Wonderful sights, fabulous views, incredible creatures!

We left our Dodoma home on Boxing Day to travel to Arusha for 2 days. 

We then continued on to Nairobi for the fabulous Brackenhurst New Year Conference for 4 days.

After the conference, we drove back into Nairobi, then the next day back down into Tanzania, with a 2-night detour in Karatu, northern Tanzania.

We finally drove back to Dodoma on the 10th day.

In total, we spent over 36 hours driving between these various destinations in our car, covering over 2,000 kilometres in distance! The children coped remarkably well- it was alot of hours crammed into car seats in a small space! However, there were plenty of stops and rest-days and plenty of wonderful views to see and talk about, which made our final Tanzania-Kenya road-trip more than worthwhile.

Here is a random selection of some of the wonderful sights, fabulous views and incredible creatures which we enjoyed along the way...

 Northern Tanzania: I never knew that Esther had her own shop...???

Heading to the Tanzanian/ Kenyan border and held up momentarily:

Roadside view of marvellous Mount Meru, northern Tanzania:

Another lovely mountain viewed from the car- this time, Mount Hanang on the way from Arusha to Singida:

 
We also passed Kilimanjaro, but the views were hazy and the only visible part appearing out of the fluff of white clouds was the snow-capped summit. No photos were captured that would be worth putting on the blog!

We did a stop en-route to Arusha to see one of the airstrips where Andrew flew into each month over the past 4 years, taking medical teams and evangelists. The Kilimatinde airstrip:

Masai homestead, on the way to Arusha:

Viewpoint at the stunning Lake Manyara, northern Tanzania:

 Lake Manyara:

A picture of a cute little Christmas bug which Esther found...I just had to put this photo in, they are such sweet, fluffy little creatures which only come out in Tanzania around Christmas time! They are like tiny patches of a bright red, moving carpet, with 6 little legs. They must be the cutest insects ever!

A plate of grilled goat which I ate for one of our meals on this trip- mostly delicious, although a little fatty around the edges.I also had to put this photo in- those who know me well will know why...(!!)

We had the amazing privilege of going for a day to the Ngorongoro Crater on our trip back down through Tanzania from Kenya. What an incredible natural wonder- no surprise that it is a World Heritage Site.

 On the drive from the conservation area down into the actual crater, we saw some beautiful views of the traditional Masai homes and also of the Masai at work, tending to their cattle:

Views of the crater from above, before the descent down the rocky paths leading into the bowl of the gorgeously green ngorongoro crater itself:

The Parkers with our safari vehicle for our ride through Ngorongoro- we loved the open roof, it was great fun to view the game with our heads popping out the top of the car, whilst still having the shade of the roof above us on a hot, African day.

 

It was strange to see wild animals like the one below grazing near a herd of cows in a game conservation area! However, our guide told us that the Masai have cattle grazing rights which are fiercely protected in this area. I was surprised that the cows don't all get eaten by the lions, but the guide seemed confident that the red "shuka" worn by the Masai scare off any potential lions with a mind to attack. He explained that the Masai herdsmen have a unique relationship with resident lions, scaring them off successfully and living in a natural harmony side by side. I still felt a little dubious-I'm not sure that I would trust a lion not to attack if it was hungry! However, there are lots of beasts who live in the crater and I guess the lions can therefore have their pick of many tasty morsels- why eat a cow when you can have the larger wilderbeest- or zebra- or perhaps a delicate gazelle for lunch...???

Below are some of our animal photos... (we also saw a lion and a rhino, but too far from the roadside to warrant a decent photo!).

Note the litter of jackal pups on the right-hand side:

 
Soon it was time to join the many other safari vehicles and head on out of the beautiful crater and back to the outside world...

Visiting the crater was one of the highlights for me of our time in Tanzania. It was simply stunning. My photos really do it no justice at all! I'm so glad that we were able to visit Ngorongoro before we leave Tanzania in less than 2 weeks.

The next day, we were back on the road for our 9 hour drive back to Dodoma and back to reality! We arrived to find our empty house:

Our comfy sofas have been sold and have gone and most of the packing up is completed. Simply opening the door provided a stark reminder of our upcoming move out of this country where we have been privileged enough, over our 4 years here, to enjoy and experience some wonderful sights, fabulous views, incredible creatures!