And where we are right now...the view from our room into Ngorongoro Crater

Tomorrow we descend into this soul expanding spaciousness...

Leaving the Serengeti

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

                                                                                                             

                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                                                            

                                                                                                                                           

Some shots from today....highlights were being in a river of wildebeest and among 300-400 zebras!

Where we are....

Everyone needs to come here

Sitting on our little balcony in the middle of the Serengeti. It's just past dark, light fading quickly. Sounds of the night. The day before yesterday there was a leopard at reception at this time. We need to call for an armed escort to take us to dinner!  Three days of bouncing around in a Toyota Landcruiser looking at lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, hippos, elephants, and more giraffes, wildebeest, impalas and warthogs than we can keep track of. It's moving and overwhelming. Our guide, Hadid, is our age and awesome.  We are stunned by the beauty of this place.

Following in the steps of the first of us

Arusha is leafy and cooler than Dar es Salaam.  We're settled into La Jacaranda, a small hotel in a garden with a lovely outdoor restaurant and super friendly staff.  Arusha is close to where the first of us (humans) ever walked, it's where Julius Nyerere released the Arusha Declaration, outlining Tanzania's approach to socialism in 1967, and it's the launching place for the Serengeti and the Ngorogoro Crater.  Kilimanjaro peaked out at us yesterday as we neared the end of our 11 hour bus ride.  Tomorrow we'll sort out our safari with one of the several operators in town. Today's a rest and laundry day -- and a day to enjoy the luxury of high speed internet in an air conditioned internet cafe. It might be Indian food for dinner!

Falcons and futuristic skyscrapers

Impressions of Doha...

A lunar landscape where people have placed a grid of wide streets full of luxury vehicles being driven by neatly bearded sheiks in white head dress and designer sunglasses,  cell in hand...

The scene is like a black and white movie on a background of sand with the occasional turquoise taxi, state owned like the buses.

Our search for falcons took us to the animal market on the outskirts of the city where Sudanese tribesmen waited on stools in front of pens of sheep, goats, and rabbits, ducks and chickens in the bird section at the back. We found four hooded falcons perched forlornly there. A stark contrast with the beautiful specimen on the arm of a regal Qatari on his way into the airport lounge.

The city is staffed by migrant workers from all over the world. Our taxi driver was from Kenya, the women hotel staff from the Philippines (a million Filipinos work there). Qataris don't work, they collect a salary from the government, like royalty.

Doha it is!

Who knew? Canadians currently need a visa in advance of travel to Dubai. This is something we learned at the airport when we weren't allowed to board for Dubai. Today was spent trying to sort out our travel. And, tomorrow we leave for Doha. Why not? The silver lining is the wonderful dinner we had with some Germans (the liter of wine was about $5.50, and there was a big salad, lasagna, chicken, mineral water) in a restaurant with red checkered tablecloths and waiters who hollered.