Hey everyone, it’s Emma. We woke up
early this morning for our first day of our safari. We started by meeting our
four safari drivers at the front of the lodge. They introduced themselves than
we got in our assigned Jeeps. It had begun with a long three hours in a Jeep,
but we were able to stop at some shops along the way and buy souvenirs. The
stores we stopped in sold Tanzanite, which many people in our group bought. The
stores ranged from paintings to woodcarvings. After we made it to our last
stop, which was our lunch break. As we ate we could hear monkeys calling to
each other. After eating a lunch of Chicken, Muffin, Banana, and Burger with an
egg on it. We walked back to the Jeeps to find that the ceilings of the Jeeps
propped open so we could stand on the seats to view outside of the Jeeps. Once
we were all settled in our Jeeps, we were able to stand on the seats with no
shoes and look out at the trees, as the drives drove. We ended up taking
pictures of each other in the Jeeps as we drive through a thick tunnel of
woods.
The first animal we saw at once on
the safari trip was the monkey. We drove probably for about ten minutes before
seeing the monkeys. They ranged from different species. At one time we spotted
a large group of monkeys and half of them where in the trees throwing down food
for their group at the bottom. We drove on and as we cleared from the woods it
became all grasslands. We instantly spotted zebras and water buffalos. We
stopped at destination that allowed us to climb up some wooden stairs to get a
higher view of the zebras, gazelles, hippos, and buffalo. We were all gathered
there as we watched the animals in the distance. After the chaperons and
students finished taking picture we continued on our journey. We headed back
toward the woods but before entering some people spotted something in the
distance and it turned out to be a long giraffe lying down. As we drove we all
kept an eye out for Leopards as well, but they are rare to spot because they
are nocturnal. Soon enough as we drove we came up upon a group of giraffes then
elephants. Their were about six giraffes and only four elephants. They were all
in different locations but we could see the giraffes better than the elephants
because they where hiding in the tall green bushes, but well all got to see
them eventually. There where so many Safari cars we had to take turns going to
the good spots. As we continued on we ran into different kinds of gazelles
including Dik Diks, which are the smallest kind of gazelles. After a while of
seeing the same animal it was time to head to our camp where staying at for the
night. We started driving off and once we got a good view of the lake, we saw
millions of Flamingos. We then set off back on the bumpy road for our camp.
After about the twenty-minute drive
we made it to our camp, Havennature. I think I can speak for everyone that it
was a good place to stay. Everyone was assigned to pick a rooming buddy and we
slept in tents that held two beds and a few held three. After arriving we had a
quick meeting in the dinner area. Baba (Dick) told us before we arrived, to
stay on the path. Unless you want a two inch long, thorn in your foot. So we
all had to watch were we stepped. Once that was done we where shown to tents
that we could choose. Dinner was planned to start a around 7 o’clock, like
always. So we all just either hanged out or relaxed in our room after a long
day of seeing the animals and the traveling up to Manyara National Park. Supper
started soon enough and the food there was great. We started with the soup than
continued on through the meal. Supper ended with our annual meeting and Baba
(Dick) told us that they had a surprise dance for us. So we walked down to a
small grass opening with a fire going and sat down. We where told they would be
doing traditional Maasai dancing (unlike our Chagga dancing the previous week),
so that was interesting to hear. It was fun to also see our group join in the
dancing along. Everyone was already tired enough once it was over but once I
was in bed there were still people up and having fun. Some of the students
gathered around the fire after the dancers had left and we just talked a bit.
Many people left after a while though. The only hard thing about being at the
camp is the waking up part. We didn’t have Baba to yell down the halls “breakfast”
but we all managed to get up in time and get a good meal of breakfast.
All was good on our first day of
the Safari. We may not have seen a lion, cheetah, or leopard, but theirs always
tomorrow on our last day of the safari. Everyone seems to be having a great
time up in Havennature and the chaperons as well, I hope. We’ll have to see
what brings us tomorrow. Until we come back… bye guys!
Emma
P.S. Mom and Dad,
Miss you guys a ton. Can’t wait to see you and talk to you! See you in a
couple of days!
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