July 4, 2005 There was dense fog and it was very cold as we left our lodge for a game drive. We needed to descend the steep crater wall using a series of switchbacks. As soon as we broke beneath the fog bank we were greeted with a glorious sunrise that Phebe termed a "Hallelujah experience". Almost right off the bat we spotted a cheetah. Our driver jockeyed his position and it ended up crossing the road right in front of us. It was comical to see a j...

July 3, 2005 We got to sleep in some today, as our departure time was not until 9:30. Just down the road from our lodge we stopped to visit a couple named Daniel and Elizabeth. They gave us a lecture on the traditional beaded goatskin skirts used at weddings and for dances. We then saw a typical house for this tribe who were enemies of the Maasai until a treaty in 1987. The houses were made into the earth with an earthen top. The inside was really quite ...

July 2, 2005 After breakfast we set out on a nature walk into the Ngorongoro forest. We stared at our farm and visited the flower gardens and then it was through the vegetable gardens. We saw huge avocado trees just dripping with fruit. The main farming product here though is coffee. All of the beans are picked by hand when they turn red. They are then put through a machine that looks like a spinning cheese grater where the outer husk is spit out onto one side...

July 1, 2005 Our day started a little earlier than we planned when at 5:00 a.m. we heard a lion roar and it was very close. Enough to wake us up out of a sleep. Phebe would not allow me to go to the tent window with a flashlight to see just how close it was. When the boy delivered our morning coffee I asked about this and he told me that there had been a male lion out back but he was gone now! As we were getting ready to depart I looked in the toilet and no...

June 30, 2005 When I awoke today I was feeling much better though my stomach was still gurgling loudly constantly. We took a long game drive today through Tarangire Park. The terrain here is much different. There are long grasses and many colorful birds and species of eagles. The only new animals we saw on this drive were the dwarf mongoose perched upon a termite mound and dik-diks, which look like very delicate small deer. The male has tiny horns. We di...