Mom, breathe, if anything happened to me you wouldn’t be reading about it here :).
Last night one of our fellow travelers and friends fainted after feeling ill for three days. I went with her first to a clinic, then to the Arusha Hospital. The hospital (built by Americans) was actually nicer than some I’ve been to in the USA. Though watching the technician deal with the overly intricate data entry fields on a GE ECG originally designed for data hungry US hospitals did make me smile. Our friend is slowly getting better, and will hopefully join us tomorrow on our way to the Ngorongoro Crater.
The last three days have been “transit” days for us; getting from Dar Es Salaam to the Serengeti is quite a trek. On our way we got a glimpse of Kilimanjaro through the clouds in Moshi, and an even better view of Mt. Meru, Africa’s second tallest peak. Yesterday our campsite was about 25kms west of Arusha and was adjacent to a snake park. We got to scope out all of the species of reptiles that we hope NOT to see. They had everything from Puff Aders to Egyptian King Cobras to Black Mambas to African Constrictors. They also had crocodiles – the Aussie’s still weren’t impressed.
Peter was particularly fascinated by the pictures of an African python found in Sudan that had eaten a UN peacekeeper. He had fallen asleep during night watch when the snake slithered into camp. The snake would have escaped, except on its way out the bulge in its stomach bumped the electric fence. Then when the snake turned to strike, it got its fangs caught on the wires and died. The pictures really were worth 1000 words!
Tomorrow we pack up a small bag, leave our big overland truck behind, and pile into Land Cruisers on our way into the Crater and Serengeti for two nights. After that, back to Arusha and on to Nairobi, where we’re most likely to get our next chance to update everyone. Both of us are excited to head back into the wilderness for a while!
P.S. Check out the African Proverb we added to the right hand column.
P.P.S. We love your comments! Keep 'em coming :).
SYTYCD is really strong this year. It was the first week for the couples and there was honestly only 2 couples that stood out as being a little off. The rest were very strong! Tyce did a freaky weird number that was really cool where the couple were crash test dummies...very cool! So missed your commentary during commercial breaks. But I think you'll be back for the top 10 and we can catch up then. Keep having an amazing time! G
ReplyDeleteSure, they always say "it's for a friend", you better be staying healthy! Keep Peter away from the snakes, else it might be one of you in the hospital!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe we'll see you in just over 2 weeks. Mattie will be esctatic, she can show you her new skills. Now with master of bug eating added. Why does she bite trees?
Have a great time in the Serengeti. Loved the proverb. Mom
Hey! We joked about that proverb when I was in Tanzania. Whenever someone was complaing, we'd be like "look, every morning a gazelle wakes up..."
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