We got up early and went to the car and our guide was waiting there and his name was Sammy. He was a very nice guy. Then we drove for a long time. Then we stopped at a tourist overview. There was a lot of people there selling little trinkets for the tourists. The view was awesome. It looked out over a valley that is part of the Rift Valley. The Rift Valley is a tectonic plate shift that created Mt. Kilimanjaro and Lake Tanganyika, it starts someplace in Kenya and does not end until sometime in the DRC. It was beautiful. There was some volcanoes and a lot of green. Then, I bargained for a soap dish for Dad. Then we got back into the car. We stopped in a little town a couple of hours out for lunch. Sammy told us to each heartily. It was good food, then we got back on the road. We traveled for about two more hours and then we stopped. There was a clunking in one of the wheels. So Sammy looked at it and then he called a mechanic. Another minibus drove by and Sammy flagged it down and asked if it could give us a ride to the camp. Sammy said I will be right behind you, so we left all our stuff in the car. Luckily I grabbed my camera. The road in was rough, but I was tired, so I managed to stick my head in between the seats and fell asleep. We saw some zebras and giraffes. While we were driving the window I was sitting by fell out of the car, I grabbed it and they put it back in, like it happened all the time. Eventually we got to the campsite. We rested for a little bit, but we had no books or anything, so we decided to get a beer. We ate supper and then we talked to the guy who was in charge. He said that Sammy was coming and would be here in the morning, but if he was not here, we would go on a safari with the overland truck that was there. It seemed all right. We went and sat by a fire and talked with a Massai warrior. Then we were tired so we went to bed. The next morning we went to breakfast and looked for Sammy, he was not there, so we ate and then got in this huge truck and went into the bush. The people in that truck had just flown in the day before, so they were all getting to know each other. We were instructed before to tell them we were with the overland truck company, but we were going with another group, so we would not be joining them. This was so the guide could pocket all the money and it made no difference to me or Dad, so we stuck to that story. The people on the truck wanted to get to know everyone, so they all asked us what we were doing and how far we were going to go. We had to lie at least thirty times within the first twenty minutes of meeting these people. The first thing we saw was a jackal and a hyena hanging out under the shade of some trees. Then we saw a bunch of Wildebeests, Zebras, Thompson Gazelles, Impalas and Grant Gazelles. In that mix we saw another three Jackals who were eating the leg of something. Then we saw a bunch of topaz and hartebeests. Next, three male lions hanging out under some small bushes to get away from Then, we saw a bunch of elephants. We followed them and they led us to a pride of lions. There were around twenty lionesses and baby lions. We stayed there for a long time and took a bunch of pictures. Someone saw some Tommie gazelles and we were hoping the lions would attack, but they did not. We left and went to where the Massai Mara and the Serengeti connect and we got to stand in the Serengeti, it was cool. Then we went to the Massai river. This is the famous river where the wildebeests get eaten by the crocodiles and are chased by lions, during the wildebeest migration. We saw hippos and a giant crocodile that was absolutely prehistoric. We ate lunch and moved on. By mid afternoon we were not seeing very much and most people in the truck fell asleep. Then we saw some giraffes, another lion and an assortment of birds. We then left for camp. We got in and our bags were back, so we showered and changed clothes. Then we ate with all the overlanders. We drank some beer and talked. Then moved down to the fire and kept on drinking, eventually Dad went to bed. Some of the overlanders had bought a box of wine, so I helped them finish it. It was getting pretty late, maybe 12:30, when all of the sudden Sammy showed up. He told me we were going on a morning game drive at 6 the next morning. I told him I wanted to see a cheetah and a leopard, he said he would do his best. Eventually we all said goodbye and I went to bed at around 2am. The next morning we got up early and ate some breakfast and then went in the minibus with Sammy. We drove in again and the first thing we saw was two topaz fighting. They kneeled down and pointed their horns at each other and then ran into each other and stood up. It was a sight. Then we looked for a leopard. We saw a few carcasses of impalas in trees where leopards had eaten them, but no leopard. Then we saw more of the same until we saw a cheetah. They are sleek and catlike. They hung out and we eventually moved on and saw some baboons and an ostrich looking bird that is the national bird of Uganda. The baboons we saw got in a fight also. It must have been fight day in the Mara, because on our way out we saw two impalas fighting. We left and drove for another six hours to Nakuru, a town by Lake Nakuru. We stayed at a hotel and slept well that night. We had said goodbye to Sammy and had a different driver, because it was his car. We got up and went into Lake Nakuru. We saw a beautiful lake full of flamingos. There were hundreds of them. Sadly the lake was drying up and it is only a shadow of its former beauty. We saw a group of hyenas, we found the dens and saw two very small babies. Then we saw more of the same until we went to this lookout. We got to see the whole lake. I was peaking over the edge when I saw what looked like a big groundhog. Furry and small with no tail, I thought it was a rock hyrax and our guide confirmed this after we showed him the pictures. A rock hyrax is the closest looking relative to an elephant. I was very happy to see one, even though they look more like a squirrel then an elephant. We then kept going hoping to find a rhino (that is what Lake Nakuru is famous for). We eventually saw a lone rhino. Took some pictures and moved on. Then we saw a mother and a baby, a really small baby. The baby did not even have a horn yet, just a nub. Dad and I agreed that this was the only animal we had seen that even the babies were ugly. The mother had a large stick in her horn when we first got there, but don’t worry she figured out how to remove it. We then saw another lone rhino and some buffaloes. We then saw three rhinos. A male with two adolescents, the male was HUGE. It was cool to see and they slowly came toward us. We left and went back to Nairobi. We got back and we were tired, so we booked a dorm room and put our bags down. When we put our bags down I noticed a drum that looked familiar. I went back outside to find James sitting there having a soda with our friend Nick. He was there and so was most of the people that I had left when I went on the safari. I walked back in to help Dad with everything and I noticed the two South Africans I had met when I first arrived at Milimanis. We all talked about our adventures and eventually it got late and we decided to go out to eat. We went to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was interesting food. It is all served on a flat sour bread and had a bunch of different sauce stuff for dipping. It was good. Then we all went back to the hostel and stayed up drinking. James and I found out that at four the next morning the Viking were going to be on tv. So we woke up at four and watched them get handled by the panthers. Then Dad and I took a minibus to Arusha. In Arusha we got an nice hotel room and found a place for money and got bus tickets for the next day. Then we had a nice dinner and got a taxi for the next day. We slept well and then got on the bus the next day. It turned out to be a twenty hour bus ride to Mbeya. We got off the bus in the rain and drove around to a bunch of different hotels before we found one that had room. Then we got ripped off by the taxi driver and slept for a few hours then boarded another bus to Subawanga. We arrived in Subawanga and went to my house and slept. Then the next day it was Christmas eve, so we went over to my friend Marianna’s house. The children where there and they got to open their presents and sang songs, it was very cool. It was the best way I could spend Christmas away from my family. On Christmas we went to a four hour mass and then hung out for a while. We did the same thing the next day. The day after that, one of the monks drove us around and showed Dad the town. We stopped off at the orphanage and saw the rest of the town, it was good. Then we relaxed and finally we went to Mvimwa, which is where the monastery of the monks I live with is. We spent a night there and Dad got a tour. The next day we went to Kipili on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. We stayed at that tropical paradise for a day and a half, then returned to Subawanga. I think Dad enjoyed to see where I live and where I have been around. It was fun to share it with him. It was New Years Eve, so we went out to eat with the monks. Then we took a bus the next day back to Mbeya. Then on to Dar es Salaam the next day. We stayed with the monks there for a night and met James there again. The next day we wanted to go to a market, but we went there and it started to rain, so we decided to go to the ferry to Zanzibar. We got on a bus and then a guy said he would take us there and so, James, Dad and I followed this guy. We went to a small looking ferry and rushed on as it was about to depart. The guy paid for us and we got on. Then James texted me to see if I was on the right ferry, so I asked someone and he said it did not go to Zanzibar, but some other place. The horn sounded for it to shove off, so Dad and I jumped off the ferry and found James, we found the correct ferry. On the ferry I called a hotel to see if they had room. They said yes and I booked a room for the next few nights. We arrived and hired a taxi to take us into stonetown and pick up some girls glasses we met when we were staying with the monks. Then we went to a hotel called Kendwa rocks. It took about an hour. This was the place I had booked the room at, but they had no booking. They found room for us and that was good. Dad and I dropped our packs off in our room and went to the beach bar and got a beer and then went to the water and we were swimming around after the beer. When I thought I saw my friend Judith, who volunteers in Subawanga with me. I said her name and she looked at me and then kind of went the other way. So I started talking to my dad and then she said Dan. She did not recognize me, because since I had been away for a month my beard had grown considerably and she did not have her glasses on. Dad and I ended up having dinner with my friends from Subawanga and some people they had met on the island. We went to bed early, tired from six days straight of travelling. The next day we relaxed on the beach and decided to go snorkeling the next day. We stayed up and had dinner at the restaurant on the beach and then sat by the fire. Dad went to bed, but I had to finish my drink and I started talking to two british people who had just climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. We talked and eventually I went to bed. The next day we got up and then got into the boat for snorkeling. We went out on this wooden fishing boat that had been remodeled to be a diving boat. We got to the point of the beach where we had to turn right and go across the island parralell to the waves and the captain decided to turn back. We met a couple of people on the way and one of them puked. We then had lunch and relaxed on the beach for the rest of the day, swimming. Then we had a massage and played volleyball. We got dinner and then bed time came around. The next day we went back to town with a shared taxi and got there in half the time. A little scary the way this guy drove. We got ferry tickets and then had really bad pizza in a little restaurant called Mercury’s. It was called this after Freddy Mercury, the lead singer for Queen who grew up on Zanzibar. Then we got on the ferry. We took first class back and it had air conditioning, which was huge. Then we went back to the place of the brothers. Dad left on his plane and we picked up James’ friend Sara at the airport. I was sad to see Dad go, but all good things have to come to an end. We went back to the brothers house. I stayed there with James and Sara for three days, because they were getting a ride to Subawanga from Mbeya and thought I could get one also. We went into dar and found the market we looked for before we went to Zanzibar. I bought a hat and James bought some gifts and Sara bought a phone. It was fun. We met a neat guy named Ahjah. He told me how to apply for a job with the forest service, which is something I’m contemplating. Then we got ticket for the bus ride to Mbeya. We left on a long bus ride to Mbey and eventually got there. Left for Subawanga the next day in a car. We stopped at Liela, which is where Sara is going to be teaching. Then we made it to Subawanga. We were supposed to start teaching the next day, but we found out that there is a week where no one teaches in order to give the students time to get back. So, we hung out at school and prepared things. It was a very interesting trip and I am very happy about how it all worked out. I would like to thank my mom for allowing and pushing my dad into coming and handling being apart for Christmas so well. I love you all.