Day 9: Tanzania (Usa River, Arusha, Tarangire)
SAFARI!!!
We kicked off the day with some fantastic French toast and then hightailed it out of there with Grayson, our safari driver. Doris and Michael stayed behind to hang out with Pastor Kleopa and his wife today and tomorrow; their reasoning being that this is more incentive for them to return to Africa another time when they *will* go on safari. But as for the rest of us...safari time!!
It took about two and a half hours of driving through Arusha and Masai country, but we finally made it to Tarangire National Park, where the safari would take place. Before we even left the check-in point, we were already seeing cute little monkeys running around. It was awesome.
The safari started off a little slow, with a couple of stray impalas and warthogs, a few elephants, a single giraffe, but as we drove further into the park, the crazier it got. We started seeing huge pans of zebras, wildebeests, impalas, and elephants, all within a stones throw away from our car!
The coolest were these two elephants who were right on the side of the road when we drove up: one knocking his head into a tree to shake some foliage down, and the other about 5 ft away from me, walking up to and then right behind our car. It was so incredible to see these animals, who are absolute behemoths, yet so elegant and fluid in their movements, just feet away from us in their natural habitat. That was what made safari so cool. Obviously we've all seen lions, zebras, and elephants at the zoo, but these were so close and unrestrained and simply living the way God created them.
After close encounters of the elephant kind (boo.), we stopped at the picnic area for lunch, which was just about as cool as the safari itself. The picnic area was on the edge of this huge cliff overlooking the river from which all of the animals would go and drink. While we were there, we saw enormous flocks of wildebeests and zebras (for whatever reason, they tended to usual show up together) drinking from and crossing the river. It was beautiful.
After lunch, we were on the hunt for big cats, specifically lions or leopards. Luckily, almost immediately after we set out, we found a line of 2 or 3 other safari trucks lined up on the side of the road, a sure sign that something good was nearby. Sure enough, some crazy Dutch woman was sticking her head out of the top of her truck yelling, "Louver! Louver!", so we looked to our rights and could just make out a male lion lying with his lioness stretched out beside him. They were pretty far away, but with camera zoom and binoculars, it wasn't too difficult to see them. They didn't do too much apart from lie there since it's their mating season which, apparently, means they mate for 4-7 days in a row without eating or doing much of anything else. We saw about 1.8 seconds of mating and a whole lot of "not much of anything else", but it was still cool nonetheless.
Our post-lion adventures included a lot of the same animals as before--but closer or in larger numbers--, but with several additions: a family of the cute little monkeys, giraffes, lots of birds, dik diks (the world's smallest--and cutest--antelope), mongoose, cape buffalo, etc etc. Needless to say, it was pretty awesome. I was also just really excited to keep seeing these boaba trees everywhere. They have absolutely *massive* trunks but are scarred all around--up to a certain height--from where the elephants scratch their tusks! I found each tree that we passed absolutely fascinating...almost more so than the animal ;)
We eventually made it to the Tarangire Safari Resort where we were shown to our "tents" and were instructed to meet for dinner in about an hour. The best way to describe our tents was achieved by my friend, Elizabeth Provencio (via FB) when she called them "Quidditch World Cup Tents from Harry Potter". They absolutely were!!
First of all, they had electricity and comfy beds in the *first* room, but then you unzip what appears to be the back wall of the tent, and there's more! A full sink, toilet, and shower--with hot running water--and more electricity! It was unbelievable. And on top of it all, if I left the outer layer of my tent unzipped, I had a fantastic view of the African plains right from my bed. It was truly spectacular.
I went to dinner a little early to connect with the free wifi in the lounge (!!!), so I could update my FB and contact my family. I really miss them, and look forward to finally going home to be with them on Monday night. Don't get me wrong, I've loved being here and am beyond grateful for the opportunities I've been given and the lessons God has taught me, but I also believe that one of the big lessons he's taught me this week is that I need to about a thousand times more appreciative of all that I have, especially my family. So it was really nice to get to text with them for a while.
Around 6:45, the rest of the team joined me, and we enjoyed cocktails on the lounge's terrace which overlooked the exquisite plains/river of Africa. (How often can one say that??) Dinner followed with a lovely buffet menu of shisk-a-bob'd beef (the first tender--not cooked with an inch of combustion--beef we've had since we arrived), rice, vegetables, salads, and chicken. It was quite delicious. Our team spent the dinner as we usually spend most dinners, hearing Dr. Rob and Dr. Rem compete with medical stories :P
In spite of their constant one-uping each other, however, I generally do enjoy their company and usually find the competition somewhat amusing, so the dinner was pretty nice.
As our team slowly dissipated to their respective tents, Colette, Nancy, and I resigned to the lobby to take advantage of their wifi and contact our families. FINALLY, after all that, we went to bed.
So that was my busy first day on safari. I've truly loved it and am so grateful to Dr. Jones for paying my way to be here. Right now, however, I'm fighting falling asleep as I keep hearing, what sounds like, the pitter patter of little June bug wings/feet inside my tent. I keep turning on the light and checking around with my flashlight, but no luck. Maybe it's outside hitting my tent? I really hope so.
Pray I don't wake up covered in June Bugs!mjl.
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