/ 
Yesterday, it occured to me that we were in Africa about this time eight years ago. I paged through the scrapbook at saw that from December 18th through the 20th we were at the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania and decided to scan these two photos. They brought back a lot of memories.
We’d had a great safari so far and had seen all of the Big Five (the lion, the leopard, the buffalo, the rhino and the elephant) but the only rhino we’d seen was way, way off in the distance in some tall grass, so that hardly counted. Our guide, who was fantastic, said sometimes the best thing to do was wait. He killed the engine and we talked about life. We’d brought a small photo album of Chicago, and we got into a very philosophical conversation about how people around the world were really the same, whether you were working among skyscrapers or in the African bush. We’d been sitting for about two hours before realizing that a black rhino and baby had come up behind us and passed within fifty feet of the truck. |
 |
| The Ngorongoro can get pretty crowded during the height of the day and the animals all seek shelter from the heat anyway, so the guide suggested we get out at daybreak. Sure enough, we hardly saw anyone else for hours. He switched off the motor on a hill and we listened to some lions roaring in the distance. Then we heard a roar in response from right behind us on the other side of the hill. This old fella walked right past us and didn’t even spare us a glance. He was so close, I probably would have hit his head with the door had I opened it. That’s my shadow in the bottom right corner taking the picture. |
We sometimes talk about that trip and can’t believe we went. We were only 24, not married, and it basically wiped out all the money either of us had. There’s no way in hell we would consider doing it now because of the expense, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.
It seems like a doubly good idea today.
2 Comments
Excellent, I remember when you took that trip oh so long ago. You came back looking so healthy and happy.
You can do Africa these days fsomewhat inexpensively if you’re willing to camp and cook (and can find a bargain on flights). Check out some of the trips from overland companies like dragoman.com, whom I spent 3 weeks in Africa with for less than $2k.
I’ll have to check that out as we’ve often talked about going back. We stayed in some amazing five-star lodges, but we don’t ever travel like that so we knew there would be ways of doing it cheaper. I browsed through all your pictures on your site awhile back and remember it bringing back a lot of memories.