Hungry Hungry Hippos

Sunday, July 2

It was hard to say goodbye to my Kenya student Zura Mahmoud this morning as I may never see her again although I thought that last year when I said goodbye at Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts, USA where she was a post graduate student.

We took off for Saadani National Park for our river boat safari on the Wami River. We drove through Datoga land, a nomadic tribe quite similar to the Maasai but an enemy group. Their land was beautiful and so were their many cows. Wikipedia says they are the fastest growing tribe in Africa and our Tanzanian driver, Allen, says they are the wealthiest.

The drive was once again hours long on extremely rutted roads. You have to be careful not to bang your head as you are tossed around. When we got close to the park, Allen lifted the top of the jeep so we could stand up and get a better view.

After a great lunch of samosas and avocado, we jumped on the boat and headed out to see some amazing birds like a Spoonbill Crane and many storks and other cranes. The highlight was the enormous hippos in the river that made some loud complaining noises

about us. Most times you only see their eyes but a couple of times we saw them arch up and out of the water looking like they were doing the breast stroke. A crocodile jumped off the dirt cliff edge to the water looking like he was headed right into our boat which made Laura scream and the rest of us laugh!

The ride back was rough but the sun was dropping and it was beginning to be my favorite time of day in Tanzania.