Richard checks in from Zanzibar

Update since last – who knows when? I'm writing this from a hotel in Zanzibar where we arrived today. First time I've had internet connections since last week. This will be very short, since the time on the machine here is limited.
I think the last report was from our tour of the Snake Farm outside Arusha. That was last Monday, 9/22. After that, from Tuesday thru Friday we "worked" at the school. Here's our schedule for each day:
Breakfast at the Guest House – instant coffee, jelly, peanut butter. Driven to the school where we sat and waited for something to do. Lunch. Waited. Drove back to the Guest House. Waited for it to get late enough so we wouldn't be embarrassed about our bed times. Went to sleep. Repeat.
Saturday morning we were picked up for our safari. We drove to a very nice hotel called the Farm House.
where we stayed the night. Early the next morning we drove down into the Ngorongoro crater. We drove down with about 150 others. We saw lots of animals – almost all of them close to the road. It was hot, dusty and very rough driving.
(I took hundreds of photos. And I realized the best thing to do for anyone who wants to see what it's like, is to watch National Geographic channel. Or get a big book from the library. Or rent that great BBC show "Planet Earth." I think they spent hours watching a specific animal. I might've spent a coupla minutes.)
Highlight of that trip for me, was walking around the hotel grounds with the security guard Isayah and his four dogs. He chases away the animals that come onto the grounds at night to eat the food. Elephants come in to get the bananas. Jackals come in to get the house cats. And hyenas (of whom, lions are afraid because the hyenas eat lions. According to him. Who knew?) So he's got a great job: walking around in the dark for 12 hours carrying a wooden stick and chasing away whatever animals his dogs are barking at. I'm sure he earns top dollar for this.
Next day, we drove to Tarangire National Park. (In that article, they say it's the least visited park. OK, that could be. But just like in Yellowstone, here's how you spot the big game: look for a bunch of vehicles stopped in the road. It's one of the Big 5"; lion, rhino, leopard, buffalo, elephant.) We were 25 feet from two lions mating – along with 50 other people. Some people were yelling at other vehicles to "move off the road and give us a turn." That's a lion who knows what he wants.
We also visited Manyara Park and saw three of their famous tree-sleeping lions. No one seems to know why. (I do. They're harder to spot from the road and therefore aren't bothered as much by the traffic jams.)
We stayed at a tented camp site right near the park. The Zebras were a few feet from where we were swimming in the pool. And they told us to wear long sleeves for dinner at night and spray ourselves with bug juice so the malaria mosquitoes don't bite. Must admit, it put me off my feed a bit. (Still put the feed bag on, though.)
This morning – Tuesday - we left that camp, drove a few hours and then flew into Zanzibar. Where we are now. And a dhow just sailed past our hotel room which is right on the Indian Ocean. (Here's a dhow photo.) Tomorrow we leave for the north coast of Zanzibar. For another 3 days. Then back home.