Greetings all. I hope that you are all well. I'm now sitting at a one terminal "internet" cafe in the middle of the business district of Dar Salaam, Tanzania. This also happens to be spitting distance from one of last years bombings at the American embassy. So far Africa is as stunningly beautiful as I ever could have hoped and the Sarengeti was beautiful.Now we are off for a few days of R&R over on the island of Zanzibar and then it is off to Malawi. The people on this leg are great, and we are having a wonderful time abusing all sorts of substances. The camping isn't bad at all, thanks to some air mattresses.
The animals are of course the most incredible part so far. We spotted a leopard lounging in the branches of a tree. Some saw a rare Rhino with a baby. We also watched a lion just after she had taken down a baby wildebeest in a river just a few feet from the truck. They barely even notice the cars in the Crater.
We camped right by the home of a family of elephants so we heard them talking all night. At one point I'd walked off to use the toilets and heard what sounded like the growl of a very large cat. I nearly peed myself and ran in the opposite direction, only to find out later it was just the elephants talking to one another. We had another campsite where the zebras were grazing right next to our tents and you could literally walk right up to them. It was absolutely amazing and I can't wait to come back. Once we get down to Zimbabwe, I've been told that I can't back out of the whitewater rafting, even after what you've said Seb. So this may be my final note for that reason alone.
Mom and Dad -- you need not worry about me but I can't call because it costs 8 dollars and minute and you can't pay for anything with credit cards here.I've found out that my outfits will soon be totally inappropriate because you can't wear tanktops in all of my next countries so I'll have to figure out where I can get my hands on some new shirts to wear so that no one gropes me (I've heard many a story about that, it seems especially bad in Egypt). So far no Malaria in the group but usually 3 people come down with it so I've got a pretty good chance. However, the new medicines make it a 12 hour bug so not to worry.
