Iringa

June 17th I meant for there to be a part two from yesterday’s blog post but as I began typing dinner arrived. Instead, I will continue today as I sit peering out at the Indian Ocean trying desperately to conceal my Farmer’s tan before returning home. When we got off the bus at 10:30 on Friday morning in Iringa, our driver for the safari was waiting for us. He loaded the car with our bags and we began the journey into Ruaha National Park. Sam, the man from England paying for this trip, and I were quite excited but we still had about two hours of driving before actually entering the park. On day 1 (Friday the 8th) we were pleased with all our sightings. The day started off with a cheetah sighting. The male was sitting in the shade of the tree until our car pulled up. When he heard the engine of the car he started to walk around and show us his territory. He basically walked over to a tree and left his mark in a few spots. Later in the day we came across a group of six lions eating a giraffe. In the bush surrounding this feast were another six and as we were leaving we spotted more further in the bush. In total we believe there were about twenty lions either eating or resting after eating the giraffe. The giraffe had died the previous day so we were unfortunate not to see the hunt but it was still exciting to see that many lions in one place. I wouldn’t say I was as excited about the horrific stench of the day old giraffe. We saw various other animals throughout the park such as hippos, giraffes (alive ones), elephants, and zebras but none were as impressive as the cheetah and lions. On day two, Saturday the 9th, we woke up rather early in the morning for a morning drive. On the morning drive I spotted a male lion in the bush. When we stopped the car to get a better look we found that it was a male and female lion sitting together. For fifteen minutes we stopped and waited and sure enough they started to mate. The female didn’t really do much but remain lying in the bush while the male took charge of the situation. The female is pretty docile throughout the minute long ordeal and the male looks to almost bite her head off towards the end. One of the many times I have been here wishing I had a camcorder. We sat and watched for about a half an hour. Supposedly (I don’t trust the intelligence level of our guide) lions mate for two or three days. They roam around together and mate for about a minute or two and then rest for 15 to 30 minutes in between. We also saw a family of elephants digging through a dried up riverbed looking for water. Before departing back to Iringa we returned to see the dead giraffe. The stench was worse and there were new lions that joined the feast. I was hoping the lions had left and the hyenas were picking over the leftovers but not yet (our guide told us the hyenas probably would be there). Around 1:30 we left the park for good and headed into the town of Iringa. Since the day was still young, Sam and I wandered around the streets a bit and I finally tasted ice cream! Iringa makes fresh ice cream so it was probably the best place to start up the eating again. It was so delightful that I sampled ice cream from multiple restaurants/shops throughout my stay in Iringa. Early Sunday morning Sam left. During breakfast I met a couple from New Hampshire who are Lutherans. They teach business and law classes at Tumaini University in Iringa. They come to Tanzania for a few months every other year to teach some courses. During one visit they met a gentleman from the Saint Paul Synod in Minnesota. That synod has partnerships with Lutheran Churches in Iringa. On Sunday, Dot and her husband Kurt along with two of their friends and a fellow coworker and I drove to their partnership church in the bush of Tanzania. There are about a dozen churches that take part in this partnership and each of these American churches has their own Tanzanian church to financially and spiritually support. It was a very interesting and different service than what I experienced this year. There was definitely more liturgy than I expected. I expected the service to be like that at Kafule but I am now beginning to realize the true difference between Moravian and Lutherans. The service was heavily based on the liturgy and there wasn’t much singing and dancing. When we got up to greet and I was the only one that didn’t need a translator the congregation was most pleased and wanted me to return the following Sunday. After the service many people gathered around asking me questions and wanting their photo taken. At the end of the day we returned to the hotel around 4 and I did some Internet checking before having dinner with my new friends. When I finally left Iringa on Tuesday morning I left with a new group of friends who may be very helpful in my future job hunting. A friend of Kurt’s is an actuary job hunter… we exchanged e-mails. On Monday I spent the day relaxing and figuring out my next move. After much debate and uncertainty I decided to head to Dar on Tuesday, leave my bags at a hotel, and head to the island of Pemba on Wednesday morning. I called around and found that there was indeed a ferry traveling to Pemba on Saturday. After two days of travel and a lot of money spent on taxi rides I finally made it to Pemba where I am spending much more time and money than I imagined prior to my departure. Check out part two! Love, Gretchen