February 21 - TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK day 2, TANZANIA

We had a good night sleep in the African wilderness... there were sounds all night just outside our tents. We got up early this morning to get an early start on safari.

We just got back from a hot full day of safari in Tarangire National Park.

Tarangire is home to vast herds of elephants.... I'm sure we saw more than 200 or 300 elephants... from month old babies to large bulls with their long tusks!

The drivers were saying that there were lions near a dry river bed and our driver Harry managed to locate them. They were pretty far off but we saw 5 of them snoozing in the shade. Occasionaly one would raise his head and have a look at us but then they went right back to their nap.

There were about 4 jeeps under a tree and everyone was looking up at a nest with a python in it. YUCK! Don't they know that Pythons like to drop out of trees to kill their prey?! We stopped for a few pictures... **shudder**!

For lunch we stopped and had a picnic lunch overlooking the Tarangire River. The people who were leaving the table mentioned something about "look out for the monkey's they're going to steal your food". We looked around and wondered what they were talking about because there wasn't a monkey in sight. Tom went to the washroom and Sandi, Harry and I started to enjoy our lunch... from out of nowhere comes this devilish little monkey and grabs Tom's box lunch and turns to run... Sandi grabbed the box... the monkey grabbed the sandwich and away he went. As we left the table, we warned the next group of tourists about he monkey's... they probably looked around and wondered what we were talking about, I wonder if the monkey's got their sandwiches too!

Today we saw baboons, dik diks,

elephants, LIONS!, zebra, giraffe, python, a rare water deer, Thomson and Grant gazelles, monkeys, wildebeest, storks, lovebirds, belted mongoose, warthog and a million different types of birds... I'm sure that haven't even listed half of what we saw!

Tomorrow we'lll drive about 400 kms into the Serengeti for two days at our next lodge.

February 20 - TARANGIRE NATIONAL PARK, TANZANIA

Wow, had a great first day in the Tarangire National Park.

We saw Elephants, giraffes, zebra, impala, water buck, wart hogs, baboons and a ton of different birds. There are so many elephants in this National Park. We're still all a little bit overwhelmed.

we're all having a great time.... going to get some dinner now and then head back to our rooms.

February 19 - ARUSHA TANZANIA

FEBRUARY 19, 2012
We are in Africa!!

Another long flight and and a connection from Amsterdam to Nairobi and then on to Arusha... we are finally here! We have only seen a little bit but it is already as good or better than I expected.

The drive from the airport to the Arusha Coffee Lodge took about an hour. First we drove through a region that was bone dry... nothing but the occasional dried up blade of grass. We saw several wind witches churning up into the sky. Kilimanjaro with its snow covered peak was only visible for a short time before it was covered in cloud.

We saw many children herding flocks of goats or cattle... some children were leading donkeys loaded with containers of water. Its a stark contrast coming from Amsterdam where there was water around every corner... to Africa where water is obviously very precious.

As we drove further the landscape became much greener... there are trees in bloom everywhere. Its Sunday here so the roads are filled with people dressed in their Sunday morning finest. We passed by thousands of people! I was surprised to see how many people you can jam into a VW type van here... their public transit is just these little vans but there are probably 15 or 20 people in each... one even had two calves in it. I'll try to get a picture of this tomorrow.

The Arusha Coffee Lodge is absolutely beautiful! Sandi and Tom have the adjoining cabin to mine. I have a seating area with a crystal chandelier and a fireplace. The 4 poster bed is up one level and draped with mosquito netting. The screened windows are open to let a gentle breeze cool the room and to let in the sounds of the many birds in the trees. Outside I have a verandah overlooking coffee plants.

There is a short trail to the main buildings.. we're going to go there at 7pm to have dinner and then hopefully get some much needed sleep!

Tomorrow we meet with our driver Harry to go to our next stop and start our first game drive!! I can't wait!!

Amsterdam: Feb 15 - 18, 2012

FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Arrived in Amsterdam at 8:30am.... we saw an amazing display of the Northern Lights almost the entire time that it was dark. It was a curtain of green and red lights dancing outside the airplane window.

After we got to our hotel we all had a two hour nap and then got on the trolley car and had a drive through town. We stopped and had dinner at a nice little restaurant and watched the goings on at the 'cafe' on the other side of the walkway. Cafes here aren't exactly the same as cafes back home..... here they don't sell coffee, they only sell marijuana and sodas.

We took the tram back to our hotel and we're going to go to bed early. Tomorrow we'll go to a museum and then a canal cruise.... most of the canals are still frozen.

FEBRUARY 16, 2012
I didn't sleep hardly at all last night.... but I still feel pretty good. I'm sure I won't have any trouble falling asleep tonight.

The weather was good today (no rain).. so we decided to delay our visit to the Museum and wander around Amsterdam instead. We saw so much and probably still only scratched the surface of what one can see here. I love the old buildings lining the many canals. We stopped at the floating flower market... they've got hundreds of different varieties of tulips that look ready to plant outside.

If the weather is good again tomorrow we're going to go to Zaanse Schans outside the town of Zaandam too visit some working windmills.

we're all having a lot of fun

FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Had a very full day today... after getting lost and going all around the central train/bus/tram station several times... we finally found our bus and drove out into the countryside to Zaanse Schans... a little historical village with all sorts of shops and quaint old houses. They have also rebuilt several old windmills one of which is a working saw mill. We watched how they cut huge logs into planks and beams which they sell to people who are looking for an authentic type of wood for the renovations of their historical houses. We had lunch at a nice restaurant at Zaanse Schans.... the "Amsterdam Croquettes" sounded interesting. A mixture of meat that was breaded and deep fried... served on rye bread with mustard. STAY AWAY FROM AMSTERDAM CROQUETTES!! Yuck... I can't really say if it tasted good because I couldn't get beyond the slimy texture inside the nicely breaded shell.

We came back into Amsterdam and took a cruise through the many canals. We didn't know which way to look... there were so many beautiful old buildings.

Finally we stopped at Heineken restaurant and endured the worst service I have ever seen in my life. Oh well... the food was good... we followed my own advice and stayed away from the Amsterdam Croquettes!

Tomorrow we're going to the museum to see some Rembrant's and then late in the day we board our plane and fly to Tanzania!!

FEBRUARY 18, 2012
Went to the Rijksmuseum and saw a bunch of paintings by the masters, Rembrandt's Night Watch was probably the most impressive one there... but I enjoyed looking at many of the others as well. I feel so cultured now! We wandered around a bit... had lunch at the Corner Pancake House, kind of a Dutch Denny's/sports bar with a 'cafe' out front. Back to the Hotel Zandbergen to collect our luggage and wait for our taxi..... next stop AFRICA!!