| Tanzania |
| I had visited Peru and Costa Rica before, but Tanzania was my first solo and real adventure. I have few and horrible photos from the late 90s so when I return I'll give Tanzania more justice. My two goals of traveling to Tanzania were to go on a camping safari and to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. Almost all Tanzanians I talked to were very nice and helpful, and one of them even gave me a ride to where I needed to go. From here I began my camping safari spending a week seeing all kinds of huge game animals including the big five. The big five are the lion, rhino, buffalo, elephant and the leopard, chosen because of the difficultly to hunt them, not because of their size. Other animals I saw where Gazelle, hippos, cheetah, baboons, flamingos, several bird species along with huge herds of wildebeest and zebra. The best thing about the camping safari is that you actually camp out in the wilderness, not in a protected fenced area. They had some out houses located a short distance from the camp, and one day when I went to use it one of the African guys said as a joke, watch out for lions! In the day time I often saw elephants, vultures and baboons roaming around the camp, but they pretty much kept their distance. At night time hyenas would always come inside and walk around and once they came with a gigantic porcupine. One night we heard a lion so all of us had to get out in the middle of the camp next to the fire and waited. There are some armed guards in case some animal decides to attack, but supposedly no one has ever been killed while in the camp. |
| On the left is a lion in the Seregenti. The right photo is of the Ngorongoro crater which is collapsed volcano, or caldera and is home to tens of thousands of animals including the big 5. You cannot tell from my picture, but in person you could make out black spots in the distance which were actually herds of animals. The crater has a large lake providing a fresh supply of water, and the surrounding crater walls are 600 meters tall. |
| On the left is a group of baboons and on the right is a group of smaller monkeys hanging out by a tree. |
| Inside the Ngorongoro crater is a ostrich seen on the left. There is a large lake inside the crater which is often filled with flamingos. There are few flamingos in my picture to the upper right, but in the right time of the year the lake is completely full of them and all you see is a strong pink color. |
| Tanzania Travel - For more information on Tanzania, visit http://www.willgoto.com/386/1/categories.aspx |
| The two photos above were both taken in the Serengeti, which means endless plains in Swahili. The left photo is of a Giraffe, which can grow up to 18 feet tall. To the right you can see a herd of zebras running by. Because their stripes are black and white, they stand out to the human eye, but for lions which are color blind, the zebras are able to blend in better with the tall grass of the Serengeti. |
| Tanzania Links |
| The fields of snow and the glacier you see here are on the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest mountain. I did a 6 day climb to the roof of Africa when I was 18. Click here for more pictures and my story on the Kilimanjaro climb. |
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| Post a question or comment about climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro |