Tanzania - From Fronts to Backs

Portfolio

2009-07-03T14:38:00.000-07:00

Starts From here... Picture One...

June 23, 2009

2009-07-03T14:19:00.000-07:00

Today we leave Africa. SAD! I know I will be glad when I get home (even though I am headed to Amsterdam for 4 more days), but I am really going to miss this place. I will definitely be back here in the near future, that is for certain. As Brooke says..."You are sold" ... I am definitely sold on Africa. This place is amazing.

June 22, 2009

2009-07-03T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today was our last night, which is very sad. We went into the crater. In order to get there we had to drive up and then down into the crater. The entrance into the park looked like we were entering Jurassic Park..kind of freaky. It was soo cloudy and foggy driving up. You could hardly see straight in front of you. But once we started driving down, it was really interesting to see how the clouds were at eye level with us. The crater is literally flat. We saw a clan of lions and some cheetah. The cheetah were a little far off from the road, but they were so pretty. We also saw a rhino, which was sooo amazing. Elisa said there were only 22 in the entire crater and we saw one, so we were all very excited. We ate lunch at the hippo pool, but they were staying mostly under water like the ones we canoed with. But later, we went to the real hippo pool and saw tons of them. They were so cool. They kept playing with each other and rolling over and flipping their tails in the water. It was interesting to watch them. We also saw a hyena lying in some grass right on the road, he was so cute!
It was a nice last day, but it was really sad to be ending the trip. We all kind of didn't realize what we were leaving behind. We stood there with our heads out of the tops of the Land Cruiser just watching it all pass us by. In order to get out of the crater we had to climb back upwards quite a ways. The views were spectacular. This is when it all really hit me that we were leaving. It was all very surreal.

June 21, 2009

2009-07-03T13:51:00.000-07:00

We got up later than normal today- which was nice. We headed to Plantation Lodge, which was supposingly the most insanely nice place we were going to stay the whole trip. When we got here and were taken to our "rooms" we all about DIED. This place is amazing. It is one large house, called the Garden House. There are 2 large rooms with 3 beds upstairs and 2 large rooms downstairs with 2 double beds. Each room has an extremely nice bathroom and little sitting area. Upstairs in the living room/den there is a fireplace open with a large seating area that opens to these stairs that go down overlooking a massive dining room space with a 15 foot long table. It could easily seat 12..if not more. The 2 downstairs room feed off of that room as well as a large deck at the end of that room and 2 side patios. On the side of the stairs, there is also a small reading library. I really love this place and could totally die a happy woman living in this "house."
We had the afternoon off and enjoyed it by going to the pool. The pool had these amazing lounge chairs that were made like beds. We had a Tusker (beer) and just relaxed. It was our second to last night and we really wanted to live it up, besides we had our own house! Somehow the night turned into a little party. The bar at this place was amazing. It had a see through table top that looked down into a wine cellar, where there was a small table that you could have dinner at. From drinks before dinner, we then went to dinner, which was amazing. After dinner, we went back to the bar and all really bonded. We were all sad that the trip was coming to an end. The night ended in a dance party at the Garden House (I think we made too much noise, but we had a blast).

June 20, 2009

2009-07-03T13:27:00.000-07:00

Today we got up rather early and went to visit a tribe that spoke in click— The Hadzabe tribe. We went on a few hour long hunt with them after they let all of us try out their bow and arrows. It was really crazy because all of the men were smoking pot before we went on the hunt. They were all totally stoned out of their minds, shooting arrows all around us and up in the air. A little crazy. However, I was totally into the hunt. Right away the men spotted a bush baby. He was so fast. They were all running and click clicking at each other to catch him. When they shot at him it was intense. To get him to move- when he was hard to see or shoot, they threw rocks up into the tree at him.
Okay, the lights are going out- I will have to finish writing tomorrow--at least everything that I can remember.
Continued....
On this tour, we had another guide join us. It was interesting because he really could have been a model, seriously. His face structure was insane and he was very nice. Along the hunt a little further, the bushmen spotted a monkey, a couple really, up in some palm trees. We were really close behind them when they were shooting up at him. Then they killed him. One of the guys climbed up the palm tree...all the way up to get him--INSANE. Before, when they killed the bush baby, Christina flipped out. She began crying and couldn't stand it. It really upset her. It was really interesting because the bushmen didn't understand why she was upset. This is how they live and survive. They have to kill animals in order to eat-otherwise I wouldn't have been so excited about them killing a monkey. But, I was really into it. I was so excited for them-especially when they killed the monkey for some reason. Seemed like a good kill, important. As soon as they got it from the tree, they started a fire (the old fashioned way) and laid the monkey right on top of the fire, still breathing a little. It hurt a little to watch, but it was an awesome experience to witness. I wouldn't change it for the world. We all got some amazing photographs of these people, but I really felt like these photographs were insane. I really haven't ever loved photographing people, but I felt connected with these people because we had been out on their turf with them. I was really getting into the groove of being out in the field working freely and constantly and openly on whatever and everything that came into view. There was no specifics really on what I "had" to photograph. I grew to love photographing the people of the land and felt sure I would come home with many photographs of the people that I would want to put into my portfolio. And hopefully would continue to love photographing people in the future more.
We headed back after they cooked the monkey and we had all tasted it. It was surprisingly not so bad. One man was even eating the skull!! Once we got back, they did a ceremonial dance and song for us. We then went back to the lodge for lunch and lounged around for a little while by the pool and exchanged journals with each other. Then we headed back out to see a blacksmith and his tribe. This was really interesting to see because it takes so much time to make things. He sat there banging on the metal for the entire time we were there. And another person had to pump this bag with their arms in order to blow air into the coals to make fire. There was a lot of work that went into making one single item. He made bracelets and knives among other things. Everybody bought bracelets and Christina and I bought Knives.
After we left there, we headed to visit another tribe. The head man had 3 wives. They were really impressed with my 5 finger shoes. It was weird because they laughed and laughed about it and wanted to keep me just for my shoes. They got us to dance with them-jumping up and down. We got to walk through their house. They have such low ceilings and their house is made from dung (elephant poop).
From there we left and went back to the lodge for dinner. We leave this lodge in the morning.

June 19, 2009

2009-07-03T13:13:00.000-07:00

We got up this morning and headed out from the Rift Valley lodge. The road into and out of there is KILLER. It is completely made of rocks and mud and is ridiculously bumpy. But if we thought that road was long, bumpy and rough-- we had no idea what was ahead. We had a 3 hour ride in front of us. We stopped to full up on gas and let Bailey get money from the ATM. Where we stopped there was a little "super market" that you could purchase liquor from. I bought 2 little bottls of Konyagi for 4 schillings each. What a steal!!!! It is said to be the equivalent of drinking something similar to everclear...interesting! Apparently you can't purchase this liquore back in the States, so it will be something special to take back home. We also got some items at the lodge we just left. I got a bottle opener, a hair barrett for my Mom and some African made sandals.
From there we ended up on the long, bumpy road. It didn't seem so bad at first, but we were on it for what seemed like days. As I say again, you can do some real soul searching on those roads. Finally, we pulled up at the lodge and mannnn oh man is this place a sight for sore eyes. The lodge is located on the lake, except that the lake is dry right now. In the distance there are mountains/hills that are hiding the crater that we are going to see last. There is an amazing view from every place you stand. The owner took us on a tour of the place and we were shown the fresh water ponds and stream that the locals are allowed to come and get water from.
Later, we went to the pool and got some real African sun. Totally right up my alley...I love the pool. Then we went on a long walk out on the lake bed. There were locals herding their cattle and goats to the fresh water stream for water. We took a lot of photos of them. Some turned out really great!
After that, we took showers and got ready to go up the cliff behind the lodge for a sunset view and a beer. It was amazing and the conversation among us all was really comfortable. Brooke opened up to us and us to Brooke. We all seemed just far enough into the trip that we could share ourselves and let down our guards a little. It was great. We had a nice afternoon off to just take everything in and let the trip really sink in. The end of the trip is nearing and every minute should be treasured. We then headed back down for dinner, which was great too. The food is soooo good here. Lunch was spaghetti and tonight we had a little steak. I'm passing out now- early for once. Tomorrow we are going to see a tribe of hunters and gathers. We are going to hunt with them--that should be interesting.

June 17, 2009

2009-07-03T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today was absolutely amazing. We set out on a game drive to Tarangire National Park again. We saw elephants and zebra again, but immediately set out on a hunt for lions and a leopard. We went further into the park than yesterday. We eventually found an entire family of lions. The male lion - who seriously looked like he was straight out of the Lion King, was what we first spotted. But, he was off in the distance behind some tree limbs, kind of hiding. Then we saw an entire clan right in front of us, all sitting together in front of a tree about 10-15 feet from the truck. These were not what you would think a baby cub would look like, but they were baby cubs. They looked more like small lions, but they were SOO CUTE! They were very playful and so innocent looking. They kept playing footsie with each other. We all took a million photos of them. We saw there for forever, as we were all in amazement.
From there we headed to find a leopard-bound and determined, but certainly not really thinking it would happen! We actually saw one, however the first car spotted him. He was so far in the distance though. The other car left and we decided to track him down. We drove back to the dry river bed and spotted him in a tree. We then found ourselves stuck in the sand in the river bed. We had asked to get just a little closer and a little closer and Nicole reminded us that we should be careful what we wish for! Good advice I think! Elisa, our guide, said he would have to get out in order to turn on the 4WD and when he got out that the leopard would scatter, so we needed to get our photos fast. He was sooo amazing. He was glaring at us like we were dinner. He had some serious intensity in his eyes. As soon as Elisa got out of the truck, the leopard checked Elisa out like he was his supper and then jumped from the tree fast as lightning and was gone in a flash. It was so amazing. I still can't believe that we saw him. The adrenaline rush alone from seeing him was priceless. We left and then came back a little later and saw him a 3rd time in plain view in the dry river bed, but only for a few seconds.
When we left the park, we headed to these two markets of the messai people. This type of market is not full of various booths and natives selling their crafts and the sort, but rather a single tin hut. These women hand make jewelry, baskets and carve wood into giraffe heads and the sorts. They also had blankets that they all wear as clothing (they are known for wearing red). They had many things made from beads. All of the women wore these necklaces I would call them around their necks. They were large and circular and made from beads. When they danced they bounced up and down off their shoulders.
We went to two different places. At the first place, the head lady wanted to argue a little about the bargaining. Our guide Jackson (Babu) did a good job discussing prices with her. He had to talk in her tribal language to negotiate. They would discuss for quite some time and it really made me nervous. I just wanted to know what they were saying. When we left they sang and danced for us and asked us to join in. It was never really a choice of whether or not you wanted to or not...you just did. They put their necklaces on us and dressed Christina and Jaime in their clothes. They jump up and down when they dance and their necklaces just bounce up and down. At the second market, I got a little emotional. It just all set in with me. It all felt so right when they were singing and dancing and I was snapping photograph after photograph of these people and their country. I literally teared up. This place is just too much of God's country.
We leave this camp tomorrow morning and head up the Rift Valley to another tented lodge. We will go on a walking tour in the morning and then a night game drive later that night, where we will hopefully see more cats.

June 16, 2009

2009-07-03T11:52:00.000-07:00

—Early that morning
So we are leaving the Rivertrees Lodge and are headed 2 1/2 hours away. We are going to the Tarangire National Park for the day.
—Later that evening
On the drive there, we stopped at the currency exchange place to get schillings. When we stopped we were all bombarded by locals trying to sell us their goods. We all exchanged money and some of us got postcards to send back home. I got some postcards to send to my Mom and Mrs. Georgia. They weren't brand new looking- certainly a little rough around the edges, but I think this only adds to their African character. Finally, we got back into the trucks. It was a little intense being among the natives. They really just beg for you to buy their stuff. They have so little! Nicole really knew how to bargain with them, so that was helpful.
From there, we headed to the park, but were stopped on the way due to a flat tire. So we had to get out on the road and change it. When we did, this small boy came up and we began taking his photograph. He was adorable and totally modeled for us (as if he had done this before). After, he wanted something in return. The guides said we couldn't give him money, so we gave him food. He was so excited! We gave him sour patch kids and some natural valley bars. I surely figured he would be on a sugar high from a few sour patch kids for a few days.
We finally arrived at the park and went on in. Immediately we saw a large herd of zebra and then elephants. There were also 300 different species of birds inside the park and we saw tons of them. The elephants were sooo amazing. We saw one large family of them and they went from being off in the distance about 100 yards away to being 20 feet away. They crossed just in front of our truck. Their ears and trunks and eye lashes are just so amazing. They are massive, yet they are extremely quite animals- they don't make a sound it seems.
All the zebra we saw were probably my favorite. Their skin and their hair is so pretty. It is not just white and black like we typically think. It is so much prettier, with browns and golden yellows. We also saw some ostritch today too. They were really cool..they walk so funny. My favorite bird was the blue and turquoise bird. And the love birds have to come in second--they were pretty too. Nicole really loved them, as she could spot them just by hearing them.
From there we headed to our next lodge- a tented lodge. All of our rooms are on built up platform huts off the ground. They have a 15 foot by 20 foot tent then placed on them as the room. Christina and I both had our own bed with a mosquito canopy around it. There is also a little sitting area in the middle and a rather large bathroom. However, there is no place to plug anything in. The real "roughing" it time has begun. We have lanterns for lights and 2 overhead lightst that they provide at certain times. The shower barely gives off any water pressure. In order to get a shower from the overhead faucet, you have to hold the lever that turns the water from faucet to shower the entire time you are showering. Not an easy task. In the mean time, the power went off when I first tried to get in the shower and then again when I finally got in the shower. Thank goodness for my flashlight. Very interesting. So tomorrow we are going to go back to the same Tarangire National Park. I'm excited as there is much more to see there.
The names of the birds we saw are:
Turquoise blue bird - Superb Stallion
Orange tail - White Headed Buffalo Weaver

Also, I forgot to tell about the crazy monkeys. When we had lunch in the park, the monkeys came up and grabbed peoples lunches. They practically attacked most of the people at the tables if they had their lunches wide open. It was absolutely insane. They swarmed the place--it was definitely their territory, not ours!! There were tons of them, coming from every direction. Some of them had babies holding onto their bellies and crawling on their backs, but it was really interesting and neat to watch. However, really intense because you didn't know if they were going to jump on you or not!

June 15, 2009... Continued

2009-07-03T11:22:00.000-07:00

It's bedtime and we had an amazing day. As soon as we got to the Arusha National Park, there were Giraffes grazing in the bush about 20 feet away. We were all in amazement of course. I could hardly stand it because my moms favorite animal is a giraffe. It was all she talked about me photographing for her. That being the first animal we saw was special to me because of that. Once we went into the part, we saw tons of monkeys — baboons and blue tail monkeys. They were all so very wild, as they literally bark at each other. It was awesome to see how they interact with each other and how they play around so much. Literally monkey around! We also saw black and white monkeys, I believe they are called white tail monkeys. They have long white tails that hang down from the tree branches. They were much calmer. We saw zebra, worthogs, water buck, buffalo and some vultures. We went to this one lake where there were MILLIONS of flamingo. It was absolutely amazing. I wish we would have been a bit closer to them, but they were so gorgeous. I absolutely loved seeing them. Then we traveled to another lake in the park to canoe with the hippos. We got into the canoes — Bailey and I got in together. We toured around the entire lake practically. We saw some water buck up close, a male and a female and I took some great shots of them. We also saw some flamingo up close too and I caught some photos of them flying away. However, the hippos were hard to see. There were only like 4 in the lake and they really stay under water for long periods of time. I was expecting there to be this numerous amount of them and to be scared they were going to attack us. We supposedly saw one of them, but only his little nostril come up for air. I don't think I ever really saw him because he was so far away. I was a little disappointed. We left from there and headed back to the lodge. On the way out of the park, we saw our first hyena. He was hurt and I didn't even catch his picture, but he was so pretty. For dinner we had a buffet style BBQ. It was great...as you soon will find out all the food was! I had some white Pinot Grigio African wine with dinner and it was amazing as well. That's all for tonight...we move to another lodge tomorrow.

June 15, 2009

2009-07-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

We are all locked and loaded in the Land Cruisers at 9:40- Tanzania time, which means it is the middle of the night back at home. We are about to head off for our first game drive - our guides have everything loaded and ready. Meryl is sick and we all feel so bad for her- yet Brooke has to stay behind and we are all off on our own without her. So we will be all alone on Safari on our first day - on a game drive with wild animals without Brooke...AHHHH. However, we are all brave and will be just fine.
This morning at breakfast we saw a water buck run past where we were eating outside at the lodge. Apparently it decided to greet us after it had already taken a dip in the pool. All of the workers said that this was a rare happening as they had not seen this in probably 5 years. So we were all so ecstatic.
So we are off for our adventure and then to canoe with hippos later this afternoon. I really hate canoeing, but this is going to be fun. There are people everywhere walking down the road and they drive on the completely wrong side of the road. VERY WEIRD. more later.

June 14, 2009... Continued

2009-07-03T11:02:00.000-07:00

So it is 11:15 at night and we are finally settled in our room that is ridiculously awesome! This place is so nice! We have a huge bed with amosquito canopy to pull over it. All of our furniture looks to be made from African wood, possibly-- it is so pretty. There has already been a little lizard or geico creature in our room and we can't seem to get him out of here. He was in the bathroom, then the bedroom, now back in the bathroom. He is super fast!!!
It doesn't all seem to be real still. Getting off the plane was unreal-- we got off and walked off the plane down steps and onto African soil. After that we got our visas, but had to stand in a really long line with our first signs of no air conditioning. Then we got our luggage and met up with Brooke and her boyfriend Ben, as well as Nicole (Brooke's best friend). We were also introduced to our guides for the trip, Elisa and Babu who then took us to our Land Cruisers. We were then off to the lodge on a 45 minute ride from the airport. We had a late night dinner that was insanely nice and our first taste of some African beer - YUM. Then we were placed in our rooms. Christina and I are going to be roommates for the entire trip...just as we thought we would be. Once we got in our room, we went on a small tour of the place of course. Now I am getting in bed as I am super tired. More in the A.M.

June 14, 2009

2009-07-03T10:50:00.000-07:00

—Plane Ride to Kilimanjaro
I seriously think we have been on this plane for more than 6 hours. And I certainly felt like we were on the plane to Amsterdam for longer too! We rode in, sat in an exit row on the plane to Amsterdam and had another couple of beers. Somehow I thought that may make me sleep, but it really didn't work! We had plenty of leg room, but there was no where to prop your feet. I don't think I got a single nap in over 30 minutes long. However, once we got to Amsterdam, there were good looking boys everywhere-- quite interesting that no matter where you go in the world boys are all the same! English is the second language here of course, which is weird to see. On the signs you see Dutch and then English below. Definitely get that feeling that you aren't in your own world anymore. From our flight, we got straight onto the flight to Kilimanjaro. This flight is a KLM flight...a lot nicer. They really like to wine and dine you more than Delta or NWA. Now that I have been through the Amsterdam airport, I am feeling more excitement about Amsterdam. Hopefully it will be more fun than I originally thought. You only live once and I want to enjoy everything and experience the world. Even if that part of the world does things that I don't necessarily agree with and participate in. We have discussed going to Paris one day, which would be sooo amazing, but it may be too far away.
I still can't believe that we are almost to Africa. Until I step foot off this plane, I don't think it will be real to me. However, I am totally stoked and excited to get there-- even more excited to get off this plane!!! I think if I do anymore international flying in the future - when I have money- I better be purchasing a First class ticket! For sure! I think it is around 10:00 a.m. at home, but it is about 7:00 or so at night here. This time difference and day difference is all crazy. I think that is all I am going to write for now, until my reaction to Africa sets in.

June 13, 2009

2009-07-03T09:49:00.000-07:00

So, the trip has begun as I am sitting in the Detroit airport waiting to board the plane to Amsterdam. I really still can't believe that I am traveling half way across the world. Surely by the time we make it to Amsterdam, it should all sink in!! I can't wait for all of the adventures ahead. Christina and I got an adventure starter drink on the first flight to calm our nerves a bit-- and had a farewell cheers at the Detroit airport Chilis to leaving the country for the first time ever. I am really glad to be on this journey together with her, as we do share a lot in common and definitely get the sister card a lot. I am very excited and can't wait to be there, but we have a long couple of flights ahead. I pray for a safe flight and some rest. The rest of our group ended up on a different flight to Amsterdam, so it looks like Christina and I are on our own for some over the water flying-- I think we will be just fine...we might should be worried about them, rather than they be worried about us! Farewell till Amsterdam.