Saturday -- Walking Safari
What’s-up families! Today we started the day with a bright and early start after a night with clear skies, hazy sunsets, and vividly bright stars. We had breakfast at the Banjika School and said goodbye to our homestay siblings as we embarked on our weekend retreat to Arusha. The bus ride was bumpin’ with great vibes as we jammed to upbeat tunes. On our way we had a baboon sighting off the side of the road before reaching our walking safari tour location. As we trickled off the bus we saw a 7/8’s naked tribal man sprinting and hooting towards us in the distance. This man was Didi, and he was our phenomenal tour guide. As he led us through the bush, he gave us periodic stops and gave us vivid descriptions of the local flora and fauna along walk. Suddenly in the distance he pointed out a giraffe!! We spent time taking photos and learning about the medicinal benefits of the acacia trees they eat. The highlight of the safari was the herd of elephants surrounding our bus. We observed the elephants cleaning themselves with the mist of the watering hole, kissing, and rubbing trunks. We also witnessed many crossing zebras and prancing antelope along our drive! For lunch we had a picnic over the beautiful safari grounds. On the way to our hotel, we stopped at an upscale mall to stock up on snacks and other goods for the weekend. Then we got to our refreshing hotel that truly has given us breath of fresh air. It is relieving to have time to relax, and hot running water, but we all dearly miss our homestay families. Hope all is well back in Cali!
Love y’all,
(Shuga) Shaan, and Andrew
the walking safari
you'll see better pictures when the folks with the good cameras upload their pics, but this is pretty good! The elephants really put on a show for us
you can't tell from this, but off in the distance, we could see the elephants as we ate lunch
