Some observations

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A mountain of laundry to do, 4 - 8 gig photo cards to sort through. No food in the house, but too tired to go shopping. Will meet the kids for dinner. A few words about Tauck Tours. Awesome, excellent, wow. Our guide, Seth, warned us ahead of time that this adventure isn't like anywhere you have ever been before. This is Africa, T.I.A. We found ourselves repeating that acronym often, in a humorous way. Usually it had too do with squat toilets or animals blocking the road,or after visiting a Masai boma and smacking your head on the ceiling. Tauck included every meal, stayed in the best accommodations in each area visited. The hotels were fabulous. If I had to choose, it would be the Kempinski for its Serengeti waterhole location. The animals came to us! The Fairmont Mt. Kenya was most relaxing, maybebecause we had 3 nights there. Service best at Fairmont Masa. Bit I loved Serena Hotels throughout because of their school.support and the pillows were the best. Beds were firm at Serena, and because owned by the Agha Khan the buffets included Indian fare at every meal. Tauck included everything, all tips (though we did offer additional $3-5 to the evenings entertainers and if a service person went out of their way. We additionally gave each game driver $20 for the week we spent with them. And of course a gratuity to our wonderful host, Seth, who made the trip of a lifetime as good as it would get, T.I.A. Tauck did not solicit this in any way, we were happy to reward them for the hard work, driving those bumpy roads, and their wealth of information. Even the hot air balloon ride was part or the cost of the Tauck trip. Many in the group we're apprehensive about going up, but even those people were very disappointed when the trip was called off after several attempts to go aloft. The cultural experiences we had were fascinating, on game drives we were blessed with much wildlife, and never felt stressed or rushed. There was ample rest time each afternoon, and rest and snack breaks along the roads. The trip was worth every dime, a carefree vacation in the lap of luxury, the best Africa has to offer. One last note, although a poorer country, I enjoyed Tanzanians more than Kenyans. Maybe the political conditions of the last 40 years, or maybe its cultural I don't know, but I found as a whole those in Tanzania were working hard to please because that's who they are. They are a happy people, and to have a hotel job there is a big step up from the farm. The education system is overstressed with70 students per class in elementary school. Most wont go on to secondary school, because of the cost, about $300 per year. But they are happy and eager to learn, most walking miles to and from school because they want to learn. They know they will get good jobs if they learn English and math. Their lot and their family's lot will be enhanced if they learn.

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