safari njema! lions and buffalo and elephants and rhinos and... no leopards. OH MY!

maybe after reading this you will understand why i haven't posted anything for some time. currently, i'm in Arusha, which is one of the largest cities in Northern Tanzania, situated just at the foot of Mount Meru, Kilimanjaro's little brother. over the course of the last two weeks, i've spent at least half of the time in places with no running water or electricity, just the light of the millions of twinkling stars. literally - it was crazy, i thought i was seeing things but they actually would flicker. it has been so good for me to get out of the city and into some wilderness; i was the happiest i've been since we left.

we started in Arusha with a visit to the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, just to keep things on a light note. it was the first time we were all sobered into silence. we were able to witness part of one trial and then have a long lecture/discussion with the Registrar, an old college buddy of Fatma's, who had some really interesting insights on human rights in the African context and the role of international law and justice in the decolonization process. one aspect of the trial that i found particularly interesting was that it was the first time a government leader had plead guilty and been convicted of genocide. i could go on and on, but i wouldn't be able to do justice (no pun intended) to the eloquence and formality of the trial. their website is http://www.un.org/ictr/ if you want some more detailed information.

in a strange change of scenery, we left the tribunal to head out on a 3-day safari of Lake Manyara, Ngorongoro Crater, and Oldupai Gorge. i saw all manner of wild animals, including hippos, elephants, a rhino, a lion, ostrich, wildebeest, zebras, and two cheetahs laying down not 20 feet from our car. despite the disgust of being such a blatant camera-toting, giddy ecotourist, not to mention the obvious disturbance to the ecosystem we were causing, it was still amazing to actually be there and be that close up. my pictures tell the rest of the story.

one anecdote that tells a little about our campsite: we stayed on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater for two nights at a place called Simba Camp (simba is Swahili for lion). during the daytime, we were left with the illusion of isolation from nature. "sure, there are big toothed, hoofed, horned mammals down there, but we're totally out of their range up here. um... right?" when we noticed the guards that came at night to patrol the periphery with AK-47s, we began to wonder just what was out there that necessitated such a high-firepower presence in our quaint little camp. the first clue that i got was when, on the first night, i shone my headlamp across the field and saw a half-dozen zebras grazing. Maureen, our program fellow, said that she spotted a few hyenas snooping around, probably looking for an easy kill. "okay, cool. i guess we've got a few visitors, but at least they're keeping their distance." so thought naive tanner, before walking out of the outhouse at 9 pm (well past sunset) and having one of the kitchen staff nonchalantly wave his arm to my right and say "mind yourself." i looked over, not knowing what to expect, but certainly not a 13-foot tall (at the shoulder) bull elephant with his trunk hanging inside the water tank, standing within 30 yards from me. just having a little nightcap, i suppose. i almost jumped up and down from the goosebumps and joyful excitement. i quietly retrieved a couple close friends and told them to follow me, and then we watched him wander off into the forest, silent and majestic and totally HUGE. but, the fun didn't end there that night. later on, while sitting around the fire with some of our guides, we heard a somewhat unnervingly loud RRROOOOAARRRR from behind us. yup. lions. sounded pretty damn close too. the guards checked their radios and found out that a male had passed by another camp not too far away, so they estimated 3-5 km. we heard the roar a few more times before i went to bed, and i don't think i've ever heard another creature make any sound that commands so much force and respect. i felt privileged to even hear it.

the last day on safari, we went to Oldupai Gorge, one of the most human archaeological digs in the world. some of the oldest evidence of our ancestors have been found in this serene corner of the Great Rift Valley, the speculated eden of homo sapiens that runs from Mozambique to Ethiopia. sadly, we only stayed for 2 hours, much too short to really feel the place, and we didn't even leave the visitor center at the edge of the gorge. still, i found some quiet time to really BE there, and i could definitely pick up on the holiness of the place. i felt like i was the late arrival to a huge family reunion. there was such a density of wisdom and history there. i can't even begin to describe the sensation. it was hard to leave; i'm going to have to come back someday.