Africa

As we drove east towards Ngorongoro Crater, behind us were the planes of the Serengeti and Olduvai Gorge, where were found the 1.4 million year old bones of our human ancestors.  The terrain became increasing hilly; the Rift Valley that extends north into in Kenya.  To the East, beyond the crater, is Arusha and Mount Kilimanjaro.

Our objective on this day of our safari was Ngorongoro Crater. After that we would spend the night at Ngorongoro Farm House just outside the conservation area. The next day we would drive to Arusha for a 3:30PM flight to Stone Town, Zanzibar. That would mark the end of this Safari.

Our Safari began five days earlier on February 17th with an early-morning departure from Nairobi.  Even then the traffic was heavy but after an hour or so we were out of the city.  The two-lane highway took us straight to the border between Kenya and Tanzania where we would change cars and drivers.  A Kenyan driver can’t go into Tanzania without a work permit so tour companies prefer to switch cars and drivers at the boarder crossing.

At the boarder we were met by our drive-guide, Simon, and his Toyota 4-wheel-drive Land cruiser.  Simon is a Maasai, although he now lives in Arusha, is married to a non-Maasai woman and guides in preference to herding goats and cattle.  Yet deep down he still has pride in his heritage.

This trip to Africa was different than others we have taken.  I don’t know exactly where to start so I have started in the middle.  The middle is a transition point; an edge.