Back in Touch with...

Ok, so first a list of pictures...
1. Hippo Pool....very huge smelly animals
2. Maasai homestay, Baba and child inside hut
3. The hut, made out of sticks and cow poop
4. Mama and sister, beading
5. Milking the goats (amazing chai)
6. Jake (from highschool) and I, overlooking Ngorongoro crater
7. More Ngorongoro
8. More Ngorongoro or Serengeti (i don't know...)
9. Cheetah. 30 yards from the car. Amazing.
10. Check out that sky...

Now the news, and lots of it. I just returned yesterday from a two week long safari to the Ngorongoro crater, Serengeti National Park, and to Maasailand, which involved a 4 day homestay in a Maasai boma. But first, so that you at least read this far... starting this Tuesday (April 10th), I will have a cell phone!! So, if you have a spare $5 and feel like spending it on calling Tanzania, my number is: 011-255-752-94-8353... that includes all of the country codes etc that you need to call from the states. NOTE: I am 7 hours later than those of you on the east coast. Remember this when you try to call me. A good timeframe between which to call is between midnight and 2pm, east coast time.

Now, back to the stories...The Ngorongoro crater is about 11.5 miles in diameter, and is absolutely amazing. You drive down a switchback road, after having driven through the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (NCA), one of the most successful multiple land use areas in Tanzania (This means that it incorporates both human and wildlife uses, which is important since all of the Maasai that once lived in the area were kicked out of the crater itself and relocated to the surrounding area). The crater is packed full of animals, and contains the only rhino left in Tanzania, a dwindling population of 12 that is most certainly going to die out over the next 20 years or so... so many issues in this place... and so many lions, lol, we saw males and females up close and personal.

We camped a few nights near the crater, with bush pigs and buffalo running around camp and rutting at our tents, as well as hyena whooping and an incident involving lions licking at one of the girls tents... yet another sleepless night. However, a rainbow, sunrise, and sunset overlooking the crater floor makes up for the lack of sleep... on a slightly amusing note, I was wearing more layers than I usually wear during a New Hampshire winter, because it was in the mid 50s at night and that is freezing for Africa... we were all quite a sight, bundled up in our khangas and any jackets and fleece we could find, shivering and complaining, lol...

Next was the drive to the Serengeti, which included a stop at a beautiful gorge, where I gave a presentation with another girl Amy on the Serengeti itself... followed by the actual drive, which was long and hot and dusty and incredibly beautiful. You can't imagine actually being in a place that you read about in National Geographic, seeing the great migration or wildebeest, zebra, and the following young male lions stretching over the crest of a distant hill... encountering rock outcroppings that used to be hills, now inhabited by big cats of all types... studying giraffee for 3 hours each morning to try and catagorize their social interactions... words can't do this experience justice, though I find it interesting to see what sticks out while trying to recall this experience after 2 weeks :). For example, I actually got bored while staring at giraffe... like this was becoming normative, like these were my dogs back home... and we saw a lion sleeping next to a recent kill, something that takes weeks to find for the photograph that magazines want....

Maasai homestay was one of the most interesting and trying experiences of my life. First, we were bordering the rift valley wall, and Langai mounain, an active Volcano where a maasai god lives. Amazing views all around, in a semi-arid hot, dry area. Now, a snapshot... short dung and stick huts, where women cook inside goats live inside children crowd inside... dirt floors, men herd goats and cows all day while women fetch water, walk to town, clean, bead... 5 people crammed onto a hard wood and hard leather "shelf" that served as a bed in the middle of the hot night in the hot hut while men get to sleep outside... being crushed against a dung wall with a 5 year old trying to cuddle with me, coughing in my face from 3 inches away when all I want is some space... language barrier with kiswahili being the only shared language, none of us speaking it well because the Maasai speak Kimaa, their mother tounge...cultural gap so wide that we really have no level of comparison on which to have a "cultural exchange".... craving personal space like I have never craved it before. This only semi-describes the experience, which was most likely one of the most different and trying 4 days I've ever had.

So, as a final note because I'm hungry and tired and am going to sign off shortly, we were all talking and much of this program will never be able to be truly described... much of it requires such internalization and a level of understanding that you only gain through the experiences here, getting knocked down and picking yourself back up within periods of a few days.... an interalization that bonds us all while we are here, and disconnects us from the lives that we will return to... a new way of looking at our experiences and the world around us that can't be put into words... nothing to regret and so much to gain from this world.... I hope you enjoy this hodgepodge of thoughts and feelings, ttyl :).