Merry Christmas to All!!!
One word: GORILLAS. Our gorilla trekking in Rwanda was something from a dream. Mountain Gorillas are one of those animals you see on TV, but you can not appreciate what they really are until you sit next to them in the rain forest. Their eyes and hands and hair are so unbelievably real, you want to reach out and touch them. You can sense how powerful they are at such close proximity, yet they are gentle and relaxed. Although, if the silver back moves everybody gets out of his way before you even realize he stood up. We spent two days hiking around extinct volcanoes in search of these magnificent beasts. There were muddy moments, bush whacking moments, and Paula even took a tumble, but in the end it was more than worth it. Our lodge, Sabynyo Silver Back Lodge was just as good as the gorilla watching. It was set up on the mountain and the cabins are each very secluded. Although there is quite a bit of hiking involved just get to your room. The food was excellent. It was like living in a mountain lodge with cozy fires and good food, all the Amarula you can drink, but you don’t have to do anything. All you have to do is figure out what you want, and tell someone. This was some serious pampering my friends! And the weather was so cool it felt good to put a sweater on. The lodge and gorilla trekking was like living in a dream. I never wanted to wake up.
We spent another night in Kegali, and hit another motor biker.... did I forget to mention that already happened....!? Everyone was fine, except for poor Alex who was so frustrated with all the damn motorbikes zooming all over the road. Do NOT self drive through Kegali. Kruger National Park is one thing, the city of Kegali is quite another, this place is worse than NYC.
Somehow we made our way back to Tanzania. Had another two days straight of driving and now we’ve spent four days in Arusha. The traffic in Arusha is bad as well, but it’s junior sized compared Kegali. Alex is a pro. When we drove into town we saw a huge mountain veiled in clouds. Maybe it looks so magnificent because the landscape is nearly flat otherwise. Paula and I were looking at it thinking, that is one gigantic mountain, why did we agree to climb it? Alex says, oh no, that’s Mt. Meru, Kilimanjaro is bigger than that. !!!???!?!?!@**@#$%! That’s what my stomach did.
Again we’ve had good food and some adventures getting around town. Today we visited a small village and then did a game drive in Arusha National Park. The landscape is beautiful here. It’s not that different from Rwanda, very green and lots of banana trees. However the elevation is lower here and so it is HOT. On our game drive we saw giraffes, warthogs, zebras, bushbuck, and my new favorite, flamingos! We also saw baboons and these new cool black monkeys with long white hair. Forgive me, I don’t remember the name. Also, my friend Sarah, we saw Kurt’s Dik Dik. I thought you might appreciate that!
That brings us up to date dear friends. Tomorrow we will leave to start our trek for Mount Kilimanjaro. We are excited and nervous, but mostly excited. I’m not sure exactly how it will feel to climb nearly 6,000 meters but I’m about to find out.
A very warm and wonderful Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family back home. Think of us at 9am on Christmas morning, we’ll be thinking of all of you.
Until next year,
El & Al
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