Well! We survived our safari and made it back to Peace Matunda safely and soundly...with a lot of interesting stories along the way! We started out our five days in Tangarine Park, which had tons and tons of elephants. We had great weather and it was just Michael and I with our guide for the day, so it was a very relaxing afternoon. We also had a cook traveling with us, who served us a 5 course dinner that night! We didn't realize how much our stomachs had shrunk until about course 3. It was a nice change of flavor from our daily rice and beans here.

We spent our second day at Lake Manyara. We got to watch a group of about 20 giraffes face off two lions, but luckily the lions weren't hungry...Michael was a little disappointed but I was glad to not see any blood. Plus, I've decided that giraffes are the coolest animal on the planet. We had one get so close to our safari truck at one point that we could've easily fed him from our hands. I had been really excited to see the flamingos in the lake, since after all, they're pink! There were definitely millions of them out there, but because the rainy season didn't bring enough rain to that area, the lake was really low and we couldn't get very close to the water to see them up close...oh well!

That night, we camped near the park. It was a pretty nice place, but we woke up in the middle of the night to some unknown creature ramming our tent! We think it was one of the huge birds that was living in the tree nearby, but luckily it got bored quickly and left us alone...The next morning, we woke up to a huge breakfast and a new travel buddy. Debbie, a lady from CT joined us for the last three days of our safari. We left that morning for the Serengeti, which we learned means "endless plain" in swahili. The name fits well. It was beautiful on the drive down from the mountains, but we soon realized that 14,000+ km of area means that the animals are very spread out. We went quite a long time without seeing much of anything besides gazelles, which I decided are like squirrels are for us Virginians. But, just as we were about to lose hope (and it had started to rain, which NEVER happens in the Serengeti during dry season...) we drove up to find a lion chasing a wildebeast. The wildebeast got away because we interupted the hunt, but we were excited to see 4 large female lions and one adorable cub come walking right towards our car. They were sooooo close! That night, we were given strict instructions not to leave our tent during the night, because heyenas and lions like to roam the campground. Sure enough, Michael woke me up around 3am to hear the laughing heyenas outside our tent. The next morning, a giraffe joined us for breakfast...meaning he was eating in a tree nearby as we sat down to eat our toast and sausage.

We spent that morning driving back thru the Serengeti, seeing a few lions, warthogs, and another million gazelles. We did find Pride Rock, and Michael was relieved to see a Mufasa in the distance. We then traveled back that afternoon to Ngorongoro Crater which lies on the edge of the Rift Valley. We had seen the view from the rim on our way to the Serengeti, and were really excited to camp on the edge! We arrived, set up our tent and dinner table, and then found two elephants within a few yards of the campground! It was cold up on the rim, so we had to wear tons of layers to bed that night. Michael (our guide) gave us an idea of what animals we might hear during the middle of the night, and we had to leave any and all snacks in the car so that the wild pigs wouldn't tear down the tent. We did wake up frequently the the sound of zebras eating grass outside of our tent, and the next morning, we were told that the "fresh droppings" right behind our belonged to an elephant. We had to wake up early to make our descent into the Crater, so it was still dark when we walked across the campsite with our flashlight to get to the bathroom. We came out just as the sun started to come up to realize that we had walked right through a herd of zebras in the dark! We were so close to them that we learned that the hair of their tails is even striped!

Our day in the crater was definitely our best...we saw thousands of wildebeasts as they made their migration. They were accompanied by almost as many zebras, and there were plenty of water buffalo nearby. We also got to see a huge group of hippos in the pool, which were rolling around and playing with the new babies of the group. We had a cheetah walk right next to our truck, and we saw a black rhino (very rare) in the distance. We saw a few more lions lounging in the grass (they're so lazy!), and every now and then we'd spot a heyena roaming around. I got to see some flamingos a little more closely, and then we headed back up the wall of the crater.

Overall, I think we had a great safari experience, but we were definitely ready to head back to the kids! We pulled in to the drive way late Sunday afternoon, and all the kids came running to jump on both us and the truck. They all were excited when Michael hooked our video to the TV so they could see the animals, and then we all settled down to watch Beauty and the Beast. Monday was a holiday for Tanzania, so there was no school. Instead, we just spent the day enjoying the beautiful sun, washing our laundry by hand (the washing machine broke), and walking up the mountain to see Kilimanjaro in the distance!

It's so hard to believe that we will be on our flight home to you all in exactly one week! We're so excited to see you guys and share all of our pictures and stories, but we're trying to savor these last few days with the kids...hope you all enjoyed the fireworks on the 4th! You know Michael missed them! See you guys soon!!!

Love,
Kasey

*sorry there are no pictures, the internet is crazy slow here, so we'll have to show you them when we get home!