Some more photos

These are the parks where we went. First, Lake Manyara in the bottom centre of the page and second Ngorongoro CA on the left. We are staying in the city of Arusha currently. Lake Manjara was breath-taking. Known for it's birds and monkeys, the park is comprised of water more than land and the sights on the first day were incredible. The mass amounts of flamingos bathing in the lake and swooping over the hippos.

The second day at the Ngorongoro crater was even better. We drove up through clouds to descend again into a crater that is a natural haven for just about every African animal you could think of. If you find the crater on the map, we drove around the small lake in the centre stopping every few minutes to enjoy a new sight. The lions came so close and we thought they were going to chase after some wildebeast or zebra (the migrate together because the wildebeast can smell the lions but see poorly and the zebras have excellent vision to see the lions coming) but they were a bit more lethargic than our anticipations. The hippo pond was full of hippos (crazy eh?). There were also the symbiotic snowy egrets that your teachers talk about that eat the flies off the hippos backs. We saw hyenas and jackals which the driver referred to with a bit of disdain as being the dirty animals. Thompson gazelles, warthogs, elephants, giraffes, ibis', thousands of zebras and wildebeast, 4 young male lions, impalas, ostriches, what else? I'm not sure, but Andrea kept a list as the driver went on showing us them all. It was incredible.

Just the two of us and the blue African skies. Ahhh, I love Andrea.

A hawk stole my lunch here. It's true. We stopped here for lunch and I had made up in my mind that I would sit in the shade for a bit and rest my reddening Dutch skin while I ate my lunch. The driver said, "Be careful for the birds for they will take your lunch." And I thought, 'Whatever, I can see a bird coming." So I was enjoying the scenery while holding my sandwich in my right hand (facing the same way we are in the photo but under the tree) and a hawk swooped down from behind, grabbed my sandwich with it's talons and took off. I didn't even feel it until I saw it leaving with my sandwich. Luckily, I had been given a samosa to eat as well or I would have been really put out.

No, I'm not playing in the sand. I am actually hiding behind a below-average size anthill. Don't play around these kids. You might be the king of the castle, but you'll end up with little bites all over you.