The time in Tanzania was so AWESOME! We went on a total of three safaris, Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire National Park. All of these safaris were amazing and very different from each other.
At the first safaris, rooftops were open so we could stick our heads out and get a better view of our surrounding. The first thing we saw was a Bull Elephant on a top hillside. He was far away, but I didn't care. It was so excited to see an elephant that wasn't at the zoo, but within a few feet ahead there was two elephants this time very close to our vehicles. I think you can figure out how happy I was.
My first wild elephant up close
A very rare sight to see a lion in a tree
The Ngorongoro crater use to be a be volcanic area that erupted some long time ago and created this huge 9 mile crater. When we were in the crater, it was a 9 mile stretch of open field, so we definitely saw a lot of wild life. The numbers of lions, ostriches, zebras, lions, and much more was incredible. I felt a little spoiled. During our lunch however, instead of having seagulls that are common in America to swoop down and try to steal your food during a picnic, we had (Clay is going to get mad for not remember the names) yellow birds, these huge eagle like birds called Black Kites (I think), and 2 other species of bird. So we had to hide in our jeep and eat in there.
In Ngorongoro Crater
Zebra crossing
The last safari we went on, Tarangire had an extremely different type of environment which caused us to see different wildlife. We did had to be aware of these flies. I'm not exactly sure how they spelled, but we called them Tootsie flies, and its equivalent to horse flies, except these can give you river blindess. Not fun. It was a good thing we found a fly swatter in our jeep. We didn't see as many wildlife as the other two safaris, but we saw lots of different types of birds. Because of this safari, I have a better appreciation from them.
A funny story however about the Tarangire safari. During lunch, our guide warned us about the monkeys that will try to steal our food. Well, there was a monkey just chillin around and of course, we all went "Aww, he's so cute, let's take pictures!" As we were distracted with our cameras, the monkeys slowly walked closer to us. We just thought he was being curious and was going to sit there and stare at us. Well, we were wrong. He ran up to the table and tried to steal Michelle's lunch. They played tug a war for a bit, but Michelle won in the end. HAHA. And then on the other side of us, the same thing happened to these couples. Except, the monkey that tried to steal food from this lady got beaten with her box lunch. It was kinda funny.
After three days of safari time, it was back to Arusha. We were in Arusha for 2 more nights before rolling off to Egypt. We were able to roam into town and do some exploration. For the people that have been to India, this was another same repeat except slightly worse. The locals would follow us for a good 2 hours, and if you wanted to haggle it would take a very long time. These people were very stubborn, but they were nice. A lot of them called Denny, Dad and Teacher. I thought it was entertaining.
During my stay in Tanzania, I learned how to sing two Swahili songs, and name random silverware. I'm quite proud of myself and must thank Zypy and Becky for teaching me :)
Next stop, EGYPT!
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