I never thought I would get so excited about prunes. Our friends the Crowners arrived last week and they brought PRUNES! They were luscious, and we savored every bite. Tons of books for RIF, Parcheesi, soccer nets, and more fruit; ah ShangriLa! Our care packages and letters from Gettysburg and Texas have been greeted with untold exuberance and excessive salivation.
Christmas came and went, as did Will. We were all five together for one month. As our friend Janet said: "Life is good.” Our safari began with amazing mud bogging through Tarangire National Park. At very close range we saw elephants, waterbuck, dik diks, giraffes, and warthogs. We also came very close to getting stuck in the mud. Tarangire is lush after the short rains, and the animals have come to engorge on knee-high grass. It was a true adventure blasting through the mud in the bush with our driver, Julius, sweating profusely as our confidence in him and the situation fell with every drop from his brow. This was right up Will’s alley! Julius had never been to the lodge we were going to and we met no other cars. We came to a rising creek that we sent Will to ford by foot BEFORE we crossed in the car to make sure it wasn’t too deep or contained crocodiles. Oh well, we sent our dogs and small children out on to the ice first to make sure it was thick enough to skate!
After several unmarked forks in the road and Julius saying, “Boundary Hill Lodge is up on that mountain,” which we certainly couldn’t see; we arrived. Our rooms had balconies right on the edge of a thousand meter cliff with a view of the entire park. As far as you could see there was only Africa in all its grandeur. The only break in the view were two Masaii bomas with fires lifting smoke a few miles away. The cows looked like tiny ants being herded around. Absolutely the most amazing view we have ever seen. I looked over to see Nell crying; justifiably. The crème de la crème was an outdoor bathtub sitting by itself looking over the edge of the cliff. The owner said he heard a leopard last night that apparently had made a recent kill nearby so don’t venture out of your room at night. Mystique was at an all time high. A night game drive brought genet cats, several storks and kingfishers trying to roost, and two lionesses hunting. 99% of the time lions are viewed sleeping. We drove past the retreating hunters to see a Thompson’s gazelle sitting in the grass. We were all convinced we saved that gazelle’s life, at least for this night. On to the Serengeti. 
The Serengeti has the largest concentration of land mammals on Earth. We all knew this. What we were not prepared for was the vastness of the plain. As far as one could see in every direction there was nothing but plain and animals. No trees. It was grass and animals to the horizon…and beyond! The Ngorongoro Crater erupted 2.5
million years ago and spewed ash for hundreds of miles to its west, thus forming the Serengeti. Serengeti means “endless plain” in Maasai. Wildebeest, Thompson’s and Grant’s gazelles, zebra, and warthogs were everywhere. There is absolutely no hiding here. Secretary birds, bustard birds, giraffes, elephants, and hippos were intermingled in their respective niches. Large rock outcroppings called kopjes are interspersed throughout the Serengeti. These are where most of the leopards, cheetahs, and lions lounged. One night we heard hyenas outside our tent. We woke up to see their tracks right on our path. Yes we saw the “Big 5”: leopard, lions, rhinoceros, elephant and water buffalo. We also saw the “Small 5”: leopard tortoise, lion ant, rhino dung beetle, elephant shrew and white headed buffalo weaver. I didn’t make this up!
A brief but very cool stop was Oldupai Gorge. This is where the Leakeys found tools from an ancient upright man called “Nutcracker Man.” The exposed gorge has revealed the remains of animals and over 50 hominids. Nell highly recommends Mary Leakey’s autobiography, chronicling a whiskey drinking, cigar smokin,’ self-taught lady in a man’s profession back in the day. “We would shoot our rifles into the river and felt it was safe for the children to bathe for 15 minutes before crocs or hippos became dangerous.”
The Ngorongoro Crater is the largest perfectly round caldera in the world. As we descended in to the crater it felt as if we were going to another planet in another time. Way down below one could start to make out herds of animals. This is also where there are about 14 rhinos remaining. We saw 4 of them from afar. We followed a stream to come upon a large troop of very excited baboons. They were jumping from tree to tree showing their teeth in a very agitated state. We came to realize the reason for the angst. Lions had decided to nap right below their baboon tree. A lion would lazily lift its head and the baboons would erupt into screaming and posturing; a cacophony of disturbed monkey music. 
Our trip played itself out as we drove silently and reflectively home. It was incredibly exciting to experience this with our children. An amazing land that exceeded our already lofty expectations.
Christmas brought the pig that Kate wrote about in great and gory detail on her blog. It was tasty. Our tree was a pretty green and red (duh) plant we borrowed from the school. It was grandly decorated with “stuff,” and rounded with banana leaves until we confiscated the leaves to help smoke the pig. After Christmas we went to the Indian Ocean for New Years. IT WAS HOT! We sailed on an ancient torn sail ngalawa with three smiling Muslims. It looks precarious being an outrigger…sort of, with the middle cockpit being a dug out mango tree. They take it on the open ocean to Zanzibar; yikes about 5 to 6 hours away. When we would catch a gust one of the sailors would run farther out on the frame of the windward pontoon, smiling. Captain Said was at the very crude tiller. The only way to turn the boat is to jibe, releasing the main sheet and bringing the line around to the other side. We snorkeled and SCUBA’d and tried to stay cool. New Years brought a cookout on the beach with a most amazing full moon over the water displaying a partial eclipse. A full moon over the ocean on New Years with an eclipse; no way you say; I say yes way!
Kate and Will celebrated late into the night; heck we made it till 2 a.m. We sang Happy Birthday to Kate twice to Stevie Wonder’s “Happy Birthday to you.”
Will returns to Montana on the 16th. We begin classes on the 13th. It is good to get the students back. We have started regular physical therapy, library, computer, and English classes. Thanks in large part to the Gettysburg community we will have a RIF (reading is fundamental) book distribution. Having a book of their own will mean a lot to them.
Take care and Happy New Year, Hugh, Nell, Kate, Will and Ann
All I can say is WoW. I can remember sitting down in your basement watching the planet earth and you have been able to see it up close. Joyce
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