T.I.A

Rafikis (friends) I just did a huge piece about the N'Gorongoro Crater and Lake Manyara and lost it when I clicked "post"!!!

But, of course, T.I.A (This Is Africa!) If I had a dollar for every time I've had to grin and bare it (which of course makes for a better story later when you grin and share it) I'd be able to sponsor every child in Africa. For instance I worked up the courage - no small feat for a shrinking violet like me - to sing karaoke solo the other night in Zanzibar, after the host announced there was a $20,000TSH prize for the best performance. I belted out "Livin on a Prayer" and got 84%. There were no other challengers after me. When we went to claim the hard earned prize at the end of the night we were told he'd changed his mind and there was no prize anymore. When we questioned him his response was "T.I.A". Ahhhh... grin and share it :)

So, my post on the Crater began by saying my 3 travel companions and I weren't really expecting much as the Serengti next door is so famous. Unfortunately it proved a disaster for us though, so we set out on day 2 with higher spirits and the resolve to make the most of whatever lay ahead. NEVER did we expect to come over the rim of the N'Gorongoro Crater and see the most stunning landscape we'd ever seen though. We were absolutely awestruck! This is a huge natural crater with lush forests, sweeping plains teeming with iconic animals, huge bodies of water painted bright pink with thousands of flamingos, and the odd safari car weaving it's way through the magic. We were like the wide-eyed tourists in the dwafed little jeeps in Jurassic Park. Not even the toilets - the worst we've encourntered yet - could detract from the sheer beauty of this place. We slept content that night in a "Glamping Ground" outside the Crater that even had a pool (our first was since we'd left Moshi!). We trawled through the roadside markets at sunset and I bought a powerful big canvas of a Buffalo staring out from tall african grasses, that the Rastafarian artist had affectionately named "Buffalo Soldier", after the Bob Marley song.