Safari -- Swahili for trip.

We drove 3 hours to get to our lodge right outside the Ngorongoro crater where we stayed for two nights. On the way there we saw camels that had been imported fromthe north and we also saw TWIGAS (giraffes)!! Straight up WILD. No conservation, no park just pure wild animals!

Here at the lodge the stars are so easy to see. Again simply beautiful, bright new stars, except Juma says that you can see Orion here!! How wonderful and comforting to see a trusty star constellation in a new foreign place.

On our big day into the Ngorongoro crater we were basically stuck in the car for 11 hours driving around the crater floor. It was mainly over dirt roads with lots of stopping to just watch the animals. So many too! Zebras, gazelles of dif

ferent types, buffalo, hyenas, wildebeests, flamingos, all sorts of birds, ostriches, lions, hyenas, elephants, baboons, a lizard, hippos, and several other animals that I don't remember the names of. It was a beautiful trip and we were all covered in dirt by the end of it.

We also stopped at a Masai village before heading down into the crater. It was interesting to learn about how they live. It's been the same for so long. The young man who answered all my questions was very nice. He told me he was a Masai Warrior and had picked out a woman he wanted marry, he also told me she was going to cost 50 cows. I asked how old he was so I could get a concept of goals by what age and then he asked me how old I was. He first said WOW, when I told him 27, then he said a larger WOW when I told him I wasn't married. I told him I was 55 cattle and that American Warriors are hard to come by. He seemed satisfied with that answer. As we were leaving another guy came over to me and said if I would trade my watch for something, so I did.

The whole day was such a great experience and was so beautiful. I could never pick my favorite animal from the day. But I can tell you God is so wonderfully creative!