Sunrise on the Rim of the Ngorongoro Crater....

I actually set my alarm to wake up in time for this spectacular view... Sunrise was about 6am or so... It was too beautiful to miss and to be captured by my bootleg camera, but just imagine.. :-) This was from my room's view!

More spectacular views from my room during the day and the entrance to my room from the hallway... The whole lodge was built into the crater...

Animals in the Ngorongoro Crater...

Hey there.... I'm finally back... sorry for the delay... believe me, I have great excuses.... for one, I dropped my laptop and haven't been able to type for about two weeks...I just got the new keyboard yesterday and did the repairs myself...Then I got hung up in Egypt, but thats a long, long story for another blog post and another day!!!  So going back in time, here are some of the animals that Julius (my fabulous safari driver) and I saw in the crater... Honestly it was a little anti-climatic and wasn't as interesting to me as the masai that lived in the rim of the crater, or the sun rising on the crater (view from my room), but maybe I just needed a crazy zoom on my camera and Evany's photograpy skills.. :-) Hey, I did my best... the animals were hiding and pretty far away... And Simba felt the need to get some 'beauty rest' during my safari..Can you imagine the nerve???  Anyway, enjoy!!! :-)

Simba's taking a nap... !!! The nerve....

Masai Adventures in Ngorongoro Crater Rim

More details to come on the fabulous masai and their village that I visited, but for now, check out my pics. 



The lovely masai ladies welcomed me in with one of their beaded neckpieces and a song and dance



Of course I had to get my masai dance on too!!! :-)





The masai men also rushed out and did their traditional masai warrior dance for me... It was so awesome!







Mtoto Masai (Baby Masai)... Yeah she was posing for me... :-)



Sagera, the village leader who invited Julius (my safari driver) and I in the village... He answered all of my crazy questions.... Even explained why masai drink cow blood (for nourishment) and will kill a lion with their spears... they are a serious tribe... but super gentle and kind.  People hire them in the city (Dar es Salaam) to watch their homes and places of business.  There's a feeling of security when masai are around.  The shukas (traditional dress) that they wear are pretty cool too!  That hut that sagera is standing outside of is one of the houses in the village.. It is made from cow dung and water.  It was pretty stinky and plenty of flies.  I declined the invite to go inside.



<>

Kindergarten in the masai village



More Ndizi (banana) Escapades

Okay, I must really love bananas.  ;-)  They taste a little funny here but I eat them every chance I get. Even when I'm in Dar, I get excited when I see the men riding the 'gutas.'  Those are the bikes with bushels and bushels of bananas on the back.  You know I had to try to ride one right??? Here's my attempt at trying to just balance myself on the guta.... I was really about to fall off....Notice the guy holding me up in the back. I like to say I was riding through town with the ndizis on my bike.. :-) That story sounds alot better than just a photo opp right??? Enjoy!

Safari Adventure Day # 1 - Arriving at Kilimanjaro Airport

After a quick 50 minute flight, I landed in Kilimanjaro Airport to get ready for day 1 of my safari adventure to Ngorongoro Crater... My driver (Julius) from Leopard Tours was my rafiki (friend) all weekend... Yeah, he put up with me all weekend... He had loads of patience... The drive from Kili to Arusha and finally to Ngorongoro Crater was 5 hours... Plenty of stops were needed for me... Especially when I saw tons of masai herding cows and sheep... Oh, yeah... I definitely have a thing for masai.. LOL... I gave away plenty of elfu mojas (almost $1 USD) to take pics with them... the photo opps were immense... Check out some of my pics from the drive to the Ngorongoro Conservation area... I think our 5 hour drive turned into 7.  :-) He didn't tell me the safari lodge was holding lunch for me... I was definitely a VIP when I arrived. :-)

My very patient driver Julius!!! Oh yeah, that big 8 passenger Land Cruiser was all mine for the weekend. :-)





At the airport... ready to see some real animals in the wild...no more pics please!!!!





So cool... My first masai sighting... He's herding sheep.  'Julius, pull over please'





Check out his dusty feet... I asked to hold his spear... He gave me the stick instead.. :-(



Only in Afrique... Negotiating for a volunteer gig!

This is another one of my fabulous Mwanza experiences.  I really liked that place!  It seemed like Coca Cola was a staple in Mwanza.  Even the 'kilimanjaro' bottled water here is bottled by Coca Cola.  What really struck me were the huge coke bottles that seemed to be on every corner.  When I asked, people kept calling them 'pipi shops.'  Pipi apparently means 'sweet stuff.'  I just referred to them as 'coke huts'... They were so cool looking and there were always people around buying coke products from them.  It seemed like a hangout spot... I heard that those 'coke huts' would be set up even in the most remote village... Just as a frame of reference, a coke from one of these huts costs about 50 cents vs $2.00 in my hotel on the peninsula!

Since this international experience has taken my boldness to another level, I finally walked up to one and negotiated with the guy (there's really only space for one person in there) to let me get in.. just to check it out... of course my camera was nearby... He was okay with it for the most part especially when I greeted him with 'Shikamoo'... thats a respectful greeting for elders here.  Later I learned that it literally means 'I am beneath your knees'... Okay, I don't know how much more 'shikamoo-ing' I'll be doing in the future.. :-)

Negotiating my way in the Coke Hut.. Plenty of 'shikamoo-ing'

 And I'm in... That was easy.  First task was to figure out how to use a bottle opener.  This was practice.  Since I apparently can pass for a 'tanzie' I was put to the test.  I got to practice my swahili... A line formed as soon as I got in the coke bottle and it was 'training day!'  My first customer was surprisingly an Mzungu (how Tanzies refer to White people here). 

Well I fooled him because he spoke to me in Swahili.  I had no idea what he asked for.  My trainer helped me.  Before I knew it I was giving people change, opening coke bottles, and having a great time in my 5 minutes of volunteer work.  I think I tipped the guy and bought a sprite from him too.  Then it was time to go.  My hotel in mwanza was across the street and I had to head to the airport soon.  I shikamoo-ed one last time and told the owner of that coke hut that it was nice to meet him or 'Nashukuru kukufahamu'... and that was a mouthful... try saying that fast 5 times.. :-) More later... Baadaye!

Modern Day Port a Potty... or just 'pee at your own risk!'

Okay, when you gotta go, you just gotta go... :-( I kept calling these 'holes in the ground' which essentially they are... Jazzy corrected me and told me they were actually called 'pit latrines'... My first experience with these was in mwanza.  I was on a site visit at a local HIV/AIDS care and treatment clinic and really had to go... nobody warned me... nobody... I ran out as soon as I saw the hole in the ground... the smell probably had something to do with it too... I didn't have my camera (which is always with me), but I was just ready to go when I saw that hole... I asked my coworkers what I just saw and after they finished laughing they explained... Tanzanians don't use toilet paper in rural places or villages so the bucket of water is for 'clean up'... Rule of thumb is to really not shake hands here... but people always wanna shake your hand.. :-( But they 'clean up' and pick noses (which is not taboo in public) with their left hands... so generally, if you shake the right hand you should be good... I'm actually grossed out talking about this, but I had to share...:-) check out the pit latrine (aka hole in the ground)... this was the second time that I saw it and I was over my initial reaction... This was at the Dar es salaam zoo... this 'pit' at least had a way to flush... there was a chain at the top... Yeah, I really had to go.. talk about super duper squatting... LOL.. talk to you later! or baadaye (later)!!!