And then there was six....

My suspicions were correct. Sparky was pregnant. And on January 4th she had 3 baby kittens. So, yes, that makes the total 6 cats. But don’t worry; I’m in the process of finding homes for them. I will not be the crazy cat lady with 6 cats; just the crazy cat lady with 3 cats haha. I also got the whole thing on tape. It’s a very interesting experience, especially when I am adding commentary and a play-by-play the entire time. It was kind of like watching National Geographic live. I must say, it was pretty cool.

My dad just visited!! The time came and went so fast, I couldn’t believe it! We had a great time; it was so much fun!

My dad got into Dar es Salaam in the morning of January 11th. I was so happy to see him!! Not gona lie, I cried a bit. It had been a year and a half since I had seen him after all. Right after he landed we jumped right onto another plane (a small little charter plane). We then landed in Arusha which is north near Mt Kilimanjaro and the border to Kenya. We got in about 11am and went straight to our hotel where we swam, rested, relaxed, ate pizza, and watched TV. That afternoon we also met with our Safari guide and made sure everything was set for the next day. Also since we were walk in guests to the hotel the manager gave us free dinner at the hotel. The hotel’s restaurant was super fancy, it was almost funny. Dad had chicken which he really liked and I had a delicious salad. I know, weird, I get a free dinner and I get a salad but you can’t find real-with-actual-lettuce salads here. It was so tasty. We had a very nice first day!!

Safari
The next morning we were picked up by our guide and headed towards our first destination, which was Lake Manyara National Park. It was awesome!!! We saw so many animals…even some rare ones. And some of the animals came right up against our car!!! Lions, elephants, giraffe, and baboons….right there!!! We were so lucky!! Talk about National Geographic Live!!! HELLO!!! While in the park we ate a packed cold lunch which was good. Then later that evening we arrived at the campsite and had a great dinner, rested, and there was even a performance which was so cool. I had not seen one like it before. They did acrobats, traditional dancing and drumming, and different tricks/acts with fire!!!

Here is a list of animals we saw in Lake Manyara National Park:

Blue monkey
Baboon
Cape buffalo
Warthog
Impala
Mongoose
Blue-ball monkey
Zebra
Hippo
Gazelle
Giraffe
Wildebeest
Crown cranes
Lion’s
Bushbuck
Crest Ginafold
Southern Ground Hornbill
Flamingo
Ostrich
Hammercop
Common Kookoo
Dickdick
Elephant
Helmet Ginafold

The second day of the safari, we got up and had big breakfast. Then we headed to Ngorongoro Crater. Here, we had another amazing day and saw SO MANY animals. It was absolutely amazing how many we saw and how close to the car they got!! After another great day of seeing animals and taking about a billion pictures, we went back to our campsite. We had dinner and there was another performance. YAY.

Here is what we saw at Ngorongoro Crater:

Baboon
Buffalo
Zebra
Wildebeest
Vulture
White stork
Lion
Hyena
Gazelle
Warthog
Antelope
Ostrich
Black Rhino
Silverback Jackal
Elephant
Gray Crown Crane
Thompson gazelle
Cheetah

On our last day we went to Tarangire National Park. It was a really pretty park, but we didn’t see as many cool animals like the first 2 days. Before here we had already seen 8 of the Big 9, plus a bunch of other animals. The only animal we didn’t see was the leopard because they don’t wander around a lot, especially during the day and they also stay up in the trees a lot. It was still a great day because we saw another lion….and a turtle! Since it was kind of a slow day in this park, we ate our lunch early and headed back to town. When we got to our hotel, we (again) rested, watched TV, relaxed, and hung out. We absolutely loved the safari!!

Here is what we saw in Tarangire National Park:

Warthog
Impalas
Secretary bird
Waterbuck antelope
Ostrich
Giraffe
Dickdick
Turtle
Elephant
Lion
Egyptian Geese
Dwarf Mongoose
Grown Hornbill

The following morning we took it slow, had the breakfast buffet at the hotel, which was SO YUMMY!! Gosh, I love American style breakfasts. Then we headed to the airport around noon. About 230p, we boarded our next charter plane to Zanzibar. We got there about 430p and when to our hostel. It was a great hostel…good breakfast, fancy homemade soaps, and close to everything. Our first stop after leaving the hotel was Mercury’s Restaurant (started by one of the guys in the band Queen). We walked around a while, saw the sights and looked at the shops and then that night we had dinner at an Italian restaurant. We had a delicious dinner and I got sorbet on a giant pile of fruit for dessert. My taste buds were very happy to say the least. We walked back to the hotel and looked at our safari pictures again. Then went to sleep to rest up for our Zanzibar adventure!

In the morning, we had a nice breakfast and headed out into town. We met with our tour group around 9a. After everyone arrived, we boarded the boat and set sail on our tour of the islands. I was absolutely fantastic! First let me make a note: the day before when we planned this trip with the tour company. He said the trip we wanted was going on the following day. Perfect. But then he asked us ‘Do you guys like Italians?’ Odd question we thought, but apparently he has to ask because other tourists don’t like to go on tours with a huge group of Italians because they are loud, smoke, drink, and all. I, of course, said that it was no problem at all because they are my people :) Needless to say we had a fantastic day!! They fed us non-stop seafood, fruit, and beer. We stopped at a sandbar to swim and Prison Island to see ruins and HUGE TURTLES!! If you haven’t looked on FB yet, go look…they are so big and some were around 180 years old!! There was also a little band on board comprised of 3 older fellas, hence they named there group Baba Tatu (3 Grandfathers). I danced a bit. After we got back to the mainland, we showered, relaxed and then went to get Zanzibar pizza and the local outdoor food market in the gardens.

They next day we headed out after breakfast and went to the east side of the Island. We didn’t like the hostel that we had booked so we stayed at their ‘sister hostel’ next door which was much better. After we got settled, we laid on the beach, by the pool, drank homemade juice, and later on had dinner at the restaurant. The next day we did nothing with our lives but lay in the sun, swim, eat, nap, and read. It was so relaxing!! And it was my birthday!! Perfect 26th birthday ever!! I had the beach, the sun, good food, AND MY DAD!!!

We did the exact same things the next day until noon then we were off to depart again. This time for Tanga…and my village!

When we arrived in Tanga, I took my dad to my favorite fruit place to share a plate of fruit and pineapple and avocado juice. YUM! Next, we stopped at my favorite store to pick some food and snacks. After finishing up, we went to my village. We got there at about 6p and were happily greeted by my Mama and all my kids. My milk man also stopped by to say hello and bring milk, of course. We had a nice evening in the village and went to sleep early.

For our first full day in the village we went to say hello and had a meet and greet with my health group. We drank soda, ate cookies, made a few speeches, and they presented my dad with a couple gifts which he loved. We had the best time! Then we went to my Secondary school. My dad met the teachers, students, he said a few words to the students, we walked around the school, and showed him the classrooms. Good times. That afternoon, we rest because it was a million degrees out. We also had about a million visitors too. They kept rolling by until 7p. At some point we also went to my milkman’s house, so my dad could meet all of his family. My dad and the milkman became quick friends :)

The second day in the village, my group and I had our World AIDS Day Event. It went off without a hitch (not including it starting late…but that’s the usual). They day turned out great!! I was SO HAPPY to have my dad there to see the whole event and little bit of what I do. It was a long day, but an absolute great one!

The next morning, we said our goodbyes in the village and left for Dar. We took a bus, which isn’t the funnest thing in the world, but it wasn’t a bad ride either. That night we had dinner at the hotel, relaxed, and watched movies. As far as last nights with your dad for a while, it was nice! We had fun just hanging out! Then early in the morning, I had to say ‘goodbye for now’ to my dad and he left for the airport. This was my least favorite part of the whole trip!!

All in all, my dad’s visit was amazing! I am so glad that he visited!!

Summary….
- Favorite parts of the trip: EVERYTHING.
- Least favorite parts of the trip: not seeing a leopard, not seeing a lion (or cheetah) chase, attack, kill, and eat something, and saying goodbye to my dad.
- I have read 48 books to date.
- I should be home in about 5 months and 3 weeks!! We get to choose our date to go home in May….I hope I get the date I want!!
- Sparky’s babies crawled out of their box today for the first time! They grow up so fast…they are off into the big ‘ol world.
- Getting back into running after a 10 day hiatus….hard.
- It has been consistently about 95 degrees every day. Naps are now very necessary for survival.

Much love, J