Blogs from North, Tanzania, Africa - page 185

in dar, for the passed three days straight rain, except for a bit yesterday morning. the rainy season is still upon us. also a bit chilly compared to what it has been. 2. most of the boys (although sadly not the girls) are in school at least part of the day now. while this is good for them, it makes the day slightly more boring. more time to study swahili or surf the internet. 3. i sent out a bunch of emails trying to set up meetings with ngos to talk about their history. hopefully i get some responses. 4. the hills outside of moshi (in the north maybe 250?? km from kenya). very chilly. needed to wear a light jacket in the evening and morning. bananas bananas bananas everywhere. cooking bananas mostly. everywhere banana trees. ... read more

Some people say that when it comes to Africa, the only positive thing to sy about it is the animals, so to help test the theory we went on safari, and safari and safari. Heading back into Kenya from Uganda we visited Lake Nakuru National Park in the Rift Valley. Flamingos filled the salt lake in their thousands and we were lucky enough to see elephants, baboons, zebra, pelicans, worthog, waterbuck, bush pigs, giraffe, impalas and rhino just on our first day. We bushed camped in the middle of the park at night surrounded by a colony of baboons. Just as we were going to bed I shone our flashlight into the darkness of the bush. The eyes of a few hyenas reflected back at me. In the middle of the night the hyenas moved into ... read more

Ngorongoro Crater The crater is one of the most famous reserves for black rhinos because it is so easy to protect them in the crater. There is one road in and one road out. We did not see any, but the trip was really amazing. The views and vistas as well as birds and other wildlife were great. We saw more hippos, more lions, plus all the usual suspects (zebras, ostrich, toppees, gazelles, giraffes, and elephants). We also saw a great deal of Maasais. The Crater itself was created by volcanic activity and left a plateau 22kms in diameter. Perhaps the best part of the crater was our accommodations. We stayed at a coffee plantation (The Plantation Lodge) in the most amazing little cottages. The owners were German and the food was unforgettable as were the ... read more

Instead of heading off to Kampala as expected, we decided to hang out for a while, mostly because on the day we chose to travel to Uganda they held their first "free" elections in 25 years. Most elections in africa end in some sort of blood bath, so we went on safari instead. The safari, it self ,was magnificent. Ngorongor crater is the worlds largest collapsed vocanoe dome. It has a unqiue ecosystem, where many of the animals on the bottom of the crater (more than 12 kms in diameter) never leave. We saw hippos, black rhino, elephants, jackel, hyena, lions on the prowl, cheetah, cranes, wildebeast, buffalo, and more. It was the first time we'd seen a cheetah and the first time for a live lion. I have pictures, and I'll post them eventually. I've ... read more

After my not so safe experience with the 1st tour company for a 2 day Safari, I decided I definitely didn't want to go up the mountain with them for 5 days. So I went to the company I originally planned to go up with and we sat down the morning I was supposed to climb and to plan my trip up. I was hoping that I could be added to a group that was already going up to save money, but they didn't have any others. I explained to the owner, who I call 'Big brother' that he had to send me up with safety as a priority. That was no problem for him so called up a guide with 6 years of experience as a guide and 2 porters and a cook. The basics ... read more