the top of the main mountain and Kibo is the smaller peak off to the right