Ruaha National Park

A few nights ago, I was laying in my tent on the banks of the Mdonya River in Ruaha National Park – the largest national park in Africa at 22,000 sq kms. The temperature was dropping quickly as the starry night sucked the heat off the baobab studded savanna. I drifted off to sleep thinking about the impala, kudu, leopard, elephant and buffalo we had seen on the way to this rustic little camp from the airstrip. A few hours later, I woke to the sound of crinkling dry baobab leaves – foot steps – something was approaching my tent. I sat up and saw a massive elephant towering over me. She was 10 feet away and looking right at me. We made eye contact for about 10 seconds. At first I was alarmed but I could tell she meant no harm. It was if she was saying “hello, welcome to my home, this is a special place, if you respect it I will respect you”. It was intense and calming at the same time. She slowly wandered off. I lay back down and shut my eyes with a smile and felt lucky to be in her beautiful home.

The next day I learned a buffalo had been killed next to camp. So we went to take a look just after breakfast. There was a pride of about 15 lions still feeding on this bull they brought down earlier that morning. These guys were pretty tame and the driver was able to get within 20 feet of the kill. The next few days I toured this amazing national park – a park that is on the southern circuit in Tanzania and therefore less frequently visited. Ruaha is a place not to be missed.

40th Birthday Weekend

I had a great celebratory birthday weekend.  It was nice to spend all day Friday with Matt…doing errands, going out to lunch, and then taking the family out to dinner.  We went to TGT (local club/sports bar) where it seems all of our Arusha friends go on a Friday night.  Soccer games, two for one drink specials and free food are all part of the attraction, but for us it’s great because the kids go off and play with all of their school friends on the playground or to go kick soccer balls – we barely see them except when we call them when pizza is ready and then they are off again.  The weekend actually started a day early when I decided to cut all of my hair off – my sister pointed out that I did the same thing right before I had Tierney, but I’m sure it doesn’t have anything to do with the milestone birthday…yeah, definitely not.  Sunday was the real celebration day that started with a 33k (20 mile) mountain bike race and ended with a great margarita party (HUGE thanks to Joey for organizing/cooking and David’s amazing marg making abilities)…although I may be paying for both just a little today…very nice to have it be Labor Day in the US, sort of feels like I’m playing hooky today. 

Mama Jackie’s birthday cake 

My new do

Race registration was a bit crazy

My cheering section

Gorgeous day on a great ride

Waiting for mommy

“Anderson, you got a little Nutella on your face”

Check out the bikes these guys are racing on…they kicked my butt, too. 

Nice views from the top of Sugar

Almost done (I even won some money..5,000 Ts/ $3.33..)

Tanzanian kids fascinated by the blondies

Brown-eyed girls

The party:  Our house, but Joey and David’s driveway looked the same

Lots of school friends  

Matt’s off this morning on another 2 week trip, but this time I will sneak away and meet up with him for the last 2 days while Mama Jackie watches the kids. 

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TNC Africa seems to be getting some good press coverage lately if you want to check it out.

Outside article about TNC chief scientist Sanjayan, but David is quoted and it talks about their Northern Kenya project: 

http://outsideonline.com/adventure/travel-ta-people-and-personalities-the-environment-kenya-science-sidwcmdev_150583.html

Article in the Economist that mentions about Lewa/Ol Pejeta and NRT (TNC’s big project in Kenya):

http://www.economist.com/node/16941705?story_id=16941705&CFID=146821014&CFTOKEN=86826054

Interesting video on TNC work in Kenya (Go Matt!…yeah, this is his life..rough, huh?):

Anderson eating Tanzanian Style

Warning:  this is boring for any non-grandparent (and maybe for a grandparent as well), but I am constantly amazed at what Anderson eats.  This is quite possibly his favorite lunch:  ugali and sautéed greens.  I love how he rolls his ugali and then adds the greens just like he sees Mama Jackie, Elizabeth, Samuel and Stella do.  Today I felt honored that he chose to eat with me and not outside with them (this never happens)

It only took 5 days...

....to degrade to this level on the trampoline.

Ugh! What a day!

To start off, I have a cold; a bad cold where you want to curl up on the couch under blankets and eat homemade chicken noodle soup. And Matt is out of town...day 2 of a 9 day trip. I'm tired and cranky before I even leave the house, but we need food and it's only a few items, so no big deal, right? Not so much.

I drive into town to get cash - I pull up to the ATM and turn off the car and immediately notice that the ATM is out of order. Not unusual and there are a few others that I can try that are close to where I shop anyway. But, then I try to start the car to no avail. Argh! I call our car fundi who says he'll come right away. Luckily I have my ipod and can finish listening to NPR while I wait. He comes in about 15 minutes (our own personal AAA; this is the guy that came all the way to the beach to help us). He fixes the car quickly all the while saying pole sana, mama ('very sorry') - a pin had come out of the gear box and he just had to put it back in and I'm back on my way. By the way, the total cost for him to come (by bus) and repair car was 10,000 Ts (~$6.75). I go to the next store and again this ATM is out of order. I'm left with less that $30...that's enough to get me the tea that Elizabeth needs, new cleaning solution, and our produce, but that's about it. Bummer b/c I really don't want to have to come back to town this week. I head over to buy the produce and I get that done, but she doesn't have the bananas that the kids like. Again, not a huge problem, but it is one more stop that I now have to make. Luckily I pass another ATM that finally works - yeah! Head over to the other fruit corner and get my bananas and come back to find a little vervet monkey sitting on the windshield staring at me ("please give me those bananas"). I wish I was fast enough to get the pic of it staring at me, but by the time I grab the camera it's already jumped off and is now just staring down at me. The woman that sells bananas said that the monkey has a tiny, tiny baby over there and it's been trying to steal food all day (at least that's what I think she said in my very limited swahili). This event did make me smile. I managed to make one more stop to try and find cheese, but Shoprite was out and I did not need anything else badly enough to make the drive back through town...although by now the gas light was on in the car, so I still had to do that, too .... at least now i had the money to do it. So far, it's 3 ATM stops, 1 broken car, 1 amazing and flexible mechanic, 3 grocery stores, 2 produce stands, 1 visit from a monkey, and 1 gas station, not to mention the drama of arusha traffic, and I am now sooo ready for lunch. When I got home Samuel and Elizabeth unloaded the car and unpacked groceries while I showered, I came down and was served lunch that was made for me, and Mama Jackie says she is going to make me leek soup (with leeks from the garden) for me for dinner to help with my cold. I think I'll survive another day.

Happy 5th Birthday, Ashlyn!

I'd say Ashlyn's 5th birthday was a huge success. She was so happy all day: we started the day with chocolate chip pancakes and ended with a cake that was made and decorated by Mama Jackie with a lot of jumping in between.

Poor Samuel had a lot of digging to do..

He told the kids that he was making a tunnel under the house. Surprisingly, they all fell for it (Birch did think that it was the worst tunnel ever because "it's just a hole")
Waiting for Ashlyn to get home from school

The big reveal!

In her hat that her friends made her at school (she wore it all night) and in the wrap from Tierney

It's dark and they are still jumping.

Happy 5th Birthday to my brown eyed girl!

Outing to Maji Moto

Maji Moto literally means "Water Hot" in swahili, but in this case we're talking about the hot springs that are just outside of Arusha near the Kilimanjaro airport. Unfortunately, Tierney and I did not make the travel team (as my dad used to say). Tierney was sick, so I stayed home for some quality time with her while Matt and the A's joined up with the Banks and another family with their kids Jack and Acacia. Sounded like a great time swimming in the hot springs, lounging in the shade and having a picnic. I think we'll have to head back sometime so that Tierney and I can go.

On Saturday, Matt, David and I went out for a 3 hour mountain bike ride. It was great fun except for the double flats for me and when I hit a goat and went down. No harm done to me or the goat (my friend Rebecca said "mmmm, nyama choma" which is the grilled meat that they eat around here). I was telling Matt that it felt much like a normal Saturday morning was for us pre-kids....truck loaded with bikes, listening to loud music, headed off on an adventure. Matt was quick to point out that our Friday night was nothing like our pre-kid Friday nights though (kids in bed early, us in bed by 8:30 to watch a movie). So true.

Anderson has been super cute lately and causing all sorts of trouble. Yes, he climbed up there all by himself and yes, he brought the blanket with him.

(I also finally figured out how to add an email subscription box, so you should now be able to enter your email address in the box in the upper right corner of the blog if you want to get email updates when I publish a new post)