HERE WE COME!

Arrived at the Kilimanjaro airport a few hours ago now just waiting for our flight which takes off at 5:30 p.m. Tanzania time.

What a great trip this was! Got to see and do so many different things from walking through the equator in Uganda to tracking chimpanzees and gorillas, a boat ride on the Nile River, several Safari drives, the Serengeti, the Ngorongoro Crater, and of course to top it all off a hot air balloon ride on our anniversary on May 9th with a champagne celebration after touchdown and a breakfast on the Serengeti.

We took probably over 3,000 photos and several hundred video clips. Definitely going to have a lot of that made into a DVD for us.

Before we depart here are some additional photos from today. Including the Majestic Mount Kilimanjaro which is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world at 19 500 feet tall. One of the most stunning mountains on planet Earth!

Hope everyone enjoyed my posts and commentary - talk to you all soon!

Africa was Great but Like Dorothy says... "There's no place like home"!

The Ngorongoro Crater 

Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge

The Masai 

The Sunsets on our Magical Anniversary

Our last day and evening in Africa!

It was a great adventure for sure!  These memories will last for the rest of our lives.

On our final day of our safari we visited the floor of the Ngorongoro crater.  From the top edge of the crater we descended a couple thousand feet.  The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the largest craters on Earth. It was formed approximately 3 million years ago when a giant volcano the size of Mount Kilimanjaro exploded hurling house size (and bigger) boulders hundreds of miles away into the Serengeti and beyond. These giant rocks serve as homes for Lions - like Pride Rock in the movie The Lion King.

Anyway on the crater floor which is approximately 120 square miles we saw tons of African Wildlife as we did before. However this time in addition we got to see the very rare and endangered black rhino.  

So technically we now have seen what is known as the big five all in the wild on this trip. The Big 5 consists of Elephants, Lions, Leopards, Buffalo, and the Rhinos.  

As we ascended back to the top of the crater (8,000 elevation) to the Sopa Lodge, eventhough the afternoon was a bit chilly, it was quite sunny so we hung around the pool and enjoyed a few cocktails.

Tara ordered the Masai Cocktail (orange juice, African vodka and grenadine syrup). While I drank the Ngorongoro Sunset (passion fruit juice, African Gin, and grenadine syrup). *Not as powerful as goombay smashes but they are definitely the best cocktails we've had since being in Africa. Great drink recommendation by Lucian our poolside waiter.  

After a beautiful sunset over the crater - the Maasai tribe made their way into the lodge and performed some of their rituals.

The Masai is the largest tribe in all of Tanzania and Kenya. They are all over the place.  If curious look them up on Google - the way they live, etc..

Tomorrow we depart at 8 a.m. for Kilimanjaro Airport. Because the roads are extremely subpar here it will take all of five or six hours to get to the airport. Even though this was a fantastic Adventure that's one thing I will not miss in Africa - THOSE ROADS!  Might need to go see a chiropractor after this trip?

Anyway just enjoying our last night here. We are all packed and ready to go and looking forward to getting back home and seeing everybody! Hopefully Walker and Angel will recognize us when we get home?