an outfit called Itaka Safaris. They picked us up in Arusha, as we flew from Amsterdam to Kilamanjaro (the Arusha-area airport). We hit 3 national parks in 5 days: Lake Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater. It was awesome, we saw tons of amazing animals. We also went to Olduwai Gorge, where the oldest humanoid skeletons have been found, including Lucy and other Australopithecines. One night we stayed in a hotel right in the middle of the Serengeti — after dark they had armed guards escort tourists around the hotel grounds, so we wouldn’t be eaten by leopards.

On the last day we visited a tribe of stone-age Bushmen who migrated from Southern Africa ~10,000 yrs ago and live as hunters and gatherers. Genetically, linguistically, and culturally they are completely distinct from the Bantu people who dominate Tanzania and the Nilotic peoples who are also in the area. We participated in a hunt and ate some liver and heart from their prey.

From there we returned to Arusha and flew to the capital, Dar Es Salaam. We spent a couple of days there at my cousin’s house, went to some white-sand beaches on islands just offshore, to a museum, and to the market and old slave market. We also flew to Zanzibar and spent a day there, visiting the old town, more beaches, the house where Freddie Mercury was born, and a colony of giant tortoises.