TZ

Note:This happened during break two between Term 2 and Term 3, aka during August..
Lets start at the very beginning.
Leaving Kigali International Airport to fly to Kilamnjaro,TZ. First, the airport had free wireless, and it was decent internet, I was impressed. Then the airplane. It was one of those with propellars on the wings.crazy right. The flight was short and sweet, but they did give us food. I had me a sweet tuna and cheese sandwich.score. The view from the airplane was great. I took a few pictures, but to be honest my camera could not do it justice,so I stopped.
In Kilamanjaro we got picked up by our tourguide for our safari. We were told that we were lucky because we got to see the mountain uncovered by clouds. We even stopped on the side of the road to take pictures.
Here starts our week safari. I am going to break the week down into 2 categories.Lodging and Animals.
Although I could argue that the animals were the best and most important part of the trip,I am going to have to talk about what really matters--the lodging.Lets be real, I have been living in my little house for about 8 months and a little luxury sure ain't bad.

Each of the places that we stayed in were "lodges," and most of them were even inside or very near a national park, yet most of the finer amenities were not lacking...The only semi-true complaint I can make is that not all the places had TVs in their rooms. Although I might understand the reasons why, I still must admit, if there had been TVs in all the places, I'm not sure I could even complain.
The food was great. Some of the buffets were legit. The hot water wasn't bad either..haha. Even our boxed lunches were stellar. One of the lodges even had an infiniti pool overlooking the national park.. I would highly recommend any of the Serena Lodges.
I do have one story to go along with the lodging. When we were in Serengeti national park, we were told that we had to be walked to our rooms because animals move about the grounds..which is true, yet just another way for them to ask for money.(note at times it was ackward because they would stand around waiting expectantly)
We had arrived in the evening and some of the workers were there to show us to our rooms and carry our bags. Since I was in a room by myself I went off with this bellboy(lack of a better word). As we are unlocking the door the man asks if I am alone and I say yes. He then says oh you aren't married, I reply no. His response was then why not, what is wrong with you.And then he had the nerve to wait around for a tip. Luckily his phone rang and I told him he could take it outside, and I shut the door in his face. To be honest his actiona did not surprise me at all. After living here for the short amount of time that I have,nothing like that can surprise me,its almost a normal question for a woman to get. But what was surprising is that this was a lodge were essentially westerns excusively go, so shouldn't this man know what we do and what we do not say...just saying..especially if he wants us to give him money..

Now, the Animals.
Where to begin. I don't even know where to start. I can hardly put into words everything that we saw. It was unbelievable, truely a life changing experience to see all of these animals. There were zebras, giraffes, elephants, wildebeasts, various type of antelope creatures that have varying sizes and butt colors(I kid you not, white, black, black striped, etc). Not to mention the lions, leapards, cheetas, hippos, warthogs, hyenas. And the birds. We really saw some great birds, and I am not in the least bit ashamed to say that.
We saw animals grazing, animals eating, animals on the prawl, and even saw a few dead animals. We heard bones cracking as animals munched on their lunch. We saw and heard baby elephants squell as they ran to their mothers. We saw giraffes run and elephants knockin' down trees. We saw zebras go to their watering hole. We saw lions on the hunt. We saw some baby cheetas botch a hunt job with their mom. I could go on and on.
We also saw tons of tourists. At times it would feel like we were the only jeep driving around, and then suddenly it would be a jeep convention and there would be at least 20 all around looking at some good animal. Near the end, and I can't even believe I am saying this, we were a little "over" the giraffes and zebras. When our guide would ask if we wanted to stop, we would just say no no, its just another______. Which reminds me, the jeep. It was a fun vehicle. It had two rows of captain chairs and a back bench. The top could pop up letting us stand and take photos, but still remaining up so that the sun could be blocked.
And oh one cannot speak of the jeep without speaking of the DUST. DAMN. At times it was bad. Thankfully we had all our quick dry safari clothes so they could be washed out at night and worn the next day if need be.(yes I am a dork)
But back to the animals. I never really thought it could have been like that. Seeing all different animals in different parks,crazyness. Even with my dinky little camera I was able to get some quality photos that whenever I look back at them I will be able to remember an awesome week.
There is no way I can describe everything, but I can say I thank my family and friends for going on this trip and taking me with them. It was something that I can not and will not ever forget.
One last thing to tell you: This safari was NOT like the movies. It was better than the movies.