John, Derek, Brian, Justin, Coasta, and Brian. "The Phat Albert Gang"

I got up around 6:30 and ate some breakfast before getting into another Safari van for some more fun driving. By noon we had reached the brim of the famous Ngorongoro Crater and then checked into the Wildlife lodge there to have some lunch.

After lunch the gang got into a jeep with Coasta as our driver and we descended into the crater.

Some African Bird.

It was a truly amazing experience. I’ve never before in my life seen so much wildlife in its natural habitat. We saw almost every animal that you could imagine there to be in Africa. The lions and the Black Horned Rhino were definite highlights for me. It took way too many pictures, and I’m sure it’s going to cost me an arm and a leg to have it all developed. But it was the type of things where you felt like you were working for National Geographic or something and the experience just overtook you.

We spent the majority of the day down there in the crater, and by the time we started to head back we had all worked up a real good appetite.

A walking female lion.

My friend Justin probably had worked up the biggest appetite of all because he’d been doing his share of the driving. We had convinced Costa to let Justin do some of the driving, and Justin had soon taken command. So with Justin as our new guide we had a blast.

Baby lion with mother.

That night at dinner we got to eat Wildebeest, Gazelle, and Warthog. It all tasted really good, and the atmosphere was truly amazing. The food was a grilled outside, and it was an all-you-can-eat, so I ate all I could eat.

After dinner we got to see a performance, the likes of which I’d never seen before. It was an acrobatics show performed by three guys. They did so many crazy stunts with their bodies that I didn’t think were humanly possible that I was in a state of pure shock for most of the show.

An Elephant.

One of the guys did this trick where he stretched himself so much that his chin was on the ground next to his feet while his forehead was right below is crotch. They also did things like triple flips through the air and dives through really small hoops of flames. And they did it all without mats or springboards. There was so much more, but most of it would be far too difficult for me to explain.

A begging Maasai child.

The rest of the night we spent just hanging around at the bar and drinking and talking until I remembered how early we all had to get up the next day. So I made the wise decision to go to bed and get some needed rest.

The Black Horned Rhino.

Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
March 6th, 2000

I got up as late as possible without missing my Safari. I missed breakfast but wasn’t too worried because I was so excited about the day to come. The gang all got together again with Alphan as our driver this time.

A Giraffe

We drove to Lake Manyara National Park and got there by noon for our game drive. It was very similar to the day before only we also got to see some giraffes (which don’t live down in the crater) and we also got to see a closer view of some elephants. I was still a little disappointed because I still had not been able to spot the ever-elusive Dung Beatle. Maybe next time I guess.

Justin was allowed to drive again so Alphan got to sit with us in the back for a while and talk to us about what we were seeing. It was nice to have an expert there to guide us along on our little adventure.

A Kenyan Hotel.

After the game drive was over we drove back across the plains to Arusha and stayed at the Impala Hotel once again. We got there around 5 or so, and that gave us some time to go check out the town a little. I ended up buying a Maasai cloth, because earlier that day we had stopped by a Maasai village and I had been really impressed with the brightness of the clothing that they wore. And I figured that they would be great gifts when I returned.

Jungle Monkey

We got back to the hotel around 7:00 and took a quick shower before dinner because the humidity there makes you sweat like a pig. Dinner was very good (a blend of different East African foods). After dinner we just sat around and talked about the Safari and drank. And we sure did drink. By midnight we were on round 9 of the 500ml beers that they were serving and we were just getting started.

Another bunch of Monkeys.

Then we invited some of the employees to have a few drinks with us and after that we quickly got into a very interesting conversation with them.

Earlier in the day when we had visited the Maasai village we had begun to question the effects of western tourism and the effects of globalization in general on the different tribes of the area.

A Maasai Tribe.

So with this in mind we started firing off questions at our new friends who had joined us for some drinks since they themselves came from different tribes in the area. The conversation turned out to be extremely interesting and we talked till later in the morning.

Hippo and Birds.