Arusha, Tanzania

We arrived at "Snake Park" camp outside of Arusha, Tanzania fairly late last night. On the drive down we had a view of Mt Killamanjaro shortly after crossing the border. It was about 50 miles away but visible through the haze. Brett said that he's never seen it from there, so we were lucky for the glimpse we had. Today we went into Arusha for some shopping and errands. We visited the Cultural Center which has a truly amazing gallery of African art. Its spiral ramp evokes memories of the Guggenheim Museum in NY. You can also buy Tanzanite gems at the cultural center. The only known Tanzanite mine in the world is located near Arusha.

This afternoon we start an interesting adventure. We will be away from the Safari Truck for a couple days. We will transfer into 4x4 Land Rovers and head up to the rim of Ngorogoro Crater. We will camp for the night on the rim of the crater at Simba Camp. Tomorrow morning we will do a game drive down into the crater, and about noon we will pass into Serengeti National Park, do an afternoon game drive there and then camp for the night in the park. The next morning we will do another Serengeti Game Drive and then exit the park around noon and come back to Arusha where our truck will be waiting for us. Should be interesting spending the night inside those two parks. Apparently they have Masai Warriors guarding the camps to keep big animals at bay.