JAMBO!

DAY ONE. After 20 hours of travel we finally landed at Kilamanjaro airport at 8:40pm. Charles and Mustafa drove us to the Kigongoni Lodge in Arusha. We strolled down a windy walkway and stood at the door number 7. We headed straight to sleep in our mosquito netted beds.

DAY TWO. Played cards on our porch while being accompanied by atleast 15 vervet monkeys! So scary, but really cool at the same time. We ran inside after they got extremely rowdy and we asked the cleaning lady if they bite and she just replied with a few ha ha's. Clearly she didnt understand what we were saying. Later on, we went to the pool to cool off for a bit and ended the day with a nap. Dinner was delicious.

DAY THREE. Woke up bright and early and started the day off with some passionfruit juice and eggs. After eating we met the other three families. The Burnstein's from Nova Scotia, Matt, Marsha, Beth and Max. The Johnson's from Michigan, Dorothy, John and James. The Allard's from Conneticut, Ashley, Justin and Austin. Also, we were introduced to our guides and mentor. Charles. Mustafa tall. Mustafa short. Patrick. Florence. We boarded the land rovers and headed to Arusha National Park. We saw tons of giraffes, zebras and cape buffalo. We also did a walking tour to a waterfall of Mount Meru where we were very close to the many animals. Nap. Dinner time.

DAY FOUR. Woke up late. Alarm clock didnt go off! Good thing we packed our bags last night. Rushed to eat breakie and headed off to Tarangire National Park, the fourth largest in Tanzania. We saw baobab trees which are very unique and have an interesting story behind them. Baboons. Elephants. Buffalos. Zebras. Giraffes. Arrived at our camp where we got a tour of the tents, dining tent and got a shower demonstration. The tents were amazing. Definitely not the tents we camp out in. Luxury tents I'm telling you! So nice! Played cards with all of the kids and Florence.

DAY FIVE. Drive through the national park once again and the coolest thing we saw was elephants taking a mud bath. I love the elephants. Then we drove to a nearby lodge, ate, and swam for the entire afternoon. So hot out! Drove back to the camp and ate dinner after playing cards once again.

DAY SIX. Set out to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Definitely one of my favourite days because we saw a lot of the town area and the people are my favourite part of vacations, the animals were not that interesting to me. We learned a lot about the education in Tanzania when we stopped at a local school where I met my pen pal, Bibiana. She didnt say one word to me! She was so shy. Very depressing. We toured through classrooms and the kids all sang for us. I would love to teach in Africa after i graduate university. We played soccer with the kids and we headed to Gibbs Farm. We toured the coffee farm after eating a tasty lunch and hiked through the estate. We departed for our next camp, but stopped at a lookout and saw the crater. Arrived at camp. Played cheat and egyptian rat tails with all of the kids again and Izekio (one of the camp staff) joined in. He was a natural card player and very funny. Dinner was delicious once again. Sat out at the fire at night. Tons of stars! The weather at night in the Ngorongoro crater was a lot like the nights of being at a cottage up north.

DAY SEVEN. Explored the crater, which is a collapsed volcano, 2000 feet to the floor. New animals. Rhinos. Lions. Hippos. Flamingos. Ostrich. Jackals. Wildebeest. Gazelles. Antelope. Long day. Cards. Fire. Max, Beth, my brother and I went back to our tent and played cards just the teenagers without the 11 year olds. Learned a lot about them and the Jewish culture.

DAY EIGHT. Departed for Serengeti National Park. Said goodbye to the camp staff who were awesome and a lot of fun. Picnic lunch. Visited a Masaii boma which is one of the 120 tribes in the country. These people raise cows and goats for a living and live in cow dung huts. Very different way of life. They welcomed us with a dance and the men and women were separated and taught the genders different dances. Interesting. The Masaii have warriors who protect the cows at night from predators, and they get strong by drinking cow blood. So gross! they take 3-4 litres from the cows neck and mix it with milk and drink it...anyways they had very interesting bracelets so i bought a few there. We viewed wildlife while appraoching camp. Cheetahs. Huge male lion on top of a grass hill. Coolest thing. Met our new camp staff who were my favourite from the whole trip. Cards of course.

DAY NINE. Met Frank. One of the staff members. He was so nice and fun to talk to. Drove along the plains of the Serengeti, 6000 square miles. Leopard. Cheetahs. Lions. Impala. Warthog. Hippos. Went back to the camp for lunch. After lunch we had the option of going out to look at wildlife again and Chris and I decided we werent going to go because we had seen every animal so we stayed back. We played cards with Florence and Frank all afternoon. Very fun! Everyone else came back and complained that they saw nothing and that it rained too much. Muahaha. Dinner came later on and it was the best dinner. The staff put on a great show by singing and dancing for us. Then we got into a circle and we all had to danc with them. Loved every minute of it! Goodnight.

DAY TEN. Woke up very early and ate our last breakfast. Took tons of group pictures with the guides and staff and said goodbye to the camp. Drove to a small airstrip for our flight back to Arusha. We said goodbye to our guides and boarded the plane. An hour later we arrived in Arusha and went to a nearby shop where i bought lots of necklaces, bracelets, and earrings! I was overwhelmed with all of the nice things! Ate lunch there too. After, we headed to Koi Lodge where we got a day room and hung out at the swimming pool all day in the hot sun. At around 6:30 we left for the airport which was a 5 minute drive from the lodge. Boarded at 9:40 and flew for an hour to Dar es Salam to pick up more people and then another 7 hours to Amsterdam.

DAY ELEVEN. Arrived at 7am in Amsterdam and had a 6 hour lay over where we played cards and toured the airport. Said goodbye to the rest of the families and went our separate ways. Nearly 9 hours to Toronto. Tim Hortons. Home sweet home. Sleep.

I LOVE MARCH BREAK.