Tales from the Bush

After 17 hours in planes, 6 hours in air ports and 4 hours in various vehicles, I have arrived safely in Tanzania!! It is great to be back, it is almost even better to discover several internet cafes in town at 1000 Tsh/minute ($1/minute) to be online.

My first night was spent in Nairobi at a friend's parent's house. They were so kind and welcoming, but let's be honest, I probably could have slept anywhere at that point, I was exhausted. Tuesday morning I headed back to the airport (that I left 12 hours before) to fly to northern Tanzania.My tour guide was late, but given the existence of "African Time" (absolutely nothing happens on a western schedule, it is totally acceptable and normal to be hours late), I was unphased. I was eventually met by the tour operator who planned my safari, she is wonderful. She in English and crazy and just so very hippy. Her and I drove to Arusha (one of the capitals) where I was met by another driver who took my an hour west where I was met by another driver. Luckily, the government has paved the road, so it was tarmac the entire way (the same cannot be said to where I was in Kenya 2 years ago). My third driver was also my tour guide for my two day safari.

Aladiin, my guide, took my first to Lake Manyara, a giant alkaline lake that abuts the wall of the Rift Valley, which is surprisingly a vertical wall arising from nowhere. The lake is home to hundreds of species of birds, and if you know of my dislike for birds, was a bit hard, especially the GIANT human sized pelicans, ok, maybe not human size but close, it could have eaten me! After our game drive in the park, he took me to the lodge where I was staying. It is beautiful. The staff are all amazing, a top notch place given the location. Further, the food is world class, really great. I was well fed and sent to bed because Aladiin set a 6am wake up call for me so that the second day could begin at 7am. Dear lord, so the math, that is 10pm est (maybe not, I have yet to figure out the time zones and still mess it up when talking to friends in Europe). After being woken up at 6am and suffering through extreme confusion (where am I, what time is it, why are my lights being flashed), I headed out on day 2 to Ngorongoro Crater, which may be my favorite park in East Africa thus far. It is a dormant volcano that collapsed in onto itself creating a perfect crater (think craters on the moon!). The environment in this area is very very lush and green, home to some of the best coffee in the world, so the drive up the wall of the crater was green, jungle-esque and it took an hour. Then once you hit the top, the expanse of the crater is seen, it is exactly like what you picture of Africa (or at least what I pictured), plains with a few trees dotting the landscape. It was such a change from the drive up the crater wall. Then we dropped 600 meters in the crater. I was lucky enough to see the entire big five (cape buffalo, elephant, leopard, rhino and lion). It was a fantastic, but very long day.

I am heading to the orphanage in a few hours. I am terribly excited but rumor has it (yup, even small towns in Africa suffer from sharp tongues and rumors) that one of the volunteers is just vile. She is apparently very rich or has good connections, so is bringing in money, thus she has been allowed to stay, but she is apparently awful to local staff and volunteers alike. But the other two volunteers are supposed to be lovely, so I plan on not letting her under my skin too much.

Alright, I must gather my things and prepare to became a "mama" (because I am white, thus I look like the other volunteers and because they can't remember names) to 41 kids! Dear lord, if this isn't the perfect birth control, I don't know what is!!