Tarangire National Park

From Scott: Last weekend we visited Tarangire National Park. I thought I would add a few pictures from the trip (with a few from other places thrown in). Tarangire River, baboon family, zebras, giraffe, white browed coucal, sunset over zebras and wildebeest.

Guest Blog - Kelly visits the Simons

Hi. This is Kelly Wassell, friend of Angela's, that went to Africa to visit the Simons. When they told me they were going to Africa, I jumped on the chance to go. While I was there, I stayed with them in the first apartment for a few days. What I was most impressed with was how GREAT the kids were. Arusha is nothing like Little Rock, nor anywhere that I have been. But the kids seemed to just take it all in stride. They had been there for 2 weeks, so all the sights I was taking in weren't new to them. So women with tons of things on their heads, Maasai men walking through town, didn't seem to faze them. And Annie and Charlie were great playmates. I can't imagine how Scott and Angela would handle things if they weren't. When we weren't walking through town, I got to play some things with them that I hadn't for 20-30 years, the dot game, fortune tellers, and string things like cat's cradle.

I also went on safari for 4 nights and had a wonderful time. I spent 2 nights at the Ngorongoro Crater Lodge. Before I could get in the conservation area, the Baboons greeted me and the other visitors. Thank goodness, I had the windows closed. They aren't afraid of getting in the vehicles and stealing food. I witnessed 2 grabbing the boxed lunches and making off with a sandwich and banana.

It was amazing to be in the crater and see all the wildlife just right there. Everything lives in the crater except giraffes, and I saw an example of most of it all except the shy leopard. And although I have been told it counts, I only saw the very back of what I was told was a black rhino. I love the zebras who hang out with the wildebeasts. Charlie and Annie especially loved my laughting zebra picture. I promised I would post it.

I then spent 2 nights in Klein's under Canvas, tented lodge. How wonderful to be in a tent right next to the Serengeti. We went on a night game drive after visiting a Maasai boma and then spent the next day in the Serengeti National Park. It just doesn't compare to a zoo, when you don't know what combination of animals was going to be around the next corner. The one thing we were assured of was seeing our fill of wildebeasts. If I saw one, I saw a million. It was part of the great migration. Just imagine the "lion king" scene, but slower. Amazing.

It's hard to describe the experience, but wanted to share a little of it. The national parks of Tanzania are amazing. I would highly recommend going to everyone.

And give the Simon's a shout.

They are there another 4 weeks and with the earthquakes and all, I am sure they would like to get emails from you.

Thanks for reading. And thanks to the Simons for letting me join them for part of their adventure.
Kelly

Beyond the Streets of Arusha

From Charlie: You know those roads, they are just smelly and icky wicky. Everyday we have to walk, walk, walk, and walk. My Mom is afraid for my Dad to drive and won't let him. So we don't have a truck. Pawpaw (who just arrived) doesn't blame her. The only thing I like about those streets is that there is a lot of interesting stuff around. So you never know what is going to happen. For example, Tanzanite and granite are the most often seen in shops. So far the Isuzus are kicking up a ton of dust and pollution right from the wheels and the tailpipe. We have seen quartz with inclusions in it. They're very rare. That's all I have right now from Beyond the Streets of Arusha.

New place and earthquake

From Scott: We moved from our apartment to a house this week. Kids needed a better area to play besides the apartment living room or the front area of nearby shops looking for bottle caps in the dirt (but more on that later). The house is located in an ex-pat area called PPF-Njiro and is run by the Tanzanian parastatal pension fund. House is very nice on the outside and has a great yard with lots of flowering shrubs and trees. I'll try to post a picture soon. The inside is well used and the problem is we have to share it. We are usually by ourselves during the day, but in the evenings, the cockroaches and assorted other insects come out. There are more bugs than the five tropical house geckos that inhabit our front porch can manage.


But the PPF site has a nearby playground, pool, and work out area. So we'll see.

For more excitement, each of the last three evenings, we have had little earthquakes. Yesterday evening it registered 6.0 on the richter scale and brought everyone out of their buildings. The government has issued an earthquake warning startng at 4 PM today. Everyone was to go home and turn off gas, water, and electricity and stay in open areas this evening. So, the adventure continues.

Street scenes

From Angela: I thought I would post a few pictures of Arusha town. All of these have been taken out the windows of taxis so they are not the best, but I don't take my camera out in town. In fact, I have never seen anyone with a camera in town.

The first is just a picture along the road to our apartment, the second is the Central Market (a bit intimidating and crowded farmer's market), the third is downtown Arusha and the fourth is, yes, a car wash.

Feeling better

Note from Annie: I am feeling much better. Now I know how to take pills and swallow them with water. Thank you all for sending me notes to make me feel better. Now that is the end of me being sick right now!

Lizards and snakes

From Charlie: I have been chasing lizards all over Tanzania. I have seen a lot of different kinds. The most exciting one was an red-headed agama (Kelly Wassell took this picture, my Dad's wasn't very good). One day I was chasing a striped skink at a house we were looking at renting. It was sticking its head through the drainholes in an outside wash basin. I picked it up by its chest and I carried it over to Doug. Before he got his camera to take a picture, it squirmed onto my finger and bit me! I let go and it was hanging in mid air from my index finger. I pulled it off and threw it into a bush. My Mom freaked out and wanted me to put a band aid on it. But I was like, no way, it doesn’t hurt at all. A week later I can still see the bite marks.


When we were at Lake Manyara National Park picnic area something interesting happened. Some people came and sat with us. They were from the US. Earlier they had seen a python that fell out of a tree. The grandma was very scared of snakes. At the end of our lunch, the people started yelling, snake! A small one had fallen out of the tree into their area. Everyone else insisted that it was a garter snake so she wouldn’t be so scared. I was thinking, “what do these people know about snakes. Garter snakes are never green. They are always brownish, tanish, and yellowish." I thought it was a Jason’s mamba. So we got our snake field guide and camera to identify it. It was a spotted bushsnake. Grandma ran into their truck.

And that was about it for our non-scary adventures that had to do with cool snakes and lizards.