Tanzanian Charity

I am donating to the SOS Children's Villages. It looks like a wonderful charity, and it supports the needy children in Tanzania. It'll be a way of connecting with this beautiful country. One of the Village's children

Tanzania Day 7.

Today we were in Zanzibar. We went to a coral reef not that far from shore. Our boat had a clear glass bottom so we could see the fish and coral below us. I got really scared when a reef shark swam directly under our boat, but it was more scared of us than we were of it. We went swiming from a sand strip near the reef. It was really weird to be on what was practically a miniature island made of sand. We saw so many colorful fish and Plants, and we we had so much fun. The waves made a constant lapping sound on the sand strip, and Under tha water, there was an eerie soft note playing. We all felt peaceful. This was our last day in Tanzania, and it brought a kind of sadness with it. We had learned so much from this place, like not to take water for granted, that it can be used up and we won't be able to survive. We also learned a sort of serenity from all the wilderness, that not everything is under man's control. it is really humbling to see that most everything is bigger and stronger than you out here, and you realize you're just a pawn in the big game of life.I will miss this place so much, I had so much fun here. This has been one of the bet experience in my life. A piece of the coral reef we saw.

Tanzania Day 7.

Today we went to a Masaai town. We had to get up early to be able to fly there and have a good amount of time with the Masaai. When we got there, the whole village was waiting for us. They all had clothes made out of red material, and they women wore neck collars made of beads. When I got out of the car, the children came running over and started dragging places. First they showed me their houses. These are mad of mud bricks and have tin roofs. Most of them have fenced in areas next to them with a goat or a pig in them. They keep their cows in a corral away from their homes. We went with them to the main square, where the people treated us to a dance and music. It was a very upbeat and the dancers feet were flying up in the air. The children pulled us into the dancing, and I was breathless, but laughing when I finally stopped. They cooked us all a traditional Masaai meal of grilled goat and cassava dumplings. We were all really full when we finished and we sat under a tree for a while listening to and telling stories. After a while the younger men went to get the cattle from the pasture, and we watched them drive the beasts into the corrals. We had to leave after that because we had a long drive to the airport where our plane was waiting to take us to Zanzibar. 1. 2. 1. People watching the dancing 2. Girls wearing the traditional jewlery

Tanzania Day 6.

We went to lake Tanganyika today. It was a lovely lake, with crystal clear blue water and white beaches. Nicole and I changed into our swim suits while Jamie helped make a snack. I could smell the wet scent of the water and the food the guys prepared for us. they persuaded us to have a snack before heading out to the lake. The water felt so good on the warm day we'd been having. I could feel the sand under my feet and smell the flowers that grew along the shore. At one point Nicole screamed and knocked into me, making us both fall over. I asked her what was wrong and she said a fish had bitten her leg. She pointed to the mark, and it was smaller than a pinhead. I said she was overreacting. We had a wondrful lunch and we hired a boat to take us out on the lake. W could see many fish and things under the boat. It was really nice. We finally went back to our youth hostile and had a good dinner. We packed then because we had to leave early to be able to drive to the Masaai town we're planning to visit. The people we rented our boat from Did you know Lake Tanganyika is the longest and deepest lake in the world?

Tanzania Day 5.

Today we went Back to the Crater Highlands to see the Volcano, Ol Doinyo Lengai. It is and active volcano and it was awesome! Cristian, our guide, drove us to the volcano. We saw many zebras and wildebeest on the way there. We also got to see a family of giraffes cross the road. The dirt road we were on seemed to be paved in parts, but Cristian said it was the hardened lava that made it look like that.After a very bumpy ride,we got to the top of the volcano, and we saw a viewing point where you could see the lava. Nicole and I were scared that the volcano would erupt and we would all die, but Cristian said the status of the volcano is checked daily, and they don't let people up when it is dangerous. It was really cool to see the lava sloshing around in the crater. There were a lot of sulfer vents around the volcano's edge, and that made it smell bad, but overall it was cool. We went to see one other crater nearby, but it wasn't early as cool as Ol Doinyo Lengai. I learned that the volcano erupted last in June 2008! What it looks like when it erupts! This is what was on the road, it looks like pavement!

Tanzania Day 4.

Today we went to the Kolo Kondoa Rock Art sites near Arusha. It was really cool to be able to see such old paintings. They mostly showed the ancient people hunting and the animals they hunted. there were some other things on them too that I couldn't make out. The paintings were made of black, brown, and tan, and were made of the sediments around the site. I liked how they looked so much like humans and animals. I was expecting them to look like a little childs drawings, but they weren't like that at all. Cristian packed us a lunch that we ate around 1:00. We all had rather sunburned faces when we got back to the hotel. I researched the paintings and I found out that they were painted 30,000,000 years ago. It was really neat.

Tanzania Day 2/3.

yesterday we drove down to Ngorongoro Crater to go on Safari. We had to leave our hotel at the base of Kilimanjaro at around 4:00 to get to the Crater in time for our 6:30 morning safari. We met up with Cristian at the resort so that we could take his Land Rover out. We saw so many animals. There were zebra with their foals and wildebeest with their calves. We also saw many different types of antelope, like Grant's and Tomson's gazelles as well as HUGE bull elephants. We also saw a few ostrich. When we were going back to the resort, we passed a pond with seven hippos in it. Their teeth were huge! We had a wonderful breakfast at around 9:00 and we finally got to unpack at around 10:00. Nicole and I spent our morning looking up the animals we'd seen on our safari on the computer. We had lunch at around 2:00 and left for for our evening safari at 5:00. We saw a pride of black-maned lions hunting with their cubs for the first time. It was so cool to see the cubs running after a Grant's gazelle. We saw all the animals we saw in the morning as well as two cheetahs. We finally got back at 8:30 and had a wonderful dinner of roast meat and potatoes, as well as other native dishes. We finally went to bed at 10:00 and Christian had to walk is to our room because a hippo had walked through camp and it wasn't safe. We woke up and went on another morning safari. We saw a leopard in a copse of trees. She was with her cubs in a acacia tree. It was really cool. We left soon after lunch to go to our hotel in Arusha. We explored the city some, and we found another really good restaurant to eat and bought a couple of trinkets at a corner market. black maned lion zebra herd Hippo with Elephant

Day 1. in Tanzania

Yesterday I got off the plane in Kilimanjaro National Airport at 7:00 pm, just in time for dinner. Jamie, Nicole, and I went to our hotel room to drop off our stuff and then we went off to dinner. There was a small traditional restaurant a block from our hotel that served really good smelling food. We decided to go there. We shared Pilau, a meat and rice dish with spices, and Ugali, a rather bland staple food which we ate with the sauce from the pilau. It was quite good, and we went to bed exhausted at around 10:00. We woke up with the sun at 6:00 and had a continental breakfast at the hotel restaurant. We met our guide, Cristian, at 8:00 and took his land rover to the bottom of mount Kilimanjaro. The top was shrouded in clouds but the size of the mountain we could see was still awe inspiring. We drove up as far as we could go and walked from then on. We followed Cristian up a windy, thin path for about two hours until lunch. We scarfed down the sandwiches we packed and hung out for around 30 minutes before heading down the mountain again. We were were 3/4 of the way down when it started to rain. It brought out so many good smells, like fresh dirt and flower scents. We were soaked but happy when we got to the Land Rover and went back to the hotel.

Seven Things I Hope to do in Tanzania

Seven things I hope to do in Tanzania: 1. Go on safari in the Ngorongoro Crater 2. See the Kolo Kondoa Rock Art Sites 3. Explore Zanzibar and go to the beaches 4. See (and maybe climb) Mount Kilimanjaro 5. See the Crater Highlands 6. See a Maasai town and explore their culture 7. Go on Lake Tanganyika

Useful words and phrases in Swahili

A couple of phrases that you need to know in Swahili if you are going to Tanzania: Jambo!: Hello, welcome! Karibu Tanzania!: Welcome to Tanzania! Hakuna matata!: No problem. (Recognize from Lion King!) Asante Sana: Thank you very much. Jina lako ni nani?: What is your name? Jina langu ni Hannah: My name is Hannah Ninapenda Tanzania: I like Tanzania. Mpaka baadaye: Until later Kwaheri!: Goodbye. Siwezi kusema Kiswahili!: I can't speak Swahili! Iko wapi ..?: Where is ..? Unazungumza Kiingereza?: Do you speak English? Here's the general currency exchange: 1 US Dollar = 1,360.00 Tanzanian Shilling 5 US Dollar = 6,800.00 Tanzanian Shilling 10 US Dollar = 13,600.0 Tanzanian Shilling 20 US Dollar = 27,200.0 Tanzanian Shilling 50 US Dollar = 68,000.0 Tanzanian Shilling 100 US Dollar = 136,000 Tanzanian Shilling

Going to Tanzania; Air Plans

These are my online tickets to Tanzania:

Total price for this trip: $5,070.60

Average price per passenger: $2,535.30

Traveling to Kilimanjaro Tue 29-Dec-09 Los Angeles (LAX) Depart 4:15 pm Terminal 2 to Amsterdam (AMS) Arrive 11:30 am +1 day 5,567 mi (8,959 km) Duration: 10hr 15mn KL Flight: 602 3Economy/Coach Class, Meal, Boeing 747 (M) Wed 30-Dec-09 Amsterdam (AMS) Depart 8:40 pm to Nairobi (NBO) Arrive 7:00 am +1 day 4,147 mi (6,674 km) Duration: 8hr 20mn KL Flight: 4141 Operated by: KENYA AIRWAYS 3Economy/Coach Class, Boeing 777 Thu 31-Dec-09 Nairobi (NBO) Depart 6:00 pm to Kilimanjaro (JRO) Arrive 7:00 pm 147 mi (237 km) Duration: 1hr 0mn KQ Flight: 6726 Operated by: PRECISION AIR 3Economy/Coach Class, ATR 72 Total distance: 9,861 mi (15,870 km) Total duration: 19hr 35mn (39hr 45mn with connections) Traveling to Los Angeles Tue 5-Jan-10 Kilimanjaro (JRO) Depart 10:35 pm to Dar es Salaam (DAR) Arrive 11:35 pm 280 mi (451 km) Duration: 1hr 0mn KL Flight: 571 3Economy/Coach Class, Snack, Boeing 777 Wed 6-Jan-10 Dar es Salaam (DAR) Depart 12:45 am to Amsterdam (AMS) Arrive 8:10 am 4,564 mi (7,345 km) Duration: 9hr 25mn KL Flight: 571 3Economy/Coach Class, Meal, Boeing 777 Amsterdam (AMS) Depart 11:00 am to Seattle (SEA) Arrive 12:20 pm 4,873 mi (7,842 km) Duration: 10hr 20mn KL Flight: 6233 Operated by: NORTHWEST AIRLINES 3Economy/Coach Class, AIRBUS INDUSTRIE A330-300 Seattle (SEA) Depart 2:15 pm to Los Angeles (LAX) Arrive 4:49 pm Terminal 3 956 mi (1,539 km) Duration: 2hr 34mn KL Flight: 8220 Operated by: ALASKA AIRLINES 3Economy/Coach Class, Snack, Boeing 737 Total distance: 10,673 mi (17,177 km) Total duration: 23hr 19mn (29hr 14mn with connections)