Safari Day Six: Drive to Serengeti National Park

We are out at the Oldupai Gorge. This is where they believe humanity began. They had so many skulls of animals that they found there that are long extinct. The Leakys are the first people to search this site. The bathrooms here were the most interesting I have ever used. It was a hole with two small platforms to squat on. Serengeti is the Massai word for endless plan, and that is exactly what it is.
We saw our first leopard today. They look so much like cheetahs. It is so dusty here. Whenever we drive by another car, our vision gets swallowed by a giant cloud of tan. Being here has made me very sad what it has done to the Massai people. They push their products onto you and do not accept no for an answer. They paint their faces so you will take a picture with them and give them money.
We just arrived at Dunia Camp. We found out we will be showering with the bucket shower! All of these camps really strive to be eco-friendly.

Safari Day Five: Ngorongoro Crater

First thing when we got to the Crater this morning, we saw a big pack of hyenas stealing a cape buffalo kill from two female lions! What a way to start the day. The lions were so angry. They had the deepest growls, but because the hyenas have such strong jaws, the lions did not dare approach them. The hyenas were making their laughing noise almost as if they were mocking the lions. Their coat was much different than I expected it to be. They are mostly a medium brown shade, but a few of them had black spots and big bushy tails. They look almost like puppies. There were a few little jackels that kept trying to get a piece of the meat, but would get scared by the much bigger animals and run away.
It is extremely foggy in the crater. It is so thick it feels like it is misting on you. Two lions walked so close to the side of the car that if we had rolled down the window we could have touched them. We stopped to watch four cape buffalo and were told that there was a lion stalking them. As soon as she decided to start chasing, two others popped up out of no where. The buffalo ended up getting away, but it was really neat to see how the lions worked together. Ammy said that lions do not attack humans because they know that we would jump back into our vehicles too quickly.
After a lot of binocular searching, we saw our first Rhinos. They were fairly far off the road so it made it difficult to see them which was frustrating.

Safari Day Four: Drive from Tarangiere to Lake Manyara

Lake Manyara National Park is on our way to our lodging for the next two nights, Rhotia Valley Lodge. We passed an Obama hairstyling salon today. Ammy said they are very common to see now. Lake Manyara National Park is so lush and green. It looked just like Hawaii for the twenty minutes before we officially entered the park.
Ammy told us that the Massai people carry on their culture by choice. Their children herd the animals and some look as young as three. But, they are such happy people.
Jia Longu Ni= My name is in Swahili
I am very surprised how well we have all done being so disconnected. The funny thing is something huge could have happened in the news, and we would have no idea. Everyone we meet doesn't have internet access either so they don't know either. We are joking we are going to come back with English accents because everyone we converse with has one.
Rhotia Valley Lodge was built to finance a children's home. The couple who started it are from the Netherlands. They started an NGO there, but wanted a way to finance it in part from Tanzania. It is up at 5700 feet so it is chilly here! We are getting up really early tomorrow to go to the Ngorongoro Crater. It is supposed to have incredible wildlife, but lots of people. The crater walls are so steep that it is a self-sustaining eco-system.

Safari Day Three: Tarangiere Park

I think that I was so excited to hear a lion that I woke myself up last night. Sadly, no hearing of lions, but I think I may have heard a hyena and some animal grazing outside the tent. Getting up at six to go out on safari proved not very good today. I was surprised because I thought animals were more active early in the day. In our rooms at Oliver's there are whistles in case something happens at night! The manager here, Marcus, goes barefoot because he left his shoes out one day and a hyena at them!
We saw our first Cheetah today. They were not as bright as I had expected, and she blended so well into the back round. We woke up from our afternoon naps today, and there was a giant elephant a few feet from our tent! We looked each other right in teh eye and then I took off back into my tent until he left to join his herd.
Afternoon Safari: We saw our first lions! Ammy was able to spot them from so far away! He saw their legs sticking up in the air. We were able to drive up very close to the male and female. They were napping. The male really looks like Mufasa. Ammy told us by the way that they were sleeping they were in breeding, and sure enough, we waited about 30minutes and got to see how nature happens! It all happens in less than ten seconds. Dad kept saying to Andrew who had the camera, "Shoot Shoot Shoot! If you screw this up, I am disowning you!". We now have approximately 100 pictures of lions mating!

Safari Day Two: Drive from Arusha to Tarangiere

I learned that coffee bean plants need a lot of shade. They are shaded by a Flem Tree that has bright red flowers. The air here has a really strong smoky smell. On our drive today, we saw many huts that the Massai people live in. They are warriors who carry spears with them at all times. They wear bright pieces of fabric wrapped around themselves(many that we saw wore red). The little children in Tanzania put the biggest smile onto my face. They always smile and wave when we drive by.
Today we saw two dikdiks. They are very small little animals that mate for life. If one dies, the the other will die soon after because they are so lonely. They are the smallest antelope. The zebras and wildabeests are often seen together because they have a symbiotic relationship. They zebras rely on the wildabeests to smell where the water is, and the wildabeest relies on the zebra to see where the enemy is. We saw our first elephant today! And once we saw the first, we saw a bunch of them! The feeling of the jeep driving is a lot like the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. The jeep moves slow, but jerky around turns. There are Boba trees here that are huge! It would take probably ten people to wrap their arms around it.
We arrived at Oliver's Camp tonight! This place makes me feel like I am in an old safari movie. We are sleeping in tents, but it is the nicest tent I have ever seen! The bathrooms are permanent, but are open air. I am nervous that an elephant will pop his head in as I am showering! There is communal dinners at a long table and a big fireplace where everyone gathers for sundowner drinks before dinner. They say that you can hear the lions at night. The people in the tent next to ours said they heard lions and hyenas the night before. The camp is not fenced in so the wildlife can wander in and out. You also need an escort to walk you places after dark. We are waking up early tomorrow to try to see a lion!

First Day of the Safari

Today..there are so many things that happened that I don't know if I can put it all into words. We are learning some Swahili
Karibu=welcome (both to welcome some to a place or to say you're welcome)
Esante Sana=Thank you very much
Jambo=Hello

We saw many women today who carried baskets and buckets on their heads. It was right out of a picture, and it fascinated me. These loads looked really heavy, but the ladies were not even fazed. We met our guide, Ammy, wife and daughter today at their home. We laughed with the children of Ammy's village. We saw lots of wildlife today. We saw giraffes, zebra, hippos, lots and baboons and some monkeys that are only found in Arusha. I still cannot believe how close to the animals we can get. It felt just like when the people visit Jurassic Park for the first time. Everyone is so friendly. They all wave and yell JAMBO as you go by! We went on our canoe trip with a guide named Nelson, and at first, I didn't think we would see anything, but then out of no where we heard a Ga-Rumph. Two giant hippos appeared! They are huge animals that have the shortest little legs.

Day One in Tanzania JAMBO

The following posts are what I kept in my journal.

Today we arrived at the Moivaro Coffee Plantation Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania. Africa is so different than what I expected. The majority of the roads that we drove on were paved and majority of people spoke English very well. I cannot wait to see what everything will look like in the morning. We are going on a canoe trip tomorrow which should be really fun. Tanzania is much colder than I expected it to be. You can see your breath when you're outside. There is even a fireplace in our room which we had lit for us to heat the room up! The tipping here is really interesting to me. You only tip a dollar or two if the service you feel the service is way beyond average. The flight today was really easy. We watched movies and read the whole time. The airport was not nearly as hectic as I had expected it to be. The journey begins tomorrow! I can't wait.