The Circle of Life

So I just got back to Lusaka after the most fabulous vacation ever. After watching the sunrise on Mount Kilimanjaro while sipping Cappucino's in Moshi, the Parvin gals (Christi, Caitlin, Beth and myself) headed on to Arusha. Arusha lies against Mount Meru, another beautiful mountain (really volcano). Arusha is a happening town. And like I said, we never made any reservations or pre-planned anything. Upon arriving at the bus station after 2 hrs of Caitlin and I entertaining the entire bus with our lovely singing voices, instinct told us to drop in at the nice Arusha Hotel. From there we were met by Joshua who owns a safari company. We told him we wanted to see all of Africa's wild animals and he gave us an itinerary. Two days and one night on Safari to Manyara National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater. Couldn't have worked out better. We were givin the VIP treatment and he even dropped us off at the Masaai Camp where we spent the night. The next day our personal landcruiser picked us up and then it was 2hrs till we met with the first viewing of African wildlife...the monkeys. There were hundreds. Amazing. Long story short we saw the entire "cirle of life" on our two day safari. We've counted over 25 african animals. This isn't like viewing them in the zoo. They were right next to us and our landcrusier. The lions were maybe ten feet away. The zebras and giraffes were maybe 5 ft away at times. Words can't even begin to describe. We saw the hienna's hunting while the wildebeast sat about 200 yards away. The Ngorongoro Crater is something that all people should see. It was a volcano twice the size of Mount Kilimanjaro that collapsed over 2000 years ago. They literally drove us into the crater where all the animals have made their home. One of the most beautiful places on earth. The area is also inhabited by the Masaai tribe of Tanzania. They are a nomad tribe and quite beautiful in there bright red and purple drapings with amazing beaded jewelry worn all over. It was right out of National Geographic. The top of our Landcrusier lifted up so we were able to have an interesting perspective on everything we saw. I didn't want it to end. On our way out of the Crater we watched 4 lion cubs play with eachother for about 30 minutes while their mothers carefully watched us from afar. Its also started raining which is not good for getting out of the Crater on the steep muddy road. We had a bit of a problem....lost our 4 wheel drive on a very steep part, started sliding towards the edge of the cliff....not good, but in the end we made it out in one piece.

Then for New Years it was back to Masaai Camp for a night of Mexican food and hip hop music! We danced all night long. Its a New Years I'll never forget. Met some of the coolest people....other American volunteers and people from all over the world. We spent the next day on a bus from Arusha to Dar. Good thing since we only got about three hours of sleep. Sadly our trip was coming to an end. We spent our last day in Dar wading in the Indian Ocean while eating the best tasting ice cream. Upon good judgement we took the train back from Dar to Lusaka...however had a bit of a mishap. Seems that Tanzanian immigration skipped our train car and didn't stamp our passports. Well no big deal, but Zambian immigration wanted us to get off the train in Kasama and head back to Tanzania. Well that wasn't going to happen since we spent all of our money. So that's why I'm back in Lusaka once more after our Provincial meetings this past weekend. Tomorrow I head to the Tanzanian Embassy begging for a stamp in my visa so I won't be illegal no more. Wish me luck!

But all in all I must thank Christi, Caitlin and Beth for being the best traveling companions I've ever had. I've never laughed so much or had so much fun doing silly things. We all got along so well and we all are dancin fools. I LOVE it! Thank you girls....you're the best!!!!