On our way home...

We had a great last day inn Dar ea Salaam. We went on a city tour...it was fascinating! The juxtaposition of progress vs. tradition was incredibly interesting! We visited the fish market....so many fish....so many people. We watch each step of the process from the fishermen who bring the fish oto shore to the people that then get the fish and. Ring it to be sold...then the people the clean the fish....the people that cook some of the fish...and then the fishmongers who thn take it to the villages to sell! Amazing! All steps done by hand! After that we visited the National Museum...VillGe Museum....Mwenge craft market...Sea Cliff community (incredibly wealthy!!!!). We then drove around the city before getting ready to leave. We're now in Amsterdam awaiting our flight to New York. Just a few hours and we'll be home! Talk soon!

Last full day in Tanzania!

Today we visited Bagamoyo. This city was one of the main slave trade ports. Our guide told us that is estimated that 4.5 million slaves passed through this port. We were able to visit the old buildings left by the Germans and many of the ruins where the slave market used to stand. We also visited an area where the Germans kept the slaves before auction. The slaves were kept in irons around their necks and chains that connected them together. Our guide was discussing the disagreements between the Arabs and the Germans...the only real losers epwere the Africans. The Arabs would cut off the hands of the Africans so that the Germans could not use them to carry boos...and yprhe Germans executed the slaves somthat the Arabs couldn't use them at all. It really is beyond my ability to comprehend...I just don't get how any human. Wing can treat another with such utter disrespect. He also shared stories of tribal chiefs that sold their own people to obtain goods. So sad..... While we were in the town we visited the local fish market. Yptons and tons of fish. The people working were preparing the fish for sale. They cook the sardines and then dry them before selling. There were millions of sardines...lots of snapper...tuna...cobia...eel.... Tomorrow we'll have a city tour before heading to the airport to star our journey home. It certainly has been an incredible experience!!!!! I am so fortunate to have been able to meet so many interesting people and to experience a way of life so foreign to my own! Talk to you from home!

Hi...greetings from Dar es Salaam! Before coming here we spent the morning visiting two schools and a village in Zanzibar. What an eye opening experience!!!!! The students ranged in age from kindergarten through high school. There were approximately 50-60 students per class!!!! We were able to ask them questions...and with the older students they asked me questions. There were a couple of really challenging questions...like...it has been said that politics ally the U.S. is having a negative impact on growth and progress in Tanzania...can you explain why you think this is the case? I took lots of video and pics...I wish I could attach them...but it doesn't seem to work. I was able to get students to gove their names be ause they are interested in forming pen pal relationships with students in America! So...if you're interested...let me know!!!! It is Assad to see that they are so short on supplies...they have very few books...no lab equipment to teach science...and no computers at all. The head teacher mentioned that although the government promised flip undoing and supplies...it never seems to get there. I'm thinking maybe the Human Rights Club...or A.P. World...can help!!!! I still believe that education is e best oath to progress and prosperity! After our short and might I add bumpy flight to Dar es Salaam...we arrived in the big city! It is extremely modern...yet overcrowded and busy! It is. Wry difficult just to cross the street! Tomorrow we visit Bagamoyo...site of the former slave trade. I'll let you know what I learn! Thueprsday night we are on our way home.... Take care!!!!!

Spice tour and Stone Town!!!!! We started off the morning with a tour of a spice farm. As we wound through the forest, our guide would stop at plants and crush them in our hands so that we could try to guess what the spice was. I was not very successful...but I tried! We saw cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, coconut, banana, lemon grass, and so many more! Our guide made us crowns and bags out of palm leaves! In the afternoon we took a tour of Stone Town. What an incredibly fascinating experience! We visited an Anglican Church that was built on the site of the slave market. There were still underground rooms where they held they kept the slaves before they sent them to auction. Simply horrendous conditions! We then walked through the town...small narrow streets loaded with people, bicycles, and motor scooters...walking itself was a hazard!!!! We visited the market...a fish auction...and walked the entire town! We then visited the Sultan's palace and the National Museum. It was a great day!!!!! So rich in history! So much about slavery and Indian Ocean trade! :) Tomorrow we are going to visit a village and a couple of schools on our way tothe airport. We are off to Dar es Salaam in the afternoon! See you all soon!

Amazing day today!!!!! We went to prison island this morning. We were able to interact with the giant tortoises!!! I actually got to feed them and rub their necks!!! Then we saw one of the slave prisons...which is now a hotel. In the afternoon, we went out on a dhow and saw the dolphin swimming in the ocean... So....I jumped in...fins, snorkel and all and swam with them!!!!! It is not like the Caribbean...these dolphin are completely in the wild. You have to jump in quick when you see thm because they will continue to swim away. It was so incredible to see them swimming right beside me!!!!!!! After that we went to a natural forest and saw the red colobus monkeys. They are indigenous to Zanzibar. It was so great!!!! They were all around us....swinging thought the trees....walking right next to us...there were a couple of really tiny babies!!! We stayed for quite some time and just watched!!! I got some amazing video!!!! Tomorrow we go to Stone Town and visit the spice trade..... What a fabulous adventure!,,,, Talk soon...

We are finally in Zanzibar!!!!! It is simply magnificent! Our room is directly on the Indian Ocean! So...it has been a few days... We have just had an incredible time in the Serengeti!!!!! We stayed a lovely tented camp. Each tent had a toilet and a bucket shower!!! Believe it or not....they would fill the bucket whenever you wanted a shower! Each day we went on game drives. The first day we saw the beginning of the zebra and wildebeest migration! So many animals you could never possible imagine!!!! Our guide told us that approx. 3 million zebra and wildebeest migrate each year. I'll try to attach a video I took...but I don't know if it will work. We also saw elephants, lions, ostrich, a viper, topi, warthogs, impala, gazelle, hyena, vultures.... It is absolutely surreal! Listening to the animals while you fall asleep is wild!!!! Each evening at sunset we would have cocktails and dinner by a campfire! So many stars! And..."isaw the southern cross for the first time!" Now we are back in civilization in Zanzibar. Tomorrow we go to prison island and then Monday to Stone Town. It is nice to be back to flush toilets and a shower that doesn't end...but the experience of safari was worth every minute!!!!!!! I'll try to keep in touch...be home on Friday!

Incredible trip! Tarangire and Ngorogoro

Hi! I haven't really had Internet access so I will try to fill you all in on the incredible experiences we have had so far! The first park we visited was Tarangire National Park. No sooner did we enter than we saw a pack of elephants off to our right. Little did we no we would be seeing elephants everywhere!!!!! So... Animals that we saw... Lions, cheetah, warthog, impala, giraffe, blackface monkeys, buffalo, wildebeest, zebra, tons of birds...cranks, vultures, eagles, starlings.... We even got to see a ton of vultures fighting over a kill!! We saw ostriches trying to attract each other! It is just so unbelievable that you have to stop and pinch yourself to remember that this is real...not Disneyland! So...our camp...Oliver's Camp...beautiful! The "tent" was fabulous with an amazing view and an outdoor shower! Beautiful sunset and sunrise. Little did we know that it wouldn't even come close to comparing to that Fly Camp the next night!!!! We camped out in a pup tent right in the middle of the savannah!!!! All night long you could hear elephant, hyena, lions, zebra... The shower was out in the open facing the savannah!!!!! It was truly beyond description! We also visited a village and primary school. We got to meet the children and hear all a bout their school. I already volunteered Human Rights Club to help! Today we visited the crater..you would never imagine all the animals we saw...baboons, lions, wildebeest, flamingo, hippos, rhino, zebra, hyena, jackal... They all live together so beautifully!!! We then visited the Massai Village. We got a welcome dance!! Then a tour of a village... The houses sure made of cow dung! So warm though!! All the people are very friendly and warm! It is everything I imagined and more! I'm out of Internet range for the next three days...off to the Serengeti tomorrow!!! I'll be in touch from Zanzibar!!!!! Take care!