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Published: November 16th 2009
Hello Again!
Sorry about the delay in updating....internet is not quite as accesible these days!
Everything is going great! Especially now that we are at Zanzibar island, which is absolutley paradise! The water is so clear and the sand is literally white. It's great weather as well!
But I'll go back to our trip to the Ngorongoro crater and the Serengeti first...
We woke up nice and early for our big game drive day. We took out tent down in the dark and had some breakfast and were on the road...it was about an hour drive up the the crater, which was absolutley awful for me, because I've developed a cough (yes...THAT cough)... pretty much ever since the camping has started, and with the cough came a gross disgusting full head, so therefore my ears were popping the whole way and it was extremely painful.
However, once in the crater I was fine. The weather was perfect! We hadn't even gotten into the crater yet, and Gabriel, our driver spotted elephants...it was amazing!
We drove in an 8 person truck, in which the roof comes off, so we could just stand up on the seats and look out and take pictures.
Another 2 minutes of driving and we were in the middle of a huge herd of Wildebeast and Zebras. It was so cool!!
Throughout the day we saw so many awesome things! Hyenas, Lions, a giraffe, buffalo...everything!
We stopped for lunch at hte top of the crater. Brittney and I sat together and started to pull out her food. Not even 10 seconds later, I didn't realize what had happened, but a bird flew right down and hit my head with its wings, and stole Britts sandwich right out of her hands. So...because of my extreme bird phobia, I was pretty freaked out after that, and decided to save the rest of my lunch for when we were back in the truck. I was terrified! But it was kind of funny at the same time.
After lunch we drove to the Serengeti. The sky was starting to get a little dark once we got in the park, but the rain held off until we were pretty much finished anyways.
Again, not even a minute into the park about 4 elephants were 20 meters away from our truck! It was so amazing! one walked right in front of ours!....of course with my luck, that's right when my camera died, but I still got a few good shots...
We also saw a leopard which was really cool...they're pretty rare so we were quite lucky.
By the end of this game drive, I was feeling absolutley awful. The rain started, and I just could not think about putting the tent up in the pouring rain and sleeping wet...
But when we got to our "camp site" which really was just a level part of the serengeti - literally in the middle of no where...our tents had already been set up for us which was a nice surprise.
We then got organized and pretty much just waited around in the dark for dinner. It was veggie stir fry and rice, but I couldn't taste a thing I was so stuffed up.
So I went to bed nice and early hoping to feel better the next day.
In the morning we just got up and had some breakfast and went out for another game drive. It was another really nice day and we saw lots of cool stuff again. Hippos, crocodile, and a lion who had just made a kill...which was kind of disturbing to me, but pretty neat at the same time.
We then stopped for lunch again around 11, and had a 5 hour drive back to meet up with Carol and Nev and the truck. I tried to sleep...but it is basically like trying to sleep on a roller coaster, the roads are SO bad! So when we got back to our original campsite, we got settled and just had a relaxing night and finally had a decent shower!
The next day, we drove into Arusha. Some people got on the internet there, but I wasn't able to because it was my "cook groups" turn, so we had to go to a local market to get ingredients for dinner. We decided on fajitas, and got tonnes of veggies and made the tortillas from scratch over the fire.
They turned out great!
That day was another big drive, and I basically just read on the truck the whole time. We stayed at another bush camp that night. We cooked dinner that night and breakfast AND lunch the next day. We did fresh fruit and toast for breakfast, and then drove yet another long drive into Dar es Salaam. We arived at Mikado beach and set up our tents. We were ON the beach which was really cool! We got set up quickly, and then myt cook group and I made mango and rice salad, and then got our bathing suits on and went for a swim! The water was actually warm....not very refreshing, but still relaxing to be on the beach!
The first aid kit in the truck had some amoxicillan (not sure if I spelled that right), so I started taking those that day.
We had a lentil shepards pie for dinner that night which was acutally really good - and I enjoyed even more because I could taste it!
Britt and I went to bed pretty early...
The next day we left for Zanzibar!!
We left the campsite around 8 in the morning, and got a drive into town. We had to catch 2 ferrys. The first one was RAMMED and we had all of our stuff we were bringing here to Zanzibar, and it was probably the worst heat I've ever experienced! It was so sticky!
The first ferry was only about 5 minutes, but then to get to the second was a 20 minute walk that was torture! It seemed never ending and was just SO hot! Meanwhile the streets are so packed you are just trying hard not to get hit by a car or pick pocketed or lost from the group!
But we all made it to the next ferry and had about an hour and a half wait for it. We could sit in the shade there which was nice.
So the next ferry, we were in the bottom and it was nice comfy chairs. So I sat down and got settled, and just as the boat was taking off my phone started ringing!
I decided to answer it, and was really happy I did because it was Evan, Lisa, Jack and Buck calling from Woodstock!! I was so happy to hear from them! I think it was about 2:00 in the morning for them, and it was 10:30 in the morning for me...but it was still entertaining to hear from them all! Made me a little sad that I couldn't be there though...
But after a nice chat, I fell RIGHT asleep! I woke up right for the end of the ferry ride. It was perfect timing!
We got off the ferry, and Stone Town looked amazing! We didn't stay long though, just got our passports stamped and got into a bus that took us here....to paradise..."Sunset Bungalow Resort"
We arrived about an hour later and got checked in.
We went to our room and were SO excited!
WE HAVE BEDS!!!! and a real bathroom!!! and a FAN!!! Its awesome!
We got our suits on and went down to the beach again. It's a really amazing beach!
We all met up in the bar, and we met Ali, who explained the optional excursions to us. Britt and I signed up for the snorkeling, the spice tour and the sunset cruise.
We all had dinner together last night on the beach. Then we played some drinking games and partied.
Yesterday was the snorkelling excursion. Evan...you would have LOVED IT!!! it was absolutley amazing!
We took a boat for about 1 1/2 hours, into crystal clear water. We hopped into about 4 meters of water, and just swam around the coral. We saw so many amazing fish! A stingray...it was so cool. There were so many fish, you could practically touch them!!! My underwater digital camera was AWESOME to have!
However...after about an hour of snorkeling we went back up on the boat, and I went to look at my pictures, and my camera hasn't worked since. I literally thought I was going to start crying. I am still hoping it will start working at some point, but I'm acutally devestated about this. I'm going to be so upset if I can't take pictures for the rest of the trip 😞
Plus Olympus cameras is going to get a VERY angry letter from me!
But I don't think I've lost any of my pictures...the camera just keeps telling me that the "card door" is open, which it definatley isn't....so I'm not sure what to do. It wont do anything!
Evan - maybe you could go up to my room and in my book shelf, find the Olympus camera booklet and see if it says anything???
That would really really help me out! I'm seriously depressed about it!
But I do think I got some really great shots!
Anyways, after scuba diving, we got back, and I had missed the back of my neck with sun screen so I went straight up to the room to start moisturizing. I am still so burnt! But I don't think its going to peel...just will be painful for today probably.
We went for dinner up the road, to a local place. I got calamari in a coconut rice sauce which was AMAZING!! And only cost about 4 dollars.
We came back and britt got some food from our resort, because she doesn't eat sea food (she doesn't know what shes missing)...and then pretty much went up to the room at about 9 and wrote in our journals and went to bed....I'm still trying to get better, and tonight is the sunset (booze) cruise, so I wanted to get 1 good nights sleep.
Today we are just taking it easy on the beach all day. We've had breakfast and walked over to the next resort to get onto the internet. Its a little expensive and quite slow....but it had been a while and I was anxious to get on.
Tonight is our last night here, and then we go into Stone Town for one night there, before we have to go back to sleeping in tents!
Tomorrow is the spice tour as well! And some souvenir shopping!
Anyways, I think my internet time is running out...but Evan or mom or dad if you could help me out a bit with that camera I would really appreciate it. Basically the problem is that when I turn on the camera, it tells me that the card door is open, and to check the door and the USB door before operating it in water. But it worked FINE in the water 2 days ago, and then the whole time I was snorkelling, and then stopped working when I came out of the water. I tried rinsing in off in fresh water, and letting it dry, but that hasn't seemed to help.
IF you get a chance to look in to that, that would be great!
I am really sad I missed the Culbert Christmas and thought about you guys a lot!!!
Thanks again Lisa and Evan for calling!!! I love hearing from you guys!!!
I am really starting to miss home!!! Cant wait to see you momma and can't wait to be back!
Love you all!!
-Denise
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sals
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Mango Rice Salad!!!mmm
Den, Not a day goes by that i do not think of you and britt. And every blog i read from you makes my hair spike and sends goosebumps all over. I can only imagine how much more intense it is for you both being there on the ground. By the way, I am only reading your Blogs, cause i cant find Brits? Im technologically impaired! The sarengeti, beaches, safaris, and good folk; in my head i have constructed an image of how that all must look and feel like, so reading your blogs takes me a little into your world, and the great journeys you must be encountering every day. I would love to get political with you, and pose questions about the social conditions; political corruption; warfare; military conflicts; rising pandemics and more important matters, so many questions, but i think in order for you to engage in these conversations you will need to come home, and discuss them in a more relaxed setting. Im sure there is so much for you to digest right now from what you are seeing and hearing, that you will only really feel the weight and power of your experience when you leave. Give britt a great BIG kiss for me, and one for u thanks for keeping me inspired and moved everyday :) love u guys salsxoxo