East African Adventure

Just over a year ago my sister Lucy said she was planning a safari in East Africa and was I interested in joining her. It sounded great to me and I said I was in. Our friend Barbara was also interested and we began planning. Lucy found an agent who was very responsive and arranged everything for us. We started in Tanzania then moved on to Kenya. In all we were gone two weeks and had nine days of animal watching and other activities.

We flew via Qatar Airways and had almost nine hours between flights. Our niece Julie and her husband Ross are teaching at the International School in Doha; they picked us up and took us to their home to visit and have a meal. It was great to see them and their twins, Nate and Libby, who are seniors in high school and very active in music and drama activities.

Ross, Libby, Nate, Julie, me, Lucy

We landed at the Mount Kilimanjaro airport near Arusha, Tanzania. Our first day and night were spent at the Rivertrees Country Inn. We walked around the grounds a bit, but mostly spent the day recovering from the 30-plus hours trip.

The next morning our driver/guide, Jackson, met us and we drove through the town of Arusha and into the Lake Manyara National Park.

Many women were walking to church on Sunday morning

The scenes along the road reminded us very much of India.

The Maasai herd cattle across the road.

Our first animals, baboons along the highway. They steal food and cause chaos.

Jackson, our driver/guide, in front of the Land Cruiser.

We ate a pack lunch from Rivertrees in the park.

Hornbill bird

Our first elephant (but not the last!)

Lazy lion with paw on a tree. Our first, but also not the last.