TIA

Well, we made it to Zanzibar after a wonderful five day adventure looking for the big five on Safari.  We did see all five, including the leopard on the last day in the Ngorongoro Crater.  However, the highlight for me was when I got to drive the Landcruiser through the Serengeti!  I confessed to our driver/guide after a few wines one night that I really wanted to drive and he laughed, probably thinking "crazy mzungu."  But the next day toward the end of the game drive he pulled over, looked back at me and asked, do you want to drive?  TIA (this is Africa), so pretty much anything goes I think.  I immediately thought oh, I haven't driven in five months, let alone a stick in ages and on the left side of the road?  But my body was too busy jumping into the driver's seat and taking off.

  I had such a smile on my face the whole time.  Margaret made sure we had photographic evidence. I only drove about 45 minutes and never left 3rd gear, but it was a rush!  I've never had to pull over for giraffes before. 
 
Aside from that, seeing animals in the wild was exceptional.  We saw a ton of lions.  One morning we saw a whole group having breakfast.  We were so close to them all feeding we could smell the kill, which turned out to be a zebra.  The male was roaring at the little cubs trying to get a bite here and there.  We saw hippos running, elephants crossing the road, lots of wildebeest and antelope, giraffe, a shy rhino, pink flamingos, cheetahs, buffalo, hyenas, ostrich, warthog, baboons, the list goes on and on, and believe me, I kept a list.

After four days of hanging with the wild, including listening to some zebras feed outside our tent while camping on the edge of the crater, we headed back to Arusha for one more night before a long bus ride to Dar es Salaam, and then a ferry to Zanzibar this morning.  It is paradise here!  I don't plan to do a whole lot this week.  Both of us are really tired.  The last month has been incredible but now we want to chill before Margaret leaves Friday.  So I plan to enjoy having her company until then and soak up some sun despite the doxy and its side-effects (my anti-malarials make me sun-sensitive.)  I will post pictures soon I promise, but I have picked up another virus downloading photos so I'm not sure how it will go.  I have so many now.  And I need to blog about Kilimanjaro more fully.  As time passes, so does the rush I felt afterward but I still can't believe we made it - although the ridiculous amount of gear we have to carry now is a constant reminder.  Anyway, I feel like I can't keep up with all that is happening here.  Africa has been so amazing!