Home at last!

We arrived home on Friday the 13th. Although all the snow was still here, at least it was a bright sunshiny day. We unpacked, took a nap and then decided to leave for Boise to pick up Boo (our dog). I think we were home for about seven hours and then back on the road. We arrived in Boise about 4am, slept for a couple of hours and started a dew day. Amber and I tried to tally up the total number of hours we were traveling and the closest that we could come up with was about 65 hours since leaving Dar es Salaam. We left Boise on Monday afternoon and arrived back home later that evening. We look forward to reliving the many many memories of Africa. I have plans on keeping the BLOG going, so feel free to stop in from time to time.

Thanks,

Eric, Amber, Angelina and Cassie

The Dog Whisperer

Before leaving to Seattle from JFK, Amber recognized Cesar Millan just a couple of gates down from us. Cesar has a show on the National Geographic Channel on rehabilitating bad dogs (like ours). It was neat for the girls to see him as we have watched a few of his shows.

In JFK

After flying all night and all day the girls were still tired. They slept on these concrete benches for about five hours. We had planned on going into New York.....maybe next time.

After a Starbucks hot coco, Cassie drifted off before our flight to JFK

Dubai Intl Airport

Dubai Airport is crazy! Our flight to JFK left at 2am so we had a couple of hours to kill. You would have thought that it was 2 in the afternoon the way that everything open and there were thousands of travelers.

Bongoyo Island

We flew right over Mom and Dad's house as well as well as our favorite day getaway...Bongoyo Island.

Leaving Dar es Salaam

It was a sad day to say the least. The month went by way to fast.

Time to go!

Well it has been a fantastic adventure. Africa has given plenty to remember for years to come. Thank you all for enjoying our trip with us. This will more than likely be the last post until we get home. We leave From Dar to Dubai tonight at 5pm. Gent into Dubai at midnight. Leave for JFK at about 2am. Get into JFK around 7am and don't leave until 4pm. We arrive in SEA at 8pm and stay the night. Leave for Spokane at 8am on Friday the 13th (that doesn't sound right) and get home a short time later...............we hope. Bye for now.

One last trip to the Yacht Club tidal flats

One day left.......:-( It was a great minus tide, and we found many wonderful creatures.

A beautiful Lion Fish and a Cow Fish

Cassie finds a Harpa Harpa

This is what I did all month

Helping Grandma with laundry

Another trip out to Bongoyo Island

With only a couple of days left we went to Bongoyo again. Such a great place that is so close.

Another fine lunch on Bongoyo

Playing in the surf

The tide came in pretty quick while on the island, making some good waves for the girls. They played for about 3 straight hours.

One last family picture on Bongoyo

Leaving Bongoyo

Tinga Tinga Shopping

We scored a couple pretty big pieces of Tinga Tinga. Amber has become a master at bartering with the locals!

South Beach Trip

With one week left we went to South Beach which is about one and a half hours south of Dar. We spent 2 night and 3 days exploring, playing games and getting sun burned! The journey involved catching a very short ferry ride. The best part about the ferry ride was that when we went to pay, they thought that Amber was a child..........so we didn't have to pay. She was pretty happy. That also happened on the way back home, I guess the anti-ageing cream really does work!

Our accomodations on South Beach

We had a great place to stay while in South Beach. A great view and a beach all to ourselves to walk and play.

Sunrise on South Beach

Pretty nice to watch the sunrise at 6:30 in the morning.

Just Chillin'

Doing what we do best......hanging out in 80 degree water

Grilling some good eats!

We had our caretakers get us some fresh fish for dinner our last night, I had the honor of cooking it.

A Fish Eagle

Almost Full!

Pretty good picture of the moon on our trip to South Beach

A mango a day........

We lost count how many mangos we ate, sure are going to miss them.......at least the price anyway.

The girls next to a huge Boabab tree!

Baobabs can live a very long time, 400 to 1000 years. They can grow up to 90 feet tall. Their trunks can be up to 22 feet around and they are big like that because they are for water storage for dry times when there is no rain. They can hold up to 31,000 gallons of water in their thick, cork-like, fire resistant trunk, which is like a very big water tank! That is enough water for the tree to survive at least nine months without rain. During those dry months there are no leaves on the tree.

Safari to Mikumi National Park

First a bit of information for you all.

Mikumi National ParkSize: 1,250 sq miles, the fourth-largest park in Tanzania, and part of a much larger ecosystem centered on the vast Selous Game Reserve. Mikumi National Park borders the northern part of the Selous and is divided by the road between Dar es Salaam and Iringa. Mikumi is the most accessible part of a 47,000 square mile area of wilderness that stretches east almost as far as the Indian Ocean.

Location: 175 miles west of Dar es Salaam

Okay. Just forget everything that is grand and exciting about going to your favorite zoo. The animals there are no doubt fantastic to view, but are much better seen when driving slowly through the bush with nothing between you and them but your camera. Okay maybe there was an occasional pane of glass, but we were in the middle of their home. Want to see a herd of African Buffalo….look over there (click), how about Elephants……watch them drink out of the nearby pond while we have lunch (click), oh look at the Giraffe merely a few feet away just staring at us (click), how about Zebra (click), Wildebeeste, Eland, Hippos, Crocodiles, Reedbuck, Warthogs, Baboons, Impala, Jackal,(click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click……….and oh yes finally some Lions (click). In all some 2500 pictures were “clicked” in our five days at Mikumi. I think we came away with some pretty good shots and a truly saturated feeling of seeing wild animals (that’s a good thing). Our accommodations were great. Amber put it best that we were “five star camping”. The Banda’s had running water, electricity for a couple of hours in the morning and evening, beds (with mosquito nets), and best of all great sound effects at night. We were amazed at how loud it could be one minute, and the next……dead silent. The days began early with a Safari before breakfast. After breakfast another trip out to see what we might have missed. After lunch some digested, and others “safaried” some more. Before dinner everyone saddled up for the evening hunt for lions. Dinner was served overlooking the waterhole where we were forced to watch various animals come and quench their thirst…….what a bummer. I think we averaged about eight hours a day in the car. I will leave you with the pictures to view. Thank you all for leaving your comments. They are fun to read and enjoy knowing that others are interested. Kwaheri!

The Beautiful Mikumi National Park

ZANZIBAR

We made it home on Saturday and found ourselves a little tired (and some of us a bit sick). What a week filled with sand, sun and culture. The ferry out to Zanzibar was a nice two hour cruise. We had heard that it could be a bit rough and that sick sacks were commonly handed out…..but not this trip. We arrived to find a whole new world. Our taxi took us to the very northern tip of Zanzibar, a one hour trip back through time. We arrived to find paradise. The accommodations were just right, the sand white, the weather HOT, and the company of the natives was welcome. We could not have imagined a better spot to relax. The next few days were spent on the beach, roaming through the local village, snorkeling, eating, and watching the sunset………repeat as necessary. We left on Thursday morning for a spice tour and Stone Town. The spice tour was fantastic and educational. At Stone Town we stayed in the Tembo Hotel. The last two days we shopped and lazed around some more by the hotel pool. What a week! The pictures do not do the trip justice but hope they convey a bit of what we had to endure………:-) We will be heading off on Safari tomorrow morning and will return on Friday afternoon/evening so until then...............

Arriving in Zanzibar and having lunch by our Bungalow. We felt so spoiled.

About an hour after we arrived, we watched these fisherman come into shore and deliver their catch to the women of the village. We were never in the right position the rest of the trip to see this again so close.

Angel and Cassie get their hair braided so mom doesn't have to do hair for a while, Angel shows off in a little rain shower and the Ladies take a morning walk on the beach.....life is tough.

Wandering through the Village close by, Angel captured local interest.

The girls playing cards during lunch and watching fisherman pass by while swimming with g'pa.

Sunset Cruise

Sunset

This is tough!

Man (or whale) overboard!

Snorkeling off of the northern tip of Zanzibar

The Doors of Zanzibar

Tinga Tinga art anyone?

Lunch!

Shopping in the streets of Stone Town

These are not my leggs.....but they are nice and so is the view!

In Zanzibar

I never would have guessed that there was Internet access out here but there is. They won't let me post any pictures, but I thought that I would write a note to let you know that we are at least safe. If you are interested, you can get a pretty good idea of where we are at by visiting http://www.amaanbungalows.com. This place is amazing. We have never seen water as blue and beautiful as this. Since we left Dar on Monday, I have taken almost 1000 pictures. Yesterday morning we walked through the local village that our Bungalows back up to. I was an experience watching the families start their day.......although I believe that they had been up a while longer then we had. As we walked, the children became interested in our presence, and several followed us for a while. They don't much like pictures taken of them so you have to be a little sneaky. At sunset we took a Dhow sunset sail cruise with a quick stop to snorkel for a bit. We have one more night here before leaving for Stone Town for one night. I believe we have plans on going to the spice plantation as well. This truly is a place that you have to see with your own eyes to really believe and take in it's complete beauty and rich culture. Can't wait to post pictures for you all to see.

Shopping @ the "Slipway" and the Fish Market

Saturday we went out to brave the Fish Market in Dar. What an experience that was. It was a mad house of people trying to sell you fish, prawns, squid......just about anything you can imagine, it was there......and for the most part, not on ICE! The girls were troopers and besides the sticky feet and pungent odors....all went well and we did get some dinner because we found someone with ICE. Later we went to the Slipway where we did what the girls do best. Shop! Found some great paintings and clothes for the girls. We leave for Zanzibar for the next five days. Can't wait to share the photos when we get back.

Thursday Night Dinner and Friday out at Bongoyo Island

Dinner on Thursday night was fantastic as you can see by the look on Angel and Cassie's faces. On Friday we went out to Bongoyo Island. It is an hour boat ride out to the most beautiful island. We were pretty much by ourselves. We ate lunch (fish and chips) and just lazed around all afternoon. The pool of eels was pretty fun to feed after we ate. The factory in these photos is a cement factory on the mainland. This is where the inspiration for Charlie and the Chocolate factory came from.