Safari Scenes--A Different Perspective

As I mentioned my mom, sister, and I spent 3 days on safari last week. If you come to Tanzania, I highly recommend purchasing a book on birds in Tanzania/east Africa. Everyone seems to come with books on how to identify elephants, giraffes, zebras, etc. I have one, too. But honestly, how hard is that? I've never been interested in birds before, but after this trip (our driver was very knowledgeable about birds) I am definitely investing. There are so many--and they are all so beautiful and interesting. We saw saddle bill cranes, marabou storks, kingfishers, weaver birds, pied wagtails, woodpeckers, guniea fowl, and ibis. I wouldn't be one to sit for hours and look into trees or bushes, but it really added a lot to the trip.

We also saw 13 lions which was great, but the highlight for me were the rhinos. We spotted 3--considering there are only 15-25 in the whole country, that was a real treat! They were close enough to see clearly from the road, another bonus.

We had a quick trip to Pangani where we were fortunate to see a pod of 8-10 dolphins near our dhow as we finished snorkeling--definitely a highlight!

A day trip for student verification--waaaaaay out to a village on very bumpy roads, crossing ditches and creeks and a washout--showed another side to life in Tanzania.

They left yesterday and we are sad. Good thing friend Karen is coming NEXT WEEK to give us something to look forward to!

By the way--I officially HATE Blogger. The only reason I'm still here is because I'm too lazy to change. And it wouldn't hurt them if I did because I'm using the free version anyway. I had a terrific post on birds with great pics even. And the rhino. And the lions. But nooooooooooo--after 2 weeks--no pics are allowed apparently. Stupid Blogger. Not me, the service.