Oh Heeeey Tanzania

We finally arrived in Arusha, Tanzania late last night after nearly twenty-three hours of flying from New York to Raleigh to Detroit to Amsterdam to Mount Kilimanjaro. Highlights of our trip included free (and unlimited) wine on KLM and being told that our pilot couldn't start the plane's left engine…we took off after the ground crew “manually” started the engine and gave the plane some “extra gas” to make sure we got to Arusha quickly. I really don't know how, but we made it.

Arusha is a little city located on the base of Mount Meru, about an hour south of Mount Kilimanjaro. We're starting our trip here because, following the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha. The city itself is difficult to describe. While it's most certainly frantic, chaotic and a little tired, Arusha is intriguing and, although cliché, beautiful in it's own right. The people here are so hospitable, protective, and, on the whole, pretty cool! I've been able to use my Swahili here and have had some interesting conversations with a couple of Tanzanians.

Today, we woke up early, got picked up by some legit safari jeeps, and headed out to Arusha National Park. The park was absolutely gorgeous with grasslands and Mount Meru dominating the scenery. During our game drive, we saw giraffes, warthogs, zebra, water buffalo, bushbucks, monkeys, and a lake full of flamingos. We eventually jumped out of our jeeps and headed into the bush with two park rangers (don't worry mom, they had HUGE guns). After watching a herd of buffalo, eating lunch on the side of Mount Meru, and hiking to a waterfall, we literally stumbled across a herd of giraffes. The giraffes (about twenty of them) were about fifteen feet away and we were able to walk with the herd for about thirty minutes. It might sound corny, but the whole experience was moving, surreal, and humbling. The park was beautiful, the safari was amazing, and, the fact that I was in Africa finally started to sink in.

Well that's all for tonight. Tomorrow we'll be visiting the ICTR where we will get to observe one of the ongoing trials and meet with some of the prosecutors…I'm so excited!

Hope all is well with everyone at home and I'll try to post some pictures as soon as I get better internet access!
-Luke