Safari!

Saturday the Zanzibar volunteers traveled to Morogoro where we got picked up for our safari at Mikumi National Park. We arrived at the park in the afternoon for our first game drive. We all figured it would be hard to see animals and we would have to keep our eyes peeled and maybe we would catch sight of some cool animals. This was certainly not the case. There were animals everywhere! Once we were in the park we saw lions, elephants, giraffes, buffalo, zebras, baboons, antelope, red-backs, hippos, crocodiles and various birds. We got out of the truck at the hippo pool to watch the hippos and the crocodiles.

It was pretty funny because my homestay family is always playing these gospel music videos where all of the choir singers are in matching outfits, dancing and singing with weird backdrops or green-screening. When we were at the hippo pool there was a group filming a gospel video! It was so funny and we took lots of pictures to show our family.

Our truck had a roof that lifted up so we got to have a great view throughout our safari. Our driver was really good at pointing out animals and stopping so we could get good pictures. Sometimes the animals were so close! At one point there were huge elephants on the road right in front of our truck we were all a little nervous but it was amazing! The first night we stayed at a guesthouse near the park. Nicole and I were so excited because the room that we shared with Stephanie had 3 single beds so we didn't have to share! (We've been sharing our bed in Morogoro for 6 weeks now and enjoyed the extra space)That night Tyler and I watched an intense stand-off between a lizard and a giant grasshopper. Eventually the grasshopper flew away but it looked for a while like it was going to be the lizard's dinner.

The next day we got up early for another game drive (some of the animals like the lions are more active early in the morning). It was on our way to the park on the second day that we saw the lions. There were two males and one female and it apparently they had just had a big meal because our driver explained that the day of a big meal they will mate every 15-20 minutes! This will continue with decreasing frequency for the next 5 days until it's time to eat again. One male was alone as apparently the other was the stronger one and had won the right to mate with the female.

Then we continued on our second game drive. It was amazing and I kept thinking how crazy it was that we were so close to these wild animals. Then we had lunch at a restaurant in the entrance to the park and got to watch buffalo and elephants at a nearby watering hole cover themselves with mud to help protect against the sun. It was really cool. I also had a great time with the Zanzibar volunteers. We all assigned each other "spirit animals" although I'm not sure if I like being compared to a baboon! :)

After the safari the Zanzi volunteers checked into their hotel in Morogoro and then they walked around with us, meet our homestay families and saw the town. Then we went for dinner and played pool back at the hotel.

Now there's just two weeks left before we leave Tanzania. I can't believe how fast the time has gone and I'm sure the next two weeks will fly by! Our Final Activity Reports are due in one week so any spare time we get this week is going towards working on those, writing up what we accomplished over the last two months and our recommendations for the next set of volunteers (who will arrive in January and continue the programs that we've been working on). Although I'm sure I will be sad to leave and I've really loved this experience, I'm definitely looking forward to going home, seeing my family and friends and being clean and cold for an extended period of time. This week is our last HIV/AIDS outreach event, the Ushujaa 'Courage for Life' talent show. Next week we finish our classes and have our graduation ceremonies.

Then on the Monday we take a bus to Dar es Salaam and meet up with the Zanzi volunteers for a day of group de-briefing before everyone starts leaving. I'll be flying as far home as Montreal and then spending a few days there before returning home to Vancouver on November 29th (less than 3 weeks away)!!!

Keep those e-mails coming as I still love reading them!
Happy Birthday to all November birthdays including Dad, Justin and Emily! (Sorry if I forgot anyone)

Love from Moro!
Melissa