November 22, 2013

Our first trip outside the country was in Tanzania! The night Elizabeth and I landed in Dar-Es-Salaam we wandered around eating tons of delicious street food. Her Dad, Dave, flew in later that evening and brought us so many goodies from America (Thank you!). The next day we flew up to Arusha and from there we saw Mt. Kilimanjaro (No, we did not climb it), Tarangire, Serengeti, and Ngorogoro Crater National Parks. We were extremely lucky and saw tons of lions, leopards, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, wildebeests, hyrax, monkeys, baboons, hippos, crocodiles, flamingos, zebras, hyenas, warthogs, and cheetahs! Speaking of cheetahs, we had some pretty awesome luck. Earlier we had seen a cheetah head popping out of the grass. On the last day, however, we saw a group of cars parked off the road. Our driver followed them and we found a mama cheetah with her four baby cubs! They were so cute!

The company we went through, Original Safari, was great. We had a driver/guide and personal cook that traveled with us throughout the five days. Unforeseeable car trouble, however, put a bit of a damper on our trip towards the end. Someone at the gas station had added petroleum that was mixed with kerosene so the car was constantly stalling. The most terrifying part was on the last day when we were leaving Ngorogoro Crater. The car would just stop working halfway up a hill and we would start rolling backwards on a windy road with no railings. Tons of people stopped to help us though and Dave knew a lot about cars and was able to get the car rolling in more than one instance.

Seeing African wildlife was really cool but it was also interesting to see how the local tribe, Masaai, dressed and acted compared to the Mozambicans I knew. Where there were a lot of tourists, the Masaai had chosen to wear traditional garb and live the way they had been living for hundreds of years. It seemed like they were very resistant to outside influence and stuck strongly to their culture and traditions while in Mozambique I believe there is more of a merging of the two.

Stunning sunrise in Serengeti

A lion protecting its kill (a zebra) from hyenas

I was pretty excited to see a zebra near our camp site and wanted a picture with it

Inside our jeep! We weren’t allowed to walk around inside the parks so the tops of the cars opened and it was easier for us to see further away/get good photos.

 

Group picture with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background

After we finished our safari, we headed to the island of Zanzibar. We stayed at some bungalows that were right on the beach on the eastern coast while we were SCUBA certified. Mozambique has a lot of coast line and we will be in the country a year longer so we felt it was worth it. On our first dive we saw a sea turtle and tons of beautiful fish. I couldn’t believe how pretty the water was. It was a turquoise color and very warm, which made visibility great. We dove four times in total and after the last dive we saw dolphins swimming along with the boats. I’m really grateful we had such awesome luck seeing all the things we saw.

Sitting on the boat after our first dive. Can you spot us? :)

After the certification, we went back to the western coast of the island and stayed in Stonetown. The street food there was also great. Walking around the city reminded me of Mozambique Island but so much bigger. Tons of tall old buildings and narrow corridors where we were constantly asked to buy overpriced goods. Wish I could have stayed there longer to explore more. Maybe next time!

For Lauren: The Mercury House!

Overall, I had a so much fun! It was really interesting, though, to see how lucky we are living in the first world in the 21^st century. Instead of going all the way to Africa to see the wildlife, we can drive a few hours away and visit a zoo. You can get almost as close to the animals. And scuba diving was fun but it also felt like I was looking at many of the things I could see in an aquarium or on the Nemo ride at Disneyland. Interesting, huh?

We arrived back in Pemba, Mozambique the evening of the local elections where we were told everything had gone smoothly (But found out later that the police in places like Angoche had used tear gas. Scary!). The next day we were back home. Hoping the presidential election next year will turn out more like Pemba instead of Angoche.