Many of the other people going on the safari wanted to make the experience a weekend long event. They wanted to camp out on Friday, have the safari on Saturday, and then go home Sunday. As much as I hate camping, I had to admit camping near the national park sounded like it would be pretty cool. We had to find a company that was able to take us, and we did end up finding someone who would take us for $80 each. We were not really going to be camping with this company. As we understood it we would be in some kind of cabin or hut, but that was perfectly fine with me.
On Friday we left to go camping. The company took us a little ways outside of Arusha into a small village. In that village we were taken to a large two story house. This was apparently where we were going to stay. The house was actually populated by a women and her children who owned the house and rented out as a home stay. Many of the the people on the trip were disappointed that this was not really a camping experience, and they were upset that we were still so close to where we live. We decided to stay for Friday night, but not Saturday night as was the original plan. This was all fine with me. I was happy as long as I had a real bed.
The house ended up being very nice and the family that lived there was very friendly. The night we stayed there the power was out so it ended up being a lot more like camping than we thought it would. The house had a fire pit so we made a camp fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. The family came out and joined us around the fire and made corn. One of the perks of having the power out was that we were able to see the stars really well. The night sky was gorgeous.
On Saturday we got up bright and early to go out on our safari. I was so excited to finally see some animals. We had already looked up to see the sort of animals we would get to see in Arusha National Park and I knew I would not get to see elephants, which is what I most want to see, but there were suppose to be giraffe which was the next on my list of must see animals.
When we first got to the park our company had to go get the park passes while we waited. We waited for our guide to come back forever. Numerous other groups came and left while we waited. When I finally went to see what was going on, I found out that the bank card the company was using wasn't working and they were trying to call the bank to fix it. For a while we thought we would just have to leave and come back on Sunday, but finally the problem was fixed we were able to go into the park.
When we stared out on the safari we quickly saw a groups of zebras, but then we didn't see anything for a while. I was a little worried that we would not see anything and that we paid $80 to see one small group of zebras, but then I stared see the monkey's. There were numerous species of monkey jumping around in the trees above us. One cool monkey we got to see was the black-and-white colobus, which apparently can only be easily seen in this park.
Next we went to a less wooded area with more open grassland. Again it took a while to see anything, but when we did see some animals, we saw a lot. There were warthogs, waterback, impala, baboons, flamingos, water buffalo, zebra, and lots of giraffe. The first giraffe we saw were very far away and we could barely see them. Every time we saw giraffe from then on, they got closer and closer. Finally at the end of the safari we moved into a big open plain with tons of different animals and the giraffe were right next to the road.
This Safari is by far the best thing I have done here so far. I can't wait until the safari we are taking with Arcadia. Hopefully I will get to see some elephants, hippos, and lions next.
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