We stayed at a hostel in Moshi that night and the next morning we went up to Machame Gate on Mt. Kilimanjaro and spent some time on the side of that great mountain, looking at birds, drinking tea and watching as hikers began their ascent to the top. Then we went on to Arusha where the Mennonite Central Committee has its offices. We met with MCC’ers there, looked at an agricultural test project and had dinner together with them that evening.
The next day the ten of us left Arusha and started a four-day “safari” in the greater Serengeti area. We went first to Lake Manyara National Park which has a lot of birds plus elephants, giraffes, hippos and other animals. After that we kept heading west, ascending the great East African Rift Valley Wall into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. We spent two days there, including descending to the floor of Ngorongoro Crater, a twelve-mile wide collapsed volcano where there are lions, black rhinos, elephants, wildebeests, ostriches, African buffaloes, cheetahs, hyenas and, well, pretty much everything except giraffes. That was awe-inspiring. Here’s our bunch at the top of the Crater:
From there we headed back southeast to Tarangire National Park which is, in my estimation, the best national park in all of Africa. It's peppered with baobab trees and has all the big animals, including giraffes. We stayed at the Tarangire Lodge which perches on a high bluff overlooking the Tarangire River where animals of all kinds come to drink. Here we are looking out over the river plain:
And here’s what we’re looking at:
From there we drove back to Morogoro via Babati and Singida and spent the next five days here, exploring the town, visiting Dave’s project at Sokoine University and spending one afternoon at Mzumbe Secondary School with Erica and Nathan having a Q and A with students. Here we are with the pastor’s family and a few other members of Morogoro Mennonite Church:
From Morogoro we went to Bagamoyo on the Indian Ocean for two relaxing days, staying in thatched-roof bandas by the sea.
After all that it was time to head to the Dar es Salaam airport which was the least fun part of the trip. But it left me glad all over again to have a great family, flexible and ready to try out anything new, in addition to being among the most fun people that I know and all around great companions in travel or just sitting around talking and laughing up a storm! And those of you who couldn’t make it this trip, come on out anytime!
