Sacto July 22

Sacramento, Ca.

Wednesday, July 22

back home

The past few days have been a blur. At this moment I've been awake for 48 hours straight with 20 of those hours having been spent on 3 different planes. The remainder of the hours were spent in buses, cars, mini-vans or in airport terminals.

The Serengeti was really the place for reptiles. We saw a 10 - 12 foot long water python slithering along in a river. I'm glad we were in the safari vehicle on the bridge above the river. That same day we also saw a monitor lizard, a puff adder and crocodiles. The crocodiles could be found at the same location as the hippos pictured here but they were not nearly as photogenic!

We left the Serengeti on a small plane. It only took 45 minutes in the air to travel back to Arusha. Had we driven again over those narrow, rough roads it would have taken at least 8 hours. We passed extremely close by an active alkaline volcano, Mt. Lengai. What a thrilling experience to fly so close to something so massive and spectacular!

On one of the last days of our safari I asked one of our drivers if his children had ever had the opportunity to go on safari with him. We all found it disturbing to discover that most Tanzanians (even those with relatives in the tour business) have never seen a wild animal. It is far too expensive for them to pay for the rental of the vehicle and the steep park entrance fees.

I found it a rare privilege to be able to spend time observing all of the magnificent African animals in their natural habitat. To be able to catch the gaze of a giraffe or elephant and look into each other's eyes for a few seconds was really something. And I'll never forget the gentleness, warmth and relaxed attitude of the Tanzanian people. I now have a new appreciation for things that we normally take for granted (being able to shower with warm water in a fully lit room, brush my teeth with tap water, make a phone call when the weather is windy, and send email the same day the message is composed). This was an incredible trip, but it feels great to be back home.

I would like to express my thanks to several people in Tanzania: Tim Hendriks (of Zanzibar.net & Ras Nungwi) for sending my email message from Zanzibar and for arranging our drivers and tours while on the island, Annette Simonson (of the Tarangire Safari Lodge) for letting me use her computer to transfer my email to disk and for arranging to have the disk driven to Arusha to send the message, to Wildersun Safari & Tours for coordinating an exceptionally great safari experience, to Maulidi and Steven our knowledgeable and funny drivers on the safari and to all of the waiters and other guides who helped make an unforgettable experience for us.

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The past few days have been a blur. At this moment I've been awake for 48 hours straight with 20 of those hours having been spent on 3 different planes. The remainder of the hours were spent in buses, cars, mini-vans or in airport terminals.	The Serengeti was really the place for reptiles. We saw a 10 - 12 foot long water python slithering along in a river. I'm glad we were in the safari vehicle on the bridge above the river. That same day we also saw a monitor lizard, a puff adder and crocodiles. The crocodiles could be found at the same location as the hippos pictured here but they were not nearly as photogenic!

We left the Serengeti on a small plane. It only took 45 minutes in the air to travel back to Arusha. Had we driven again over those narrow, rough roads it would have taken at least 8 hours. We passed extremely close by an active alkaline volcano, Mt. Lengai. What a thrilling experience to fly so close to something so massive and spectacular!

On one of the last days of our safari I asked one of our drivers if his children had ever had the opportunity to go on safari with him. We all found it disturbing to discover that most Tanzanians (even those with relatives in the tour business) have never seen a wild animal. It is far too expensive for them to pay for the rental of the vehicle and the steep park entrance fees.	I found it a rare privilege to be able to spend time observing all of the magnificent African animals in their natural habitat. To be able to catch the gaze of a giraffe or elephant and look into each other's eyes for a few seconds was really something. And I'll never forget the gentleness, warmth and relaxed attitude of the Tanzanian people. I now have a new appreciation for things that we normally take for granted (being able to shower with warm water in a fully lit room, brush my teeth with tap water, make a phone call when the weather is windy, and send email the same day the message is composed). This was an incredible trip, but it feels great to be back home.