Arusha National Park

Our first Safari to Arusha National Park on Saturday was incredible!  Our guide, Abel, was fabulous.  He was very knowledgeable about the park and about the variety of animals we saw.  This park is one of Tanzania's smallest but our guide book tells us it is one of the most beautiful and topographically varied.  It is very lush and because of the variety of altitudes, it supports a variety of vegetation and thus many different species of animals.  We saw families of giraffes, herds of zebras, many baboons, blue monkeys, bush bucks, cape buffalo, an albino baboon on its mother's back, colobus monkeys (which we didn't even know existed~Christopher called them skunkies as you can see why) and warthogs.  The park was absolutely gorgeous with lakes to the east and to the west is Mt. Meru.  We ate our picnic lunch overlooking Ngurdoto Crater.  It was a dream-like day. 

Today we spent time at the baby home after breakfast.  We can't get over how precious these children are, how heartbreaking their stories are and how amazing the people are who volunteer here.  There are three shifts of eight nannies (Tanzanian women) that work there, a full-time nurse, and a social worker. 

This week there was a new arrival, an albino baby boy from south of here.  His mother had to bring him here because albino babies are at risk of being killed where she is from.  People actually tried to kill her son. Albinos are safe in this part of Tanzania.  One of ADRA's projects is to help change this (This is the agency where we are staying and the baby home is located on this property.)  The mom has been here every day this week.  We also met the director today and her adopted girls, Stacy and Mariah.  They are so sweet and today they were busy picking macadamia nuts from the tree behind our cottage.  I asked how they removed the nuts from the shell and they said that the African way is to use a rock but the American way is to use a hammer. 

After lunch at our favorite restaurant, Tanz-Hands, we are now just packing some of our things for tomorrow.  After breakfast we leave on our three day Safari beginning with Tarangire, then Ngorongoro Crater, and ending with the Serengeti.  We are leaving most of our luggage here since we will be returning here on Thursday.  I am pretty certain that most of the lodges we will be staying in do not have internet access.  I know they have limited hours of electricity so I am not sure if I will be able to post anything for a few days.  We are safe, healthy and enjoying each other as we experience this adventure together.  We really miss our family and friends (and girlfriends)!  Love to you all!