After spending a few days in Cape Town, we ventured out of the city with a tour company to check out Cape Point, which our guide was careful to point out was the most southwesterly point of Africa; Cape Algulhas is actually the southern most point. We wouldn’t be making it there, despite someone’s fascination with arbitrary superlatives.
Our tour group was maybe 12 people, mainly European, to the extent that describes Brits… The tour started in the old Cape Malay community, Bokaap, known for brightly painted houses, in which regard it didn’t disappoint:
The tour guide told us a story about why the houses were painted such bright colors (and, like Boston, it wasn’t to help drunks identify their house). In what was supposed to be a shocking reveal, but just seemed… obvious, it turns out people painted their houses bright colors because they both could and wanted to.
After this, we drove out and around Table Mountain and made our way to Boulder Beach on the Cape Peninsula, best known for its Cape Penguin colony. Despite the wind whipping around sand at lacerating rates, we spent a ton of time ogling waterfowl (can we call them that?) and quietly wondering why so much time had been allotted to… penguins. Which is a weird thing to say for an animal-obsessive, but seriously, penguins don’t do much. Except these two lovebirds:
We followed this up by getting back in the car and driving further south to the actual Cape Point, where we piled out of the car to clamber up the very top of the Cape of Good Hope. Which was pretty nice! Unlike with the penguins, unfortunately, we weren’t allotted a ton of time, so we had to kinda rush up and down. The photo-op friendly Cape of Good Hope sign was the scene of a great number of people friendlyly fighting for time by themselves. ( One thing that gives me joy is seeing huge groups of people all taking the same photo; I loved this.- brs)
After this, we made our way back to the city, stopping at a beautiful vineyard to get some great wine, though our tour company was def getting a major kickback from the vineyard in exchange for customers. But that’s okay! On the way home, we had a little adventure when a big open-top sightseeing bus was doing some DIY tree-trimmming and caused a giant branch to come crashing down on our van. Pretty intense!
The tour was pretty good, but it was a lot of driving. The tour company prided itself on being young and hip, which was… maybe not so great. There was a kind of post-whatever blase attitude about tours. They weren’t gonna bore us with all the details of everything we were seeing, just taking us to the places we wanted to go! But, you know, it’s a tour, so maybe a little bit more memorized patter would have been a good thing.
Our driver dropped us at the Company’s Garden, which was right by our apartment. IT’s also the location of a big museum (which I forget) but it was closed, and the old synagogue, also closed. But the garden was nice, especially the cats and squirrels. We stopped in an open cathedral on the way home and sneakily watched choir practice!
Dinner was the Planet Restaurant, located in a hotel run by the same people who ran the hotel featured during our aperitif honeymoon last June. And it was delicious, again! No photos there, alas, but it did have a gorgeous starry chandelier.
Day 1: MACHAME GATE to MACHAME CAMP 9,400’ ~2865m ? 6.8 mi ? 5-7 hrs After a restful night and an enjoyable breakfast at the hotel, you will be met by your Climb Kili guide and other mountain crew where we will transfer you from the hotel to the Machame Gate. We now leave the park gate and walk through the rain forest on a winding trail up a ridge. Lower down, the trail can be muddy and slippery. Gaiters and trekking poles are a good idea here. At Machame Camp your tent will be set up and personal belongings will be ready for you as well as dinner.So! It's finally here. Wake up, breakfast, struggle and mostly fail to remember names from the night before. Then we pile into a big Landcruiser looking thing and head off. After a couple hours we're there, at Machame gate, where the adventure begins. Well, where a lot of standing and waiting begins. And we all signed in at a little window, which was kinda fun, though required everyone to rummage around their packs to find their passport numbers, which are seemingly impossible to memorize. Then we eat a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Somehow, 17 grown men split a single jar of peanut butter. They weren't large sandwiches. [caption id="attachment_9470" align="aligncenter" width="225"] No pushing.[/caption] After lunch, we meet all the other guides.And then we start to walk! At this point, we're in a pretty jungly area. The trail is really wide, and everybody is pretty excited, but we're going slow. The refrain we're always told and tell each other is pole pole- "slow, slow." We're not to tire ourselves out. We go slowly. It's for the best. I agree. So we walk and walk and then we come to a clearing and we get our first glimpse of the mountain we're supposedly climbing. It looks impossibly far away, and my budget camera can barely even register it, but it's there. And we're excited and we take a ton of pictures. A few minutes walking later we're at our camp for the night, where we're greeted by our porters. There's approximately 3 porters/dude, but one dude in particular will always be carrying your stuff ahead of you every day. [caption id="attachment_9479" align="aligncenter" width="300"] First view of the mountain. You can just barely see it.[/caption] Mine's name was Veus. He was great- not just cause he carried my stuff for me, which is obviously great, but he always found me when I showed up at the camp at the end of the day's hike and enthusiastically showed me to the tent where he'd put my stuff. He was about 5'6" and 120 pounds, maybe 20? And every day he would carry my stuff for me, leaving me with just a small backpack filled with water and rain gear. We ate dinner in our mess tent, which is a big orange and white dome thing that you'll see a lot of in these photos. Then we went to bed, where I discovered my sleeping bag wasn't quite up to the task. Whoops. [gallery ids="9483,9478,9462,9464,9465,9466,9467,9468,9469,9470,9471,9472,9473,9474,9475,9476,9477,9479,9480,9481,9482"] " data-title="Climbamanjaro 2015, Day 3- I Gotta Be a Machame" data-big="" /> Tanzania, in particular. Which I always kinda wanted to rhyme with Tasmania, but it doesn't. Unless you are the Dutch pilot I had today, who pronounced it the typical way when he was speaking Dutch. But when he spoke English, it did rhyme with the land of canis-looking marsupial. But what? I'm in Africa. Also in the southern hemisphere, but I've been here before, here understood broadly. [gallery ids="9372,9373,9374,9375"] I had a pleasant flight to Amsterdam, where I met my dad and our (well, his, I suppose, but Tom's cool, so our) Tom. We had coffee and, after 12 minutes (according to Tom) began talking about politics. The flight to Kilimanjaro airport was fine, border control was fine. The ride from the airport was super dark and a little frightening, thanks to Gideon the thrill seeking driver. Food was delicious. Hotel wasn't what nor where we expected, and the hot water blasted out through a broken valve rather than the shower head, but it had beds, so it was wonderful. We're the first to arrive. Two other fellas were supposed to arrive with us, or near us, or something, but they didn't show up. Rest of the group will show up tomorrow. " data-title="Thrillamanjaro 2015, Day 0: I'm in Africa!" data-big="" /> Arusha city.[/caption] First time waking up in Africa proved to be uneventful, just like we like it. Breakfast at the hotel was delicious. The staff said "You're welcome" frequently- the way we might say "Bon Apetit" or "here you go" or whatever- not just as a response to "Thank You." Which was honestly kinda jarring at first, cause it felt like they were always preempting our thanking them, or subtly reminding us that we should be thanking them or something. Eventually we figured out that it was just what they said, but even at the end of the trip, unexpected "you're welcomes" still caught me off guard. Yes, you come to the blog to hear what I think about you're welcome. Point is, breakfast was good. We didn't know how tired we'd be, so we wanted time to acclimate or something, but basically we didn't have anything to do this day, but all the energy that comes with being in a new place for the first time. Our contact in Tanzania offered to make arrangements for us to explore the city of Arusha and the cultural center/art museum/cash-extraction-center a little bit, which we did. We saw the market, ate at an American-friendly restaurant filled with wifi-addicted tourists, and spend a looooot of time t-shirt shopping. (I got one with the pretty handsome Tanzanian flag on it, because i like t-shirts that announce my vacations.) [caption id="attachment_9378" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Beans, yogurt. Even a Spanish omlet (not pictures.)[/caption] There was still no sign of anyone from our group. And no internet at the hotel, so we're just kinda hanging out, wondering where everyone is. But there's food at hot water, and that's really all I ask. Ever. [gallery ids="9378,9379,9380,9382,9383,9384,9385,9386,9387,9388,9389,9390,9391,9800,9801"] " data-title="Citymanjaro 2015, Day 1: Arusha Blood to the Head" data-big="" /> Mechanics.[/caption] Today the plan is to go see the Meru village and some waterfall. As it turns out, we linger too long at the Meru village and we don't get to see the waterfall, though we're suspicious about whether the waterfall was really ever part of the plan. Kind of a bait-and-switch from the touring outfit we signed up with. Turns out the bait-and-switch is their signature move. BUT I'm not here to complain. The Meru village didn't seem like a village village, but it's kind of hard to say what we were really seeing, other than a tourist attraction showcasing their lifestyle. It's kind of an odd experience, I think, but a pleasant one and one I'm glad to have had. We sat down for some delish tea, then they took us on a tour of their biofuel plant. Which was two cows in a stall, eating banana tree bits (I think) and sweeping their by-product into a tank where the methane was siphoned off and sent directly into the kitchen. Way cheaper than piping natural gas everywhere way cooler than just buying a propane tank or whatever. Plus cows are cute. [caption id="attachment_9404" align="aligncenter" width="300"] When the flame is yellow, you need to clean the filter.[/caption] We also got to walk through a coffee plantation, but not a massive one like I imagined sprawling for miles and miles, but like a little coffee grove, growing under banana trees- just one family's plot. Apparently everyone's got coffee plants they take care of and harvest and sell to a co-op. The men in the family are responsible for the coffee, the women for the bananas. Seems fine to me, as I love coffee and am ambivalent about bananas. After walking around a bit and see other stuff they do at the village, like make furniture and dig for rocks mine minerals. (Dumb realization of the moment: mine and mineral are probably etymologically related.) Then we got to make coffee! We didn't dry the berries, cause that takes time, but we husked them and sifted them and roasted them and ground them and (finally) drank them. Alas, it wasn't good, but I suspect it's cause they put a bunch of amateurs in charge of the roasting. The coffee I ultimately bought from them was pretty tasty when I made it at home. Post Meru village, we drove to another market but decided to just take photos from the van, as saying "No thank you" over and over is tiring and makes you feel bad, I guess. So we went back to the hotel, where the rest of our posse had arrived. They basically had every flight issue you could have, and got rerouted through Nairobi, lost a ton of luggage, etc, but they were there and the luggage would get to teh hotel in time for our departure the next day. That night we had a planning meeting met our head guide (Raymond), ate a crazy overpriced dinner (even by American standards), and repacked our bags for the final time. [gallery ids="9393,9394,9395,9396,9397,9398,9399,9400,9401,9402,9403,9404,9405,9406,9407,9408,9409,9410,9411,9412,9413,9414,9415,9416,9417,9418,9419,9420,9421,9422,9423,9424,9425,9426,9427,9428,9429,9430,9431,9432,9433,9434,9435,9436,9437,9438,9439,9440,9441,9442,9443,9444,9445,9446,9447,9448,9449,9450,9451,9452,9453,9804,9803,9805,9806,9454,9455,9456,9457,9458,9459,9460"] " data-title="Touramanjaro 2015, Day 2: Meru Me!!" data-big="" /> Cool.[/caption] From the itinerary:
Day 3: SHIRA CAMP to BARRANCO CAMP 13,000’ ~ 3962m ? 5.6 mi~10 km? 6-8 hrs Today you depart Shira Camp in the morning taking the path which rises up gradually towards the Kibo peak, as we continue, our direction changes to the southeast towards the Lava Tower, also known as the "Shark's Tooth." Shortly after the tower we continue down to the Barranco Camp at an altitude of 13,000ft~ 3962m. Dinner and overnight stay at Barranco Camp.Today we walked some more. Kind of a long day, but great. I don't have any specific memories, really. The lava tower (where we lunched) was great. I spent some time climbing on it and took a toooon of photos of a little mouse/chipmunk looking thing that I found. I only published one, because obviously, but it was pretty fun. He was actually there with a buddy, but I was never able to get a photo of both of them together. The Lava Tower itself was cool. I mean, it was just as it sounds- a big tower of lava. Would have been cool to have been there when it was formed. But then I wouldn't have internet access, I reckon. [caption id="attachment_9547" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Lava tower, dining tent.[/caption] At one point, I found a broken floor tile. That was pretty cool. And we walked by a face of the mountain- I think the Western face, or Western something, that you can also use for summiting, but it's a technical climb that requires ropes and stuff. But it's fun fantasizing that maybe I could do it. Anyhoo, here are some pictures. [gallery ids="9524,9525,9526,9527,9528,9529,9530,9531,9532,9533,9534,9535,9536,9537,9538,9539,9540,9541,9542,9543,9544,9545,9546,9547,9548,9549,9550,9551,9552,9553,9554,9555,9556,9557,9558"] " data-title="Kilimousejaro 2015, Day 5- Don't go Barranco My Heart (i couldn't if I tried)" data-big="" /> From the itinerary:
Day 4: BARRANCO to KARANGA CAMP 13100’ ~ 3992m ? 2.2 mi~3.2 km ? 4-5 hrs Today the group conquers the great Barranco Valley and up the Barranco wall, andYou guys, I cannot get over how much I love having coffee delivered to me when I wake up. It's so great. Like the description says, today we conquer Barranco wall. Which is, you know, really pretty much just a wall. This was the most fun hiking of the trip, I thought. Lot's of climbing, carefully picking out handholds, etc. Okay that makes it sound like it was some technical thing, but it wasn't just walking. Really fun. Kinda slow going, and seems like everyone hiking that day left at the same time, so it was a bit trafficky, but it was really pretty fun. As you're going up, you keep thinking you've reached teh top, only to get there and see it goes up. Then that feeling repeats, maybe four times. But fun fun fun. Oh, i forgot. Before we get to the wall, we have to go through a little valley and cross a little river. Which, for the sake of the title of this post, we'll call the Barranco river, though really it was barely a creek. After we climbed the wall, we walked down, down, down. I think this was one of those days where we went up like 2,000 feet in the morning and then spent the rest of the day going down. Went through long, rocky valley one after another it seemed. At this point, there's really little vegetation- little shrubby things but kinda dispersed, and nothing you couldn't see over. Feels like Iceland, actually. [caption id="attachment_9615" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Texting man, the moon, Venus.[/caption] Since the next couple days involve a lot of altitude, we get schooled on the portable hyperbaric chamber that they bring along. It looks cool, but I reckon it would be pretty boring to actually have to use. I wasn't totally paying attention though, cause the meeting they called to discuss the chamber was right in the middle of a really gorgeous sunset, which I took about a thousand pictures of.. Thankfully, my lack of paid attention didn't cause any problems- our guide continued his 10+year career without having a need for it. [gallery ids="9560,9561,9562,9563,9564,9565,9566,9567,9568,9569,9570,9571,9572,9573,9574,9575,9576,9577,9578,9579,9580,9581,9582,9583,9584,9585,9586,9587,9588,9589,9590,9591,9592,9593,9594,9595,9596,9597,9598,9599,9600,9601,9602,9603,9604,9605,9606,9607,9608,9609,9610,9611,9612,9613,9614,9615,9616"] " data-title="Kilidudejaro 2015, Day 6: Whites Ford Barranco" data-big="" /> From the itinerary:adventuourse [sick!!!] stretch that ushers us into the arctic zone of Kili. We continue the trek on the South Circuit path through the Karanga Valley. We camp tonight at Karanga Camp.
Day 5: KARANGA CAMP to BARAFU CAMP 15,300’ ~ 4663m ? 2.2 mi~3.5 km ? 4-5 hrs Today we take a slow pace to Barafu Camp from Barafu you will have excellent views of Kibo and Mawenzi peaks. Barufu Camp is situated on an exposed ridge, so it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the terrain before dark. We continue to acclimatize, rest, relax and make necessary preparation for the summit day ahead.Tofday is the day before we summit! Which means when we go to bed tonight, we'll getting up just a few hours later so we can make the ascent in time for sunrise at the top. So today is a relatively easy day, really. It's also a really rocky day. Going through my photos, there are tons of photos just of rocks. And more rocks. And then the sky and clouds and stuff, but then also of rocks. That's accurate though- I definitely remember the rocks. Seems like valley after valley we walked through, each one... rocky. I've got nothing to say. [caption id="attachment_9638" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Handmade checkerboard.[/caption] Eventually we get to Barafu camp, where we sign in. We elect to go stay at a camp another hour up the mountain in order to make the next day as easy as possible. Because it's not going to be easy. At all. But today is. Even with the extra hike to the further camp, we get in in time for lunch. So we eat it. Then we lounge around- it's a warm day, thankfully- and get psyched for that night. Eventually night comes and with it dinner. The original plan was for us to be woken up around midnight or 1 to start our night time hike. Unfortunately, our guide decided that that wasn't a great idea. Basically, over the previous days we had proven to be a really fantastic, fun, affable, charming, attractive, patriotic, magnanimous, elegant, beatific, and regal group. BUT we had not proven to be a fast group. Nor a quick group. Nor a speedy group. In fact, along with all the great things that our group *was*, we were also a SLOOOOOOOOOW group. That's fine- pole pole after all- but apparently we took it a little too seriously. The point is that our guide thought that even if we left at midnight, and even with the hour we saved by hiking to the Barafu high camp rather than staying low, we still didn't have much of a chance of making it to the summit for sunrise. As a result, he thought it would be best for us to leave around 4 (still plenty early), but that way we'd get extra sleep and would spend less time walking in the cold cold, dark dark. It was a little disappointing, frankly, but the guide was surely right, and it would have been pretty annoying to wake up that early and hike that coldly and darkly and then have sunrise happen when we were in the worst part of the slog to the summit. So, you know, no big deal. We go to bed around 9 or so and dream, briefly. Tomorrow we'll be on the roof of Africa, and that will be amazing, regardless of the relative position of the sun. [gallery ids="9618,9619,9620,9621,9622,9623,9624,9625,9626,9627,9628,9629,9630,9631,9632,9633,9634,9635,9636,9637,9638,9639,9640,9641,9642,9643,9644,9645,9646,9647,9648,9649,9650,9651,9652"] " data-title="Kilobytejaro 2015, Day 7: Barafubama" data-big="" />midnight start to conquer the highest point in Africa. This section of the route is considered one of the steepest on the non-technical paths of Kilimanjaro. It is a 6-7 hour hike to Stella Point in order to see the sunrise. We continue our way to the summit between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers. We head in a northwesterly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This can be the most mentally and physically challenging portion of the trek. From Stella Point you can see the summit; just 1 hour to Uhuru Peak and the rooftop of Africa! We then descend down to Mweka Camp for dinner and celebration." data-title="Day 8" data-big="" />here.) From the itinerary
Day 6: BARAFU to SUMMIT to MWEKA CAMP 19,340’~5,895m ? 13 mi~21 km (5 km ascent/ 12 km descent) ? 7-8 hrs ascent~4-6 hrs descent Tonight is the night! A midnight start to conquer the highest point in Africa. This section of the route is considered one of the steepest on the non-technical paths of Kilimanjaro. It is a 6-7 hour hike to Stella Point in order to see the sunrise. We continue our way to the summit between the Rebmann and Ratzel glaciers. We head in a northwesterly direction and ascend through heavy scree towards Stella Point on the crater rim. This can be the most mentally and physically challenging portion of the trek. From Stella Point you can see the summit; just 1 hour to Uhuru Peak and the rooftop of Africa! We then descend down to Mweka Camp for dinner and celebration.Like I said yesterday, we had a change of plans. Rather than leaving super early and getting to the summit at sunrise, we just left a little early. So. Around 3:30 we were woken up with the customary coffee/tea, then we pretty much immediately left. I went to bed fully clothed (I think everyone did), so it was a pretty quick up-and-at-em. [caption id="attachment_9668" align="aligncenter" width="300"] My camera can't focus, but nbd.[/caption] So in the dark we start walking. And in the cold we start walking. It was really fun- walking in the dark. I tried to take as much time as possible to just look up- the stars were amazing and so much of the previous nights I was too cold to just sit outside at night for too long. Alas, we were walking in the dark, so I had to spend a fair amount of time watching the ground. So. Walking in the dark. There's not a lot to say about it. After a couple hours I was getting reeeeal cold. Well, not I was actually fine, broadly speaking, but my toes were getting cold cold cold! So I popped out a couple of those chemical handwarmers and jammed them into my boots. They take awhile to get started, but after an hour or so, feeling was back in Toesville. So that was pretty cool! Eventually the sun rose. [caption id="attachment_9669" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Sunrise.[/caption] And we just kept walking, really. It was pretty rocky, anbd pretty slow, and there were some traffic jams when we met other groups. Well, when other groups attempted to pass us because, remember, slow. As you approach the (first) summit, it's kinda loose gravel, and we were going really slow. Like, maybe one step every two seconds. when we get about a hundred yards away from the first summit, we can see the brown and yellow "You've made it" sign, which pumped me up a little bit. Anyhow, we got to the first summit and got stoked and took photos and drank tea, but soon enough it was time to make the last push to the highest highest point. [caption id="attachment_9685" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Stella Point![/caption] It seemed like the next point was kinda close, but when we started walking it just seemed to get further. That happens a lot, actually. We're still going really slow, but that doesn't seem like such a problem anymore, since we're above 19k feet, so as long as you're going forward you're happy. (By this point, two dudes on our trip had decided to not continue on and two were suffering from pretty intense altitude sickness.) Maybe 45 minutes after the first peak, we get to Uhuru Peak. It's 12:30, which means it took us 8 hours and change to make it to the top. We're slow, but we're stoked. And we take a tooon of photos. And we wait for our group to all show up so we can do a photo together, which takes awhile, cause the last push had spread us out pretty thin. I think you're only supposed to spend 15 minutes at the top, but we were definitely there for closer to 45. Conveniently, I super duper have to go to the bathroom while we're up there, so maybe I didn't enjoy it as much as possible. [caption id="attachment_9696" align="aligncenter" width="300"] We did it, you guys![/caption] Dad and I took our an old cub scouts flag to pose with, as well as an A&M Flag, us being such faithful Aggies. Oh, can I embed Instagram videos? I must be able to. In fact, I was just looking at an embeddged Instagram video on deadspin. okay, let's see here...
Cool, I hope that worked. ALRIGHT. So this seems like a logical stopping point, but it's not. Cause we still have to go down the mountain. So we eventually wander back to the first peak, then we go down down down to our base camp. Here we ended up going in two different groups. Our group SCREAMED down the mountain, doing in maybe two hours what had taken us 7 in the morning. OBviously, going down is easy, but we were basically skiing down the mountain on our feet, shuffling through the loose, gravelly rocks that we'd been sludging through all morning. It was actually kinda fun, plus every step is an increase in oxygen, which is really great. [caption id="attachment_9707" align="aligncenter" width="300"] More mountain[/caption] The third peak of Kilimanjaro, Mawenze, is visible to our left the whole way down. It gets a lot of photos taken of it. Eventually we make it down to our base camp, where we're greeted enthusiastically by all the porters who'd been waiting for us. I think they're all pretty happy that we made it, but I think they're equally happy that they had the morning/afternoon off to hang out at camp and not have to carry our stuff around. Anyhow, we get lunch, pack up our tents, and wait for the rest of our posse to return from the mountain. Over the next couple hours they start to show up, but they are beat! One dude collapses in the mess tent, another is so exhausted he's basically in a walking coma. And we still have a four hour hike to where we're sleeping that night! Not an easy day. Anyhow, eventually we leave that camp and start hiking to the next camp/our last night. It's really long! I know I just said it a couple sentences ago, but we've hiked for like 12 hours so far and there's still 4 more. But what are you gonna do? Ain't gonna do nothing but keep walking. Which we do, until, jeez, like nine o'clock or something. But then we get to a nice camp, with dinner waiting for us and our tents set up. Food, brushing teeth, and our last night of camping on Kilimanjaro. [gallery ids="9666,9667,9668,9669,9670,9671,9672,9673,9674,9675,9676,9677,9678,9679,9680,9681,9682,9683,9684,9685,9686,9687,9688,9689,9690,9691,9692,9693,9694,9695,9696,9697,9698,9699,9700,9701,9702,9703,9704,9705,9706,9707,9708,9709,9710,9711,9712,9713,9834,9835,9836,9837,9838,9839"] " data-title="Topofmanjaro 2015, Day 8: Summit Like it Hot" data-big="" /> Alright! So we're finally back! Well, the night before we got back! But we woke up in a nice hotel, and I woke up extra early so I could have my own personal SURF-ARI, aka check my email. Then I went downstairs, where they served a nice breakfast, which we were really excited about, until we were told we had to RUSH AND GO OUTSIDE AND CATCH THE BUS ITS GONNA LEAVE AND GO ON THE SAFARI WITHOUT YOU!!! Then it would be a SO-CLOSE-BUT-SO-FAR-I because we missed the bus. So we rushed! And we went outside! And like 25 minutes later we left. Because SO-FAR-WE have done nothing on time, and you'd think after a week we'd know that. BUT NBD., we hung out and eventually piled into some Land Cruisers, aka SAFerrARIs. Our driver chatted with us about the school system (private is better, but more $$$ go fig), the different tribes in the area (Warusha, Masai, Chagga, Meru) and how since he wasn't from around there (but from near Lake Victoria), he wasn't any of those, which meant his kids didn't speak his mother tongue but were apparently Swahili-monolingual (at that point; they'd learn English later). This driver wasn't intense about passing people, which was great cause I didn't have to constantly be wondering how SAFE-ARE-WE? Anyhoo, this is the day we went to Tarangire National Park to see animals, so I am going to stop talking about Not-Animals and get to the InFact-Animals. Um. When we first got there, I saw an impala way off in the distance and kinda freaked out and took a ton of terrible photos. And then in five minutes I had seen like a million from much closer. And that scenario pretty much happened with every animal. Anyhow, here's a list of things we saw and I remember and may or may not have photos of:
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