Kenya and Tanzania…. the facts and the fiction….

The picture above is a Massai Village in the distance.  I have heard the word Massai Mara forever- since I first wanted to go to Kenya and Tanzania 20 years ago.  I had so many ideas and visions in my head about how it would be- that’s what I love about traveling- sometimes those ideas are right and sometimes, I get wrong ideas cleared up with new images in my head.   First of all- I thought the Massai people ONLY lived in the Massai Mara area- WRONG.  They are all over the place!  Ha!  Villages everywhere!  Even inside some of the parks!  I also thought (from watching all those Natl Geo shows) that it had to be hotter than hades here- SO WRONG!  It has been beautiful!!!  70’s with a beeeze!  I’m moving here!!   It is perfect!  And the weather doesn’t change much because we at close to the equator.  I also thought Tanzania was much smaller than Kenya- wrong again.  Tanzania is about 51million, while Kenya is about 40-45 million.   Now, topography- we think of pictures of them as super dry with like one Acacia tree in the distance right???  Well,  let’s try to give it to you in terms that you can relate to- Nairobi is like, hmmm- Santa Barbara.  Cool breezy, plants like Santa Barbara, including palms, bouganvia.  Amboseli- dry, like Southern Cal- like high desert, but not hot.  Now Tanzania-  Way more green,  the part we are in, in Ngorongoro- is more like Hawaii- bananas and coffee growing.  Who knew?  Almost light jungle.  Then you go up to the rim of the crater and down it, and it is thick misty jungle.  At the bottom of the crater the mist is gone and there are NO TREES.  Just grasses.  Weird!  That’s the Savannah!  And still, NOT HOT!!!  In the morning it was actually chilly!  Tomorrow we leave for Serengeti- have no idea what we are in for.  I am washing myself of previous notions.  The one that was the most true?  African people are LOVELY- gracious, caring, kind, and family oriented.  I knew that- every African person I have ever met has been so nice and friendly.    I  am afraid to wonder what they think of us when they come to America.   The next time you run into someone visiting from another country, be sure to be kind- you are a reflection of everything we are- perhaps the only one they will ever see!