Celebrating Union Day at Exploreans Lodge

The kids had Friday off school for Union Day (a national holiday that celebrates the union of Tanganyika and Zanzibar into Tanzania), so we decided to take our friends up on an offer to join them and head up near the Ngorongoro Crater to Exploreans Lodge in Karatu (yeah for resident rates!!).  One of the laziest weekends I think we’ve ever had and, as you can see, it’s easy to be relaxed (lazy!) in such a gorgeous setting…although the gin and tonics for lunch also might have had something to do with it. 

Gorgeous view of a very full Lake Manyara on the way up.

  

Fish Figures? Well, they don’t have fingers, so….. Diki dik? (antelope is called a dik dik)

Snail we saw on the walk back from dinner.  It was even bigger when it was fully stretched out.

 

We saw some giraffe and zebra on the drive home   

Flat Stanley (for Georgia) came with us and he also got to see some siafu, giraffe, and baboons.

Matt is lately obsessed with what bikes carry, so we’ve taken to capturing some of those things as well as other roadside fun pics.

 

I think Karatu votes Democrat

Tanzanian Coast for the Easter holiday

Between Matt’s Cape Town adventure and his next work trip we were able to squeeze in an Easter holiday at Peponi on the Tanzania coast.  We’ve been to Peponi several times and love the laid back atmosphere, food, pool, dhow trips, sand island, and tide pool adventures not to mention how we always run into friends there.  Taylor came with us.  He’s the (18 year old) son of a good friend and coworker of Matt’s who is volunteering in Tanzania this month.   So much fun to have him along (despite him learning a lesson the hard way about the sun intensity near the equator).

Fun times around the lodge: tide pools, regular pools, and games

Dhow snorkel trip to sand island

Anderson and Ash trying to explain the rules of “Flounders and Bears” to Taylor.  Taylor was the bear and if the kids lay flat (flounder) the bear couldn’t see them.   (C’mon Taylor.  You never played flounders and bears as a kid?)

Boys only fishing trip on a boat from the local village makes for a very happy (and tired) little boy

Peponi sunrise

Taylor with the kids. 

Wouldn’t be a Tanzanian road trip without a little bit of car trouble.

Snow dusted Mt. Meru to welcome us home.  Gorgeous sunset view as we drove down the road toward our house (you can see our roof in the foreground)

Unfortunately we came home to a house that had been without power for 4 days (main switch flipped the day after we left).  It meant we had to throw away a lot of food, but it could have been much worse.  Ashy also got an ear infection which was so painful for her.  I think we’re through the worst of that now, too.  It was still a great vacation with great time together as a family. The kids loved having Taylor with us and they told me it’s almost like having an older brother.  Very cute.