At the Arusha Serena hotel, they served us a full meal even though it was about 11pm. And I do mean full.
Our material for the trip told us to watch The Lion King movie, which seemed a bit silly to us. We watched a documentary and a drama set in Tanzania instead.
But on the plane both the original movie and the more recent sequel, both animated, were offered. So I watched a bit of each, about 15 minutes of each film. That was enough. Then I switched to a movie about Temple Grandin I'd always wanted to watch.
They two Disney films were entertaining, and reintroduced me to several Swahili words (ie Hakuna Matata, which they really do say.) And Simba, Pumba, and a few other animal names. And the music for the original was by Elton John, and by Lin Manuel Miranda for the new prequel. But I didn't watch enough to hear much of the music.
Our tour leader, Dolly, had also suggested some books. One was by Sy Montgomery, a prolific nature writer. We'd read several of her other books, including the one about the pink dolphins of the Amazon. She had actually stayed at Amazon lodge we'd stayed at when we went to meet Carolina's birth family. And of course knew Dolly and Paul Beaver, owners of Amazonia tours. And it's Dolly who is now leading our group here to Africa.
Sy Montgomery's book was about the great migration of the wildebeests, which happens twice yearly. We aren't here for the migration, but have seen many of the animals in the last few days, both afar and upclose.
We bought several other books with a Tanzania theme, one historical novel about the Leakey's and their research. We are going to the Ulduvai site and museum tomorrow, where the bones of Lucy were found, and why Tanzania is called the cradle of civilization.
And also bought Hemingway's short story The Snows of Kilimanjaro, which I probably read in high school but haven't yet read here.
Several of the folks in our group have been to the Amazon lodges, and that is what led them to this trip, like us. One, Shannon, went there to work with Dolly, helping the villagers with health care and education in the same village where we went with Dolly to meet the basketmakers and buy some of their wares.
There were thirteen of us on the pre trip to Tangire, in two Toyota Landcruisers with a guide each.
After those three days, a number of others joined us, including a school group with about 14, half students and half parents. Together we have now become a group of 36 plus seven guides and Dolly, a much larger group than we had expected. We weren't thrilled about being part of such a large group, unexpectedly. But everyone is nice and it's kind of interesting to have the teens along. The school is in Tampa and is where Dolly and Paul's daughter attended, and is how the school began these trips. They actually do three trips a year, to different places, all of which are optional to both kids and parents. I'll stop here and continue in a new blog entry.
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