Tanzania Trip

On the rim of the crater

Typical scenery from the floor of the crater

We had a picnic lunch beside this lake

These lions came right up to our vehicle

We returned from our trip to Tanzania last Saturday, after spending about 10 days there. Everything went well overall, and we had a good trip. The first day we drove from here to Arusha, which was around a 6 hour drive, plus some extra time spent crossing the border. The roads weren't too bad, although we did get a flat tire on our way there due to a bad road. Fortunately, we had a full size spare, and Thor got it changed quickly and we were on our way again. We spent our first four nights there in a small guest cottage at an AIM mission station near Arusha. Two of Thor's students live there, so we were able to get to know their parents a little more. While there, we spent some time seeing the town of Arusha. Thor's Dad lived in Arusha back in the early 1960's when he was in the peace corps, and we were able to find the house he lived in and some other landmarks that are still there. We also drove over to Moshi to see Mt. Kilimanjaro one day. We were fortunate to have a window of clear weather where we were able to see the peak well, since April is the rainy season and we did have some cloudy and rainy weather during the trip. The kids enjoyed getting to go swimming at a hotel that was nearby where we were staying.

After our time in Arusha, we drove west to the Ngorongoro Crater National Park. The road from Arusha to the crater was exceptionally good and made us realize how much we miss driving on nice roads. Most of the roads in Kenya are in pretty bad shape. We stayed in a beautiful cottage at Gibb's Farm, which is a coffee farm that also has guest cottages. It was such a peaceful and relaxing place to stay with beautiful views. We arranged to go on a tour of the crater the next day. Because the crater roads are quite steep, we had been advised that it was probably best not to take our own car into the crater. So, we went in a Landrover, with a Tanzanian driver and guide joining us. Seeing the crater was my favorite part of the trip. We had a nice clear sunny day, and the views were beautiful. There was abundant wildlife, and we saw lions, cheetahs, zebra, cape buffalo, wildabeasts, gazelles of all types, hippos, elephants, flamingos, and more. Because the animals in the crater are protected from hunting, they had no fear of vehicles and came up very close. It was a very enjoyable day. We spent that night at Gibb's farm again, and then drove back to Arusha the next day.

We went to the Arusha National Park after that, which also had a lot of wildlife and nice views of Mt. Meru. We stayed at the Momella Wildlife Lodge in the park. This was quite a wilderness experience, as the lodge was out in the middle of nowhere. The power was only by generator, which was only on for a few hours each evening. April is the low tourist season because of the rains, and we seemed to be the only guests staying there. When we woke up in the morning and looked outside, there were a number of giraffe right outside our door.

We spent our last night in Arusha at the New Safari Hotel, so that we could get an early start home the next day. It was very hot and humid there and made us appreciate our cool evenings here in Kijabe. Torrie kept waking up, I think due to being hot. I finally just took off her pajamas and let her sleep in her diaper, and she slept much better. The next morning we left for the drive home. It was a long day driving back, as we got into some construction and very heavy traffic just south of Nairobi. The kids were happy to be back home again. Overall, the kids did great on the trip. Baby Kammie hardly ever goes anywhere in the car, but she did great with all the driving. Torsten and Torrie enjoyed getting to see all of the new places.