The Bergemans Do Tanzania!

I couldn’t ask for a better way to close out my month long holiday than having my family visit me.  After three and a half action–packed and busy weeks of traveling in Tanzania and across the continent, seeing my family for the first time in almost a half year was the perfect way to transition back into my usual daily routine here in Tanzania.

My family arrived Monday evening for exactly a week, leaving on the same flight they flew to Tanzania on.  As it turns out, Susanne, the wife of the director of the Mailisita Foundation, the foundation the built Stella Maris School and Lodge, made a last minute visit to Tanzania the same week my family came and ended up on the same flights both coming and going from America.  What are the odds?! When my family finally cleared customs, the first person I saw was my mom. She happened to spot me outside at the same moment that I saw her.  We exchanged huge grins and waved, probably as if our arms were about to fall off.   I was so happy that she and the rest of my family were on the continent – that I had not just been imagining for the past several months that they were coming to visit.  I was so excited to show them my second home and help them to understand where my deep love for Tanzania comes. 

Since my family was only here for a week, we had a lot of ground to cover in a short amount of time.  Keeping that and the likely jet lag that they would have in mind, I scheduled our four day safari for Wednesday, their second full day in country.  We used Tuesday to adjust to the time change, sleep in, finalize our safari plans with the same great company I climbed Kilimanjaro with, and visit Teddy and her family at her home.  The highlight of Tuesday for my family was definitely meeting and spending time with all of Teddy’s children, which of course my mom brought presents for. For me, this was the most special moment of my family’s trip because it brought both of my ‘families’, the most important people in America and in Tanzania, together.  It was so touching and meaningful to me.

The first of the three parks that we visited. 

Bright and early Wednesday morning, Evarist, our guide, and his colleague, Dixon, our cook, arrived at Stella Maris to pick us up for safari.  Although I was sad that my family would be away from my Tanzanian family for a chunk of their visit, I also wanted them to have an inclusive ‘African experience’, which when you are in East Africa must include a safari.  About twenty five minutes into our drive towards the parks, I realized I forgot my passport, after I told everyone the night before to make sure they had theirs. 

This guy was just hanging out on the side of the road. 

Thankfully Evarist was a quick thinker and solved this predicament without returning to the hotel to retrieve my passport.  Three hours later, we arrived at Lake Manyara. We ate a quick lunch and made our way to Lake Manyara’s park entrane, the first of the three parks we visited over the four days: Manyara, Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.  We were greeted in the park by a troop of monkeys strolling in the street, making it impossible for us to pass.  After some time, they cleared a big enough space that we were able to drive between them.  The goal of any safari in East Africa is to see all of the animals that have been dubbed the "Big Five", elephant, giraffe, leopard, lion and rhino.  We were so lucky to see all five throughout our three days! On our first day, we

My first time seeing a giraffe in its natural habitat!

saw two out of the Big Five, the leopard and elephants. The elephants were so close to our car, as we came across them as they were crossing the road we were driving on.  Seeing them up close was super cool AND there was  a baby elephant with the rest of the herd and seeing him, or her, just warmed my heart.  In addition to the monkeys and the three Big Five animals, we saw some hippos submerged in water, giraffes, antelopes and zebras. All four of us were thrilled about seeing such a variety of animals! To top it all off, on the way out of the park, less than a tenth of a mile from the entrance, Evarist spotted a leopard lurking on the floor of the forest.  Each of us only saw the leopard for about ten seconds, but that is ten more seconds than a lot of people get, especially at this time of year.  Our rare leopard spotting was the perfect way to end our first day of safari.

Approaching the road, about to cross directly in front of our car.  

Beautiful!

Just a little mother/daughter (or son) bonding time.  So precious!

It may not look like much, but this was pure luxury!

I was a little worried about Mama and how she would handle sleeping in tents (and what Tanzania would do to her hair).  However, my worries were significantly reduced when Evarist showed us our tents for the first night, and third as it turned out.  Unlike the tents from my Kilimanjaro climb in which you could not stand straight up, these tents had BEDS, yes, actual beds, inside of them AND the massive tent was positioned a roof.  This is the Ritz of camping, folks! 

Our evening on our first day of safari was just as great as the rest of the day: we enjoyed a delicious dinner, especially delicious given the cooking restraints of a safari and we, the four of us and Evarist, played cards after dinner.  It was so awesome seeing Evarist learn how to play cards and enjoy the game so much that he was acting like a little kid in a candy shop.  On the last night, we even got Dixon, our cook, to join us for games!

The next morning, we drove from Lake Manyara to the Serengeti.  In order to get to the Serengeti, you have to drive through/past the Ngorongoro Crater.  Although our plan was to do the Ngorongoro Crater on the last day, the view as we were driving past was so captivating that had to stop.  So, we took a quick pit stop at the crater to admire the fishbowl view from the rim and took a bunch of beautiful pictures before we continued on our way. 

This year's Christmas card?

Our young, fearless guide, Evarist (left) and our fabulous cook, Dixon (right). 

Hardly home but always repping! Go X!

Serengeti, as compared to Manyara's landscape (above). 

The landscape of the Serengeti is tremendously different from that of Lake Manyara (and Ngorongoro as well).  Half of Lake Manyara is rainforest-esque and the other half is flatter land, but it has a great deal of vegetation.  The Serengeti, on the other hand, is flat as a pancake, very dry, sand colored and so vast that there is no end in sight.   Although I have not yet had the fortune of seeing the Sahara Desert for myself, the Serengeti is the most similar of the three parks to that sort landscape. 

The national bird of Uganda.

In the Serengeti, we saw buffalos, lions!! (the third and fourth Big Five animals we saw), the national bird of Uganda (Grey Crowned Crane), hyenas and gazelles, in addition to a ton more elephants and monkeys!  Our car had a little mechanical issue towards the end of the day while still in the middle of no-man’s land when our engine unexpectedly turned off and wouldn’t turn back on, which I think made my mom pretty nervous.  But, after getting a strong nudge from another 4X4, that was the first time I had ever seen a car ‘hit’ and push another car to ignite the engine, we were able to continue on our way to our new campsite for the evening.   Our tent arrangements on the second night were not as fancy as the first, but they sufficed, and we called it a night early anyway because of the next day's sunrise game on our way out of the Serengeti. 

Originally, our third day was supposed to be a full day's game drive in the Serengeti.  Before bed on the second night, while missing Teddy and Inno and feeling the time of my family’s visit slowly slipping away, we decided that we would prefer to go to the Ngorongoro Crater right after our sunrise Serengeti drive, hence skipping the afternoon Serengeti game drive. This would allow us to get back to Moshi in the early afternoon the next day, instead of late at night.  We did just that.  We enjoyed a brisk, beautiful sunrise drive where animals were much more active than they had been the previous two days

in the afternoon.   Then, we returned to the rim of crater and actually drove into it.  In the crater, in addition to most of the animals we saw in Manyara and the Serengeti, we saw four rhinos!  The rhinos, the only remaining animal of the Big Five that we had yet to see, made it so that we saw all five Big Five animals - a small miracle for this time of year.  Although the animals in the crater were just as cool as the rest of the animals we saw, the crater itself is so majestic and breath-taking even without seeing any animals.  Fortunately for us, we got to see the amazing backdrop that is the crater and many animals.

Inside the crater.  

We returned for the final night of our safari to the same campsite as the first night – with the fancy tents.  The next morning, we headed back to Moshi and arrived in the early afternoon.  We had originally planned to take Teddy and Inno out to dinner to this special restaurant, special because it serves authentic TexMex in Tanzania; however, when we arrived back at Stella Maris, we learned that the night before, the restaurant had lost power, and all of their refrigerated food to the outage.  As such, they were not able to accommodate us for that evening, so we rescheduled for the following evening.  Instead, we headed into town for some souvenir shopping and then enjoyed a relaxing evening at the hotel. 

Mama wearing her Mother's Day dress. 

Sunday was a special day.  It was special because I was able to celebrate Mother’s Day with my most fabulous mama in this country I love so dearly.  I was so happy that it worked out that my family's visit included Mother’s Day weekend so that our whole family could be together to celebrate Mama.   We began Mother’s Day by attending the children’s mass that I attend each week. The Bergemans were troopers yet again as this mass is entirely in Swahili.  We then enjoyed a lovely brunch back at the hotel where Mama read her cards and opened her gifts.  My most gracious brother bought and brought the most perfect card for me to give to Mama. In addition to her cards, we gave her a dress that I had made for her here in Tanzania, a MSU visor and a couple of small items she found since she had arrived that she had her eye on.  I was thrilled that she liked her dress, as I had picked out the fabric especially for her, and I was even happier that it fit nicely, as I had to do my best to estimate and explain my mama’s tiny frame to the seamstress. I then took my family to the beautiful waterfalls about which I blogged and shared pictures back in January.  The splendor of the waterfalls did not disappoint; however, Nick was bummed that we could not swim in the pool at the base of the waterfall this time due to rough waters and rocks that had been falling recently from the top.  Just as Inno looked out for my safety during my first visit to the waterfalls, he watched after my mama so sweetly for the entire trip.  I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him, but I still appreciated it and it left a lasting impression with Mama.

Finally, on Monday, my family’s last day in Tanzania, they joined me at school for the entire day.  They met the teaching staff, the kids, and even led small guided reading groups with my P5 class.  I am glad my family was able to experience a safari, it being their first time in Africa and all, but I was much more excited that they were able to go through my daily routine and meet the kids who stole my heart.  The day they spent with me at Stella Maris allowed them to have a taste of my life here in Tanzania, while the safari was not representative of my experiences at all. Since they have been here now and seen my daily routine, when I have the urge to share stories about Tanzania and Stella Maris, they will have an authentic point of reference that will hopefully make it easier to understand whatever story I am a telling.

So glad they experienced Tanzania and all its beauty for themselves!

It was hard to say good-bye for now.  I kept joking that Delta called and delayed/ cancelled their flight, as I was secretly praying that would actually happen.  Although the week went way too fast, I couldn’t really feel sad when I watched them disappear into the Kilimanjaro airport because I felt so blessed to have had them here, even if for just a short time.  I appreciate the sacrifices each of them made, especially Nick for taking his finals a week early, to be able to come and share something so near and dear to my heart.  I was so happy to hear my mama say, “I understand why you love it here” because I know many people wonder why.  Yet, not many people truly understand why.  No matter how many stories one tells, the love, happiness, kindness, warmth and joy of the continent cannot be explained - only felt.  Now, knowing that feeling for themselves, it is something we can share for the rest of our lives.