Nzuri safari -->Good Journey

So we've now gone and returned from our safari to Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro crater. We spent one day at each park and stayed at the Bougainvillea Safari Lodge (bougainvillea are flowers that grow in abundance here in Tanzania). The lodge was super nice with private bungalows and king beds. the best part about the whole place though was the food. The food was the best i've had since I've been here. i knew lamb could be so tender and delicious. It was a five course dinner with freshly backed rolls and something called banana rice that, in it's deliciousness, overwhelmed my staunch dislike of bananas. Yum! That's enough about the hotel, now about the parks.

Lake Manyara
This park is comprised of one giant shallow lake and all the land that surrounds that lake. There are giant baobabs and tons of wildlife. The lake is very dry right now. The short rains came early in November and didn't last very long, so the dust was unusually thick. The amazing wildlife pushed us all to overcome our scratchy dry eyes and we enjoyed it a TON! We saw everything we expected plus more. There were baboons, elephants, wildebeast, buffalo, flamingos( which the park is famous for), and even one of the legendary tree climbing lions! It was a big male and he was actually sleeping under a tree but I'm pretty sure all of his females were in the tree( although I can't prove this). Anyways, we saw the hot springs and the hippos pond. The hippos weren't very exciting because they just sort of lay there in their vastness wallowing in the mud and sleeping. They did make a few rather crude noises( what would Ms. Manners think? I mean really!).
Reality Check
So what I didn't realize and what I want to explain, is that when you go on safari your basically signing up for an x amount of days road trip. Your not allowed to get out of your car in the parks except at a few designated sites and the wildlife, as might be expected of wild animals, are allowed to roam where they please so you spend all day driving around straining your eyes at the horizon looking for them. I had some small expectations tucked away in the back of my mind of a more dangerous adventure (i.e. The African Queen and Out of Africa). I didn't even realize they were there, but regarless, they were not realized. There really is very little danger except from other drivers and the conditions of a few of the roads. Even though I was a little disappointed that I wasn't nearly eaten by anything, I had a fantastic time.
Ngorongoro Crater
This park is amazing. It was by far my favorite. After you pass through the fist set of gates( and pay all the money on your person to the very serious man behing the gated counter you) you begin to drive around the crater rim. You continue on this drive for about thrity minutes all the while getting great views of the crater bottom and a few animals along the way. Then you come to the second gate, which marks the beginning of your decent into the crater. the road down is in pretty good shape although if you are afraid o heights you may not want to look down. Luckily I'm only afraid of heights in airplanes so I loved the view. At first all you see are a couple of puddles of water and a few tiny trees, then as you decsend you begin to see spots. Tiny littel brown spots and then they begin to grow into a large herd of zebra and wildebeast! Awesome! Finally on the bottom you drive around a great loop that takes you pretty much around the edge of the crater and down the middle. At first we saw only the same animals that you see everywhere, like the zebras and the wildebeasts and the gazelle, but then, what's that!? Is it? There's a lot of cars around! I think it is! YES! IT'S A LION PRIDE!!!!! We saw a pride of lions minus the male. Apparently they just lie under trees all days. Anyway, this was a group of femals with two large cubs. It was very cool. Even up close it's hard to fathom how big they really are. Then on our way back around th loop we saw the same lions and this time one of the females walked right in front of our car!!!!!!!! She was huge! I snapped a few clumsy shots with my cameras but pictures can never do her justice. She was amazing Then some others came across the road and appeared to be watch a few wildebeast who were lying in the grass. Anyways, we were hoping something would happen but it didn't they just layed there in the grass and watched. That was the most exciting thing of the day. We ate lunch by this gorgeous freshwater lake that had tons of little fish in it( where did they come from?!) and some hippos. It was lush and green which contrasted with the mostly dry green/brown of the rest of the park. On our way out we did see a Cheetah, although he was quite far away and without binoculars looked like a speck. it was still really cool to get to see one because they are not commoly seen. OH! and we saw THREE black rhinoceroses! Most people only see maybe one or two but we saw three!!!

in conclusion because this post is huge and your probably fading I would like to say that I have a wonderful time on safari and I think everyone should do it.

Christmas

Christmas eve, Josh, Renee and myself all gathered with the Carstensens for dinner. It was tons of fun and we mostly laughed all night. I even was able to take part in my first "santa leaving the presents" event. I've never had the opportunity to do that so it was pretty exciting to see what goes on behind the scenes of the Santa myth. Mostly it was exciting to see Boaz and Talia open their present the next morning.

The next morning we all went back up to the Carstenson's at about 6:30am for the present opening. That's when the picture of me and Mt. Kilimanjaro was taken!

Then we headed back to Josh and Renee's house to open our presents! I got a wall handing with elephants on it! Totally cool!

Ok here are a few pics. I'll try to get more on but I have to wait for Josh to get them on the server and then I have to convert them and it's a process so it takes time.

PIGGIESIII

This is the new litter of pigs on base. They are very cute. The pen looks a little icky but it was cleaning day and they had just taken out all of the hay to clean it out.

I'm planning on posting pics from Christmas soon. Hopefully I'll get some up tonight, but we are leaving for safari in the morning so it may not happen until Tuesday.

Karma karma karma karma Karma Cameleon!

We finally caught a cameleon! Renee has been telling me about them for days but I starting to think she was full of it. But alas Josh found one near the stable!

Also Renee and I went into town for Christmas dinner shopping and while in town stopped at Msumbi Coffee where they roast their own coffee beans (these pictures are mostly for you Dan and Tony...:-) It was delicious by the way.

Oh and there are new piglets in the barn today!! I wanted to play with them but their mother is very very big and scary and protective. I'll post pics of those tomorrow.

Everyone on base is getting ready for the Christmas and Boxing day festivities. We, Josh Renee and I, are going to the Carstensons for Christmas eve dinner, one of the families on base. But first we're having the celebration for the people who work here at the Joshua Foundation. We all get together and play games and then we're going to have a BBQ, they slaughtered the pig this evening so it's very fresh pork. Should be interesting since they have just built the BBQ pit this afternoon. Then on Christmas day we're going to open presents and then we're all, all of the people who live on base, going to the Mount Meru Game Lodge for lunch. I'm looking forward to the holidays, but they are going to be very busy.

Magugu

Yesterday we went down to Magugu, about a 2.5 hour drive from Arusha, to give out Christmas presents to the children who attend the Joshua Foundation school. Magugu is a small town with rundown buildings, no sealed roads, and women selling peanuts everywhere (they also grow peanuts). On the way down we passed Lake Manyara, where the tree climbing lions and the flamingos live, and some of the most giant baobab trees I've see yet. Actually they were the first baobabs I've seen so they all looked enourmous to me. The school is pretty large with about 420 students attending. They have nursery school up through Form 2 which would be about 9th grade for us. Probably less than half were there for presents having already gone home. It was great to see how excited everyone was and it was hilarious to see the kids breaking into them early. The nursery school children were adorable, the presents were almost too big for them to carry. I've included pictures of Magugu and some of the school with the group handing out presents. Oh, in Magugu when we first arrived we had chai and chapatis ( i=ee), which are basically fried crepes though they tend to be a little thicker. Then for lunch we went back to the same resaurant and I had pilau, whcih is a rice dish with some sort of meat. I didn't eat the meat, which was probably beef, though others did, but the rice was delicious. it was spiced with something that gave it a very gentle floral taste, sort of like jasmine rice. Anyways, it was good. Oh and coke is my hero right now.

On the wildlife front we saw two guineu fowl and one monkey tail as it ran away. I don't have my safari plans sorted out but that should be done by the first of this coming week.

kiswahili

I'm trying to learn some swahili while I'm here so that I'm not totally dependent on Josh and Renee to speak all of the time. So far I've learned a few words mostly greetings. Here's what I know so far...

Jambo-hello
asante/asante sana-thank you, thank you very much
dada-sister
bwana-sir
mama-madam but not that formal
twiga-giraffe
Habari...-as far as I can tell anything starting with this means basically, "What's your news?"
salama-peaceful a good answer to the above question
nzuri-good, the standard answer to 99% of questions beginning with Habari
mbili- two
simba-lion, yes, really
rafiki-friend, yes, again, really
maharagi-my new favorite dish of kidney-like beans with vegetables sauteed into a soup like consistency. It's delicious! ( Nikolai, I never thought I would say this to you but I really want to eat beans when i get home, in the form of maharagi, of course)
...I think that's all now. There are a few words that pop out every now and then by surprise but I think that's the adrenaline rush I get in the market kicking in.

Greeting are very important and make up most of the conversation between people. It's very important to greet someone properly if you wish to be repected or to get anywhere with people.

Lala salama-goodnight

The house

Here's where I'm staying! I'm going to get better pictures up soon.

Day 2-3

Yesterday and today have been a blur. Yesterday we went to the cinema and saw the new James Bond film. It was pretty fun but it was very loud, mostly fun though. We also ate at Khan's which is an auto parts store during the day and a BBQ at night. Pretty inventive. They big grills out on what is pretty much the side of the street in front of the store and have grilled chicken, beef or lamb and all different kinds of indian-style salads, such as "slaw" with garlic puree or coconut puree, pickled papayas, and some other stuff I don't even want to guess at. They look a little sketch but most of them take good. I had the half chicken and garlic naan bread. It was delicious!

Today Renee and I went into town. We went all over but the most interesting places were the real market and the massai market. The real market is for everyone and the massai market is for tourists. At the massai market I had my first bargaining experience. I think I did pretty well though I ended up giving in a little at the end. I couldn't help it, I was exhausted at the end! Those massai ladies are very tough hagglers. The market is set up so that there are about five very narrow corridors between tiny little sheds where people have their goods. The store owners stand out in front of their shops and tell you to look at their stuff. They say, "Karibu", which means welcome in Swahili and "Looking is free."

The real market on the other hand is more subdued. It was really amazing and a little overwhelming. There is so much to take in. The market its self is a large square with a large covered area set up in the middle where people sell almost every type of food you can think of, including some sort of smoked catfish( the whole catfish smoked folded in half with flies all over and an aroma that I have never before encountered) to fresh delicious smelling pineapples. Then around the edge there are tiny little shops where one or two people sit and sell mostly clothes. The people in these stalls are much more relaxed that the folks at the Massai market but they bargain with you as well. Everyone is looking to haggle, one guy even asked Renee if she wanted to trade her shoes. I bought a very pretty bolt of cloth that I'm going to have made into a skirt. It's amazing how different this place is. The poverty first of all is a bit of a wake up call there doesn't seem to be out right suffereing but it definitely reminds me of the advantages we have in the west. Especially things we take for granted like our general sense of safety. The Tanzanians stare at you alot. I thought it might be intimidating when Renee first told me about it but it's mostly nice how open they are, plus there isn't anything behind their staring it's a very strait forward, "You look weird so I think I'll look at you some more" kind of thing. They're just curious and once their satisfied they look away. I've gone on too long.

Picture time!

me reading

banana tree on base

Arusha downtown with dala dala(bus)

baby on mamas back

roadside fish and chips stand (those tiny silver things are fish)

In the beginning...still.....

Hi everyone! Renee and I walked around the grounds yesterday and she was a very good tour guide. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera, however, I did snap a few picture around their yard of some of the gorgeous flowers and fruits they have growing.

I didn't sleep a whole lot last night so I am still a little out of it but it's so gorgeous that it's difficult to feel too badly about it.

Ok now I am going to attempt to post my first photos. Wish me luck and enjoy the photos.

Photos posted are:

me in amsterdam with my coffee...mmm...."Where am I?"

a not so ripe lemon from a tree in Josh and Renee's front yard

Renee harassing said lemon tree with her trusty homemade lemon picker

Plumeria blooming in Josh and Renee's front yard

finally, dutch coffee...with chocolate on top of course

Even the bathrooms have beautiful flowers in them...this is one of the guest tent bathrooms

In the beginning...

I'm starting this blog because in two days I'll be in Africa!! More specifically I'll be in Arusha, Tanzania near Mt. Kilimanjaro and Lake Manyara. The reality of it all hasn't sunk in yet, I'm in the surreal pre-travel limbo that often accompanies overseas trip. Anyways, my hope is that I'll post regular...posts and...post...(is there another word) pictures of all the beautiful sights Tanzania has to offer. For now I must pack...and watch the last of the TV I'll see for a month...mostly watch TV.