R.E. Chambliss's Blog, page 9

Meeting the Maasai

It probably won't surprise you to learn that I was not looking forward to the visit to the Maasai village. Part of that was not knowing what to expect, and part of it was the photo issue I mentioned in earlier entries. It just seemed to me that either they have a spiritual problem with having their photo taken, or they don't. If they don't, why make an issue of it? And if they do, does receiving money really counter-act a spiritual objection?

But I was more uncomfortable about the idea than op...

Home Again

Hello, everyone!

After 30.5 hours of flying, airport time, and driving I arrived home again last night. It is great to be back with my kids and husband, but I can't help feeling somewhat wistful that my Tanzanian adventure is over. It couldn't have been better (with the exception of the migraine at the beginning, of course), and I would do it again in a second! My head is spinning with the memories of everything I experienced.

Soon I will start going through the 2000+ pictures I took throughou...

Making Connections

I have even less time this morning than usual, so I'm going to make this brief. We leave in 48 minutes for our last day on safari. We stayed near Lake Manyara last night and saw lots more great animals. My favorites were the black-faced monkeys. They are so cute and a group of them, including several babies, played, foraged, etc. so close to where we were parked watching them. Once again I probably took way too many pictures, but it's hard to stop photographing so many great moments!

But the h...

Go warthogs!

I'm up early this morning. I haven't been sleeping very well on this trip. I think it's because I always have so much swirling around in my head, from all I've seen, and it's keeping me awake. Also, we aren't getting a lot of exercise. Since we're spending our days driving and you can't go out for a run, say, once you get to the lodge. At pretty much every place we've stayed there is the potential to see animals right on the hotel grounds. After dark you're supposed to have someone from the h...

Best Caldera Ever!

Okay, so it's the only caldera I've ever experienced but Ngorongoro Crater _is_ spectacular!

It took us a few hours to drive here. We could see the mountain off in the distance, however. A caldera is like a crater, but bigger. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldera) This one is a huge bowl. The rim, where we are staying is at 7800 feet in elevation, while the floor is closer to 6000. The edges of Ngorongoro are forested and they remind me of Costa Rica more than anything I've seen here in...

One mass, thousands of individuals

Hello from Nbutu Safari Lodge in the southern Serengeti! http://www.ndutu.com/ There is so much to report, but again I must keep this short because I don't have a lot of computer time.

I have been in the Serengeti for a week now, and have taken well over 1000 pictures! I wish I could show a few to you here. But connections are slow. It reminds me of when I had dial-up! Once I'm home, I'll upload some of the highlights.

Right now 'the migration' is passing near Nbutu--thousands of wildebeest...

Better still!

No time to write an in-depth update. And we're moving on tomorrow, so I'm not sure what the internet facilities will be like at the next place, or when I can next write a good long entry, but I wanted to let you know three things real quick:

1) Thanks so much for the emails! I love hearing from you all. Peggy, I do have Afrin and I will definitely use it before my flights home. And Craig, I also have Vicodin and it does help--I'm glad to have a 2nd medical opinion about that! Mom, Dad...