The Safari Within the Safari

Hello family and friends!

We've had a very busy past week. We have wrapped up our time in Moshi, and have just returned to Dar es Salaam, where we will be spending our final 3 days in Tanzania.

Last week we were out in the bush, as they say, on safari. We visited 3 national parks including Lake Manyara, the Serengeti and Ngorogoro Crater. All three of these parks have amazing landscapes and wildlife. Words can do the trip no justice at all, and our pictures will only just begin to give you a sense of what we saw. We took over 1000 shots (Max was a little trigger happy around the cats) and will try to post some of the better ones as our Internet connection allows. We really saw every animal one could hope to see including lions (over 40), cheetahs, leopards, elephants, giraffes, hippos, rhinos, zebras, and many more.

Our first stop was Lake Manyara, about a 5 hour drive out of Moshi. The lake is located on the edge of the East African Rift, which is a steep 600 meter ridge created by a separation of tectonic plates. In this park we saw many elephants, baboons, and monkeys, as well as a few giraffes and hippos. After a few hours of driving around, we ascended the ridge and arrived at the beautiful Lake Manyara Lodge overlooking the park. The day was a fantastic preview of what was to come.

Next up was the Serengeti. This required another long drive which took us along the rim of Ngorogoro crater, where we were able to look over what was to be our final destination. The Serengeti, home of the Lion King, is even more amazing than billed. The plains stretch all the way to the horizon, and mini forests and rock outcroppings, known as kopjes, dot the landscape. We were fortunate to come during the migration season, when thousands of wildebeest, impalas, and zebras are trekking across the grasslands. This great scene is made even better by the great number of predators attracted to this feeding opportunity. We can only hope that our pictures begin to show how amazing the sites were.

Finally, after two days in the Serengeti, we returned to Ngorogoro crater and made an early morning decent to the crater floor. Ngorogoro is believed by creationists, and Zahra's mom, to be the Garden of Eden. One look and it is easy to see why. In the relatively small crater, averaging 26km in diameter a wide variety of animals including lions, flamingos, elephants, zebras, and the rare rhino reside. Once again, we hope our pictures will begin to give you a sense of this amazing place.

So after making our way back to Moshi, we did our last bit of packing and got a little sleep before heading out yesterday morning. On our way to Dar, we stopped by Zahra's Mom's village, Kwakombo, for lunch and said hello to her village family. Made it into Dar in the evening and went out for dinner with Zahra's family.

So here we are, wrapping up our time in Tanzania. We hope you enjoy the pictures from our safari!

-Zahra and Max