A portrait only God could paint

Africa continues to amaze. Every once in awhile I witness something so incredible that it's like God is trying to remind me just how great a mastermind He is. These last two days He has made that more clear than ever.

Yesterday morning we finished our Swahili classes, so we are now all fluent ;) So not really, but we did learn how to say animal names in preparation for our safari, along with dates and times. Just don't ask me to tell you my birthday in Swahili because it will take about five minutes. After class we had lunch here at the Seminary before heading off to Mikumi National Park. We arrived there around 3:30, checked into our bungalows where we would spend the night, and were off on part one of our safari. Surely enough one of the first things we saw was a male lion, laying pretty close to our path. Apparantly a lot of people go through the park for several hours and never see a lion, so for us to see one at all, let alone right away was a pretty big deal. As we were busy snapping pictures of him, a group of elephants came walking through the grass on the other side of us. I guess when most people think about Africa this was probably the scene they tend to picture.

We continued through the park until about 7:00. Along our way we saw lots of giraffes, wild buffalo, more elephants, impala, and hippos. We rode back to the camp area as the sun was setting. I've seen some pretty sweet sunsets in my day, but I think this one takes the cake. With the mountains in the background and the clouds peferctly placed, it was truly a masterpiece. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can.

Back at the camp site (not that we were in any way camping in a rustic sense), we were served a really nice meal with COLD beverages for the first time since we've been here. We ate outside at a table overlooking the savanna as the sun continued to set and the stars came out. It was a little too cloudy to do much stargazing, but the full moon was brighter than I had ever seen it. After dinner we were all pretty much spent, so we headed back to our bungalows. Lindsey, Kim, Christina and I shared one with three single beds and one huge bed that could have held all four of us. All electricity in the place is turned off at 10 PM, so our room was lit by candlelight for most of the evening. It had a nice Little House on the Praire feel.

It was a fairly short night, as we had to be back on the bus at 6:30 this morning to see the animals when they're most active early in the day. As we were walking from our room to have tea and coffee, we immediately saw some elephants in what was basically our backyard. A good start to the day and a sign of all we would see on our second trip around the park. I'm pretty sure I have a couple hundred pictures just from this outing. We saw more elephants, giraffes, water buffalo, wildebeest, zebras, hippos, a huge crocodile, impala, baboons, and lots of birds. I'm probably forgetting something, but to say the least it was incredible to see all these animals so close up in their natural habitat. I sat next to Anna, the future vet and someone who cares more about animals than anyone I know. Also I think Pastor Hafermann had an alternative exit strategy today as he was venturing pretty close to the water in search of the crocodiles. No worries though, everyone returned with all limbs and body parts attached. Around 10 we returned to the campsite and had a nice brunch. Most of us went back out for about another hour with hopes of finding a leopard or another lion. Even though we didn't, it was worth the trip to see the last set of elephants we saw. A mother and baby were literally 10 feet away from us, eating contently. We were closer than you could get at a zoo, and it was a great end to the safari experience.

We arrived back at the Seminary around 4:00. A few of us went to give some basketball nets we brought to the high school kids. The basketball courts and soccer field seem to be really popular among the students here, but none of the facilities have nets. We put the basketball nets up, and we're hoping to have time to make some for the soccer goals at some point. The kids also "challenged" us to a basketball game. People here seem to think that all Americans are crazy about basketball, so maybe they assume we're all good at playing? If so they might be in for a surprise. Guess our team better start channeling our basketball roots. Tuesday at 5 PM is when it's going down.

Tonight after supper we all got together to watch the movie "Amazing Grace," which is about the abolishment of the slave trade in Great Britain. Good group bonding time. Tomorrow we will be visiting a Swahili village, where we will join them for a church service. It should be different from our last village visit since it is a different tribe, so we should have another interesting experience. The weather has been great the last few days and will hopefully continue to be. They say time moves slowly in Tanzania but I feel like our days here are passing us by so quickly! But there are many more exciting things to come, and hopefully more photos posted soon!

Usiku mwema (Good night)!

Peace.
Emily