Tanzania

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Alec: Here we are in Tanzania after the long flight from England last week. On the morning of Wednesday the 16th, we arrived and drove to the hotel and met up with Carol and Stuart (Mom's sister and her son) and for the rest of that day relaxed\151napping and hanging out at the pool. The next day we did our first game drive in Manyara National Park. We had two jeeps and two guides named Kavishe and Everest. About 100 yards down the dirt road from the park gate, we saw a group of elephants in the forest eating. A little ways further there was a troop of baboons playing around the road and in the trees. Other things we saw that day included monkeys, wildebeest, zebras, hippos, and even a Nile monitor lizard actually eating a black mamba snake! The next day, after a long drive to the Serengeti, we saw our first lions. The lions were resting in the hot sun on a small rise on the plain, looking very peaceful until our guides said that they would eat us if we left the car. The following day (still in the Serengeti) we did an all day game drive. Although we saw lots of neat animals, I really liked seeing two cheetahs walking through the dry grass and coming very close to us. They are not as common as other large cats, as there are only 200-300 in the whole park. They are very long legged and thin and when they walked, you could see how graceful they were. We also saw our first lion kill (wildebeest). There were 2-3 lions chewing on the wildebeest carcass in a field. They had bright red faces from the blood.

     The next few days we saw more lions, elephants, giraffes, etc. We saw three more cheetahs and one we got to see running after a zebra. It didn't catch it but it was very cool to see how fast it could run (cheetahs are the fastest land animals, running up to 70 mph for short distances). On Nov 21st in Ngorongoro Crater, we saw a large pride of 11 lions that had just finished eating a zebra and were now fat and happy and laying under the safari jeeps, seeking shade. There was one jeep that had seven lions/cubs under it! Whenever a jeep left, the lions would get up and go to the next one! During the whole trip, we only saw one rhinoceros at a distance, but even so far away it was really cool to see.

     On our second to last day of the safari, we drove to Gibbs Farm (near Arusha) to a hiking trail through the forest. After a forty five minute hike, we came into sight of the elephant caves that had been made by elephants during the night searching for minerals (for food). We could see the rocky openings to the caves, but also a small (for an elephant at least) baby elephant. When our guide saw that, he said that we had to go back immediately, which was reinforced by the appearance of a much larger Mama elephant who came out from behind a tree and began running after us!! We all made it away, but it was a very exhilarating experience, kind of scary and kind of fun. Later that day we visited a Tanzanian primary school and visited two classes, who both sang for us and showed us their schoolwork. On our last day of the safari we did our last game drive in Tarangire National park and saw lots and lots of elephants. I was very unhappy that this was our last day on the safari and that Carol and Stuart would be leaving that night. We came to the hotel in Arusha and soon went in the pool. It felt very nice after a long hot day and Stuart and I stayed in for several hours. Finally it was time for Carol and Stuart to leave and we all said goodbye. After dinner last night, we rented a DVD and all watched Master and Commander on our computer. We didn't fall asleep until after 11 pm.

     Today we are doing schoolwork and packing and trying to get ready for our long plane ride to Bangkok, and then the next morning onto Bhutan.