Day 1 – Arrive in Tanzania and first game drive

I still can’t believe we are in Africa!!

Augustine and Kessy picked us up from the airport and it was so good to put a face to the voice and emails we had been exchanging for more than a year planning this adventure.

We stayed at a hotel called Kibo Palace and its known as a deluxe 4 star hotel because not only does it have electricity 24 hours a day and a pool it also has air conditioning.  The hotel is located in the heart of the city of Arusha.

Can’t believe we get to do this for 9 more days! 

We learned a new name for me (Stacey):  Mtoto (pronounced mmmmmmtoto) – which means, “little kid” in Swahili.  That was me on the whole trip.

And we are off on our first game drive already!!!!

Because we arrived earlier than some of the other guests we, Shelly, Dawn and I went on a pre-safari trip with Kessy (pronounced “Casey”), to Arusha National Park.  This park is known for its black and white colobus monkeys which we saw many, many, many.

During this trip we were able to see the following animals:  Blue monkeys, colobus monkey, baboons, wart hogs, zebras, giraffes, dik dik (which is the smallest of the antelopes), and lots of bush back, and waterbuck.  Our naturalist guide warned us that the Dik Dik may look tame and sweet but was a ruthless killer that would jump up and attack our jugular vein with his razor sharp horns… he said he had a mask made special to protect us!  What a jokester!

This is where Stacey watched a week old baby baboon for quite a bit of time.    She immediately asked where the parents were and who was taking care of him.  He was watching us as much as we watched him.  He put on a great show doing summersaults and twirling around.  He was just adorable. 

Kibo Palace Hotel