safari weekend

14 of us left right after placement on friday and got into the crater site where we would stay the night just before the gates closed at 6. we got up at dawn to spend the morning in the ngorongoro crater, where we saw flamingos, buffaloes, zebras, ostriches, elephants, a lion&lioness, hippos, a black rhino(a rare sight because they're endangered), and gazelles.

that afternoon we went on a tour of a masai village. a tour guide briefly told us about their history, their tribal culture, and how they continue to live traditionally despite tanzania's cultural developments towards modern life. right when we pulled up the women put on necklaces and began a choreographed but somehow not at all unified song/dance performance for us. it was as if they couldn't all agree on a song and dance so they pieced together different ones. a few of the women pulled us up to dance with them (pretty much just jumping up and down) but that was almost more awkward than being in the audience.







while the tour guide took us in to one of their stick&cow-dung built huts to show us how they live, the women set out jewelery to sell us. we all liked the idea of buying goods directly from them to be supporting them and at the same time scoring some sweet authentic stuff, but they were asking for $10 for a tiny beaded bracelet.. obviously we were not the first group brought there to learn about the masai, but i think we were the most uncomfortable.

sunday we spent driving around the lake manyara national park. we saw some of the same animals as we had seen in the crater, some new ones, took a lot of pictures, and drove home when we were all safari-ed out.
i spent most of the weekend with my eyes wide open and my jaw at my knees, poking rachel and pointing. it was incredible. i still can't believe how close we were to some of those animals. for the rest of my life i will be able to say that this safari was one of the coolest things i have ever done.