www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeLp2qr2iCg

Non-stopping actions make story being ignored.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Jeeps for the safari tour waiting for the guests at Ilboru Safari Lodge, Arusha

The perimeter of Arusha National Park is only several miles to Arusha, but its main gate is about 40 miles away from the city. Although the size is small, the park has diversified geographical features, including Mt. Meru, Merella lake, forest and grassland over the Ngurdoto Crater. About an hour later, we parked our car at the entrance. While Justin was checking in at the office, we saw several giraffes walking in a bush about 200 feet from us. It’s our first wild life encounter in Africa, understandably we were quite excited.

Giraffes at the entrance of Arusha National Park.

The entrance gate leads into shadowy forest. We started seeing more animals, including groups of Zebras and Buffaloes.

Game drive at Arusha National Park.

A group of Zebras, Arusha National Park.

We stopped at a ranger station near Tululusia Hill. One good thing about Arusha National Park is that, while visitors are not allow to leave their cars, they can hike in Arusha National Park, accompanied by rangers with shotguns. Justin introduced us to one ranger, bigger group will have more rangers to walk with them. The rangers are guides at the same time. They are quite knowledgeable about plants and animals in the park.

The Whistling Thorn tree. This is Giraffes’ favorite food. Although the thorns are long and sharp, Giraffes prefer the leaves over grass, partly because they have to put their heads way down to get to the grass, which makes them more vulnerable to attacks.

We walked along a dried creek into the Buffalo Glade, a open area surrounded by forest. A group of Buffaloes were at the edge of the woods. As we walk towards them, the ranger kept reminding us not to get to close, not to stare at them for too long. He said there were two times in the past that he had to warn then fire at buffaloes when the visitors entered the flight zone and the buffaloes started charging.

Buffaloes at Arusha National Park. It seemed we already got their attentions.

Leaving Buffaloes behind, we kept walking across the glade. At the other end of the grass, we met three persons just climbing down from the mountain. One visitor had only a pro-camera in his hand and the other two locals carried other equipment and camping stuff for him. This is a typical format of hiking tours in Tanzania and Kenya. In some programs, such as climbing Kilimanjaro, the tourists might be accompanied by even more locals.

Buffalo Glade, Arusha National Park.

A Zebra skeleton at Buffalo Glade, Arusha National Park.

We entered the shade area of Tululusia Hill. A walk on the rocky trail rewarded us with something quite unexpected, a 28-meter water fall.

Rangers at Momella-Tululusia Waterfall, Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

Momella-Tululusia Waterfall and roots of a fig tree, Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

We turned back and walked along the foot of the hill. In the middle of the woods, we saw a Giraffe under the Acacia Tree eating leaves, calm and elegant. My wife happily had a picture with the Giraffe.

A Giraffe under the Acacia Tree, Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

Bushpigs at Buffalo Glade, Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

A fig tree, Arusha National Park, Tanzania.

We walked for about 2 hours and returned to the ranger station at 1:30pm. Justin and us sit down in an open hut to have our lunch. What’s in the lunch box are almost same every day and same for all different tour groups. It normally contains a fried chicken leg, a piece of bread, an apple, a bottle drink and some bagged peanuts. Every morning, the camping sites prepare the lunch box and give them to the guide. They can’t be too fresh, but the chicken was always tasty.

It started running as we were having the lunch. Lucky that we didn’t try to climb the hill, which is normally part of the program. We resumed our game drive to the east in the rain after lunch. Some animals were using bushes to shelter from the rain.

A male Waterbuck standing in the rain, Arusha National Park, Tanzania

A Bushbuck found shelter under the Whistling Thorn tree, Arusha National Park.

The rain stopped as we were approaching Momella Lakes. This is a group of lakes that are fed by underground water. Different mineral not only give lakes different colors but also support many types of waterfowls. The most attractive ones among them are certainly flamingos. They gathered along the lake as if to embroider the lake with the pink border.

Greater Flamingo. The clear distinction to Lesser Flamingo is the Greater Flamingo’s bill is mostly pink. Arusha National Park.

Flamingos at Small Momella Lake, Arusha National Park.

We circled around the Big Momellaaa Lakes. At its north side, hundreds of Lesser Flamingo standing in the still water. I reduced the exposure time to darken the water in the hope of creating an abstract theme. To me, the image of Africa safari has always been endless savanna, vast, wild and sometimes brutal. These tranquil lakes with flamingos revealed a peaceful and soft side that we didn’t expect.

Big Momella Lake, Arusha National Park.

Lesser Flamingo – their bills are in dark color. Arusha National Park.

Collared Sunbird, Arusha National Park.

Arusha National Park is located in between Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro. On our way back, we first stopped at a vista point that can view both of these two mountains. Only 40 miles from Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341 ft), Mt. Meru (4,977 ft) is the second highest mountain in Tanzania, and a dormant volcano dominating the park and the city. In the eruption about 8000 years ago, Mt. Meru lost much of its bulk on the east side and created the dramatic terrain of Arusha National Park. The hollow center couldn’t support the huge body, several collapse ensued. In a clear day, one can see Mt. Kilimanjaro from Mt. Meru. Unlucky to us, the Kibo Summit of Kilimanjaro was blocked by the cloud.

Mt. Meru, Arusha National Park.

Panorama of Arusha National Park. Mt. Meru is on the left. On the right, we could only see the northwest slope of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

An African Hawk Eagle, Arusha National Park.

We made a brief stop at an one-room museum near the park’s gate. Moving furthur, we encountered a troop of Baboon walking directly towards us. They are large size old world monkeys that can be commonly found in Africa. At one point, we also saw a Colubus Monkey on the tree, but I didn’t have a good shot of it.

Baboons at Arusha National Park

The map of Arusha National Park

We left the park at about 3:30pm. We saw several coffee plantations along the way. Coffee is Tanzania’s largest export crop. These plantations still employ the traditional shade-grown cultivation, in contrast to sun cultivation, which yield more coffee. Shade-grown coffee is considered superior in quality and causes less environmental issues, thus, more “organic”.

A coffee plantation near Arusha, Tanzania

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ3Mt9yiz6k

Great visual arts. The movie would be greater if half of dialogues were cut off.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jQq6BiT-eI

A lot of assumptions have to be accepted before the plot starts making sense.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Our trip started at Arusha, which is served by Kilimanjaro International Airport for international travelers. KLM is the only major airline offers direct flight to the airport. It was our longest connecting flights so far. We had totally 21 hours in the air. Layover time was shorter than our other trips, but we were lucky that there was no major delay and we arrived at JRO at 9pm local time on Dec. 23rd.

We met our guide, Justin, at the airport. He has a tall and strong figure and looks very humble. He will be our only guide and driver for the next 9 days. From the Airport to Arusha, the road was mildly uphill most of time, Our car was particularly slow. This 35-mile took us almost one and half hours. After we entered the town, the car turned off the main street to a very rough dirt road. We were tossed up and down for another 10 minutes. As we started wondering what this seemingly endless bumpy road would lead us to, we arrived at our destination, Ilboru Safari Lodge.

We had a room in round shape, probably modeled after the Maasai huts. It soon started raining. There were some small issues with the room, such as the shower and power outlet, but the room was spacious and comfortable. Although it’s already dark when we checked in, I could feel that we were surrounded by lush plants. The next morning, I had a chance to walk around the garden.

Our room in Ilboru Safari Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

Garden and pool in Ilboru Safari Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

Front yard of Ilboru Safari Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

The breakfast, Ilboru Safari Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

Arush is the capital city of the Arusha Region of Tanzania. We didn’t have opportunity to spend time in the city, but merely passing through the city center several times on our car. Although the city is a political hub for Eastern African international issues, Arusha remains a small and rural town. However, it doesn’t mean it’s not vital – a lot of people on the streets and the roads are jammed by cars during rush hours, especially the only one road coming in and out of the town. Compared to the busy town outside, the lodge is like an oasis.

After coming back from Arush National Park on our first day, the owner of our tour company, Achmed, came to visit us. He helped us setup the tour in very short time and was very responsive to all our questions. He is a British man who is also half German and have lived in Tanzania for more than 20 years. We had a beer in the lodge’s German Beer Garden. Achmed went over our itinerary and noted special features of each park. He also stressed that if we wanted to go to the toilet while in safari, just go to the back of the jeep, instead of hiding behind the bush. Still recovering from the time difference, we could barely keep our eyes open lately. There is one thing I still remember – the reason he prefers living in Tanzania, given the government corruptions and lower living conditions, is because “there is no puppet law in this country”.

At the dinner, the waitress obviously forgot that we didn’t have the dinner the previous night because we came too late, but we managed to get their local Swahili cuisine that only offers to the guests on their first night. The dinner came in as small dishes, including Machalari, Ugali (maize flour paste), Sukuma Wiki, beef stew and barbecue plates. The food were quite salty, some of them had tastes of Indian dishes.

Small Swahili dishes at dinner, Ilboru Safari Lodge, Arusha, Tanzania

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDw7OqVBT-w

Nice story telling.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

A fun reading, but I think the last equation doesn’t deserve the place in historical sense.

George Parks Highway, Alaska

We reached Nenana at the noon time. This is a small town 55 miles south of Fairbanks, at the juncture of the Nenana River and the Tanana River. The discovery of gold in Fairbanks brought prosperity and train access to the town, but it had no road access to Fairbanks until the bridge was constructed in 1968. The completion of George Parks Highway in 1971 gave the town a direct route to Anchorage. We made a brief stop at the railway station and a gift shop in the town.

Mears Memorial Bridge over the Tanana River, Nenana, Alaska

Nenana, Alaska

it’s been cloudy all the way since we left Fairbanks. At about 1:30pm, we entered Denali National Park and Preserve area. Only 1 mile north to the park’s entrance, overlooking the Nenana River, there is a large area full of lodging and restaurant options. It has maybe the only traffic light in the whole stretch of the George Parks Highway. We took a quick stop and decided to see the park first before going to our lodge.

Nenana river, between Healy and the entrance of Denali National Park, Alaska

We picked up our tour ticket for the next day at the Wilderness Access Center and stopped by the Denali Visitor Center. They are located at the beginning of the Park Road. The first 15 miles of the Park Road is open to private vehicles. We came to Alaska in late tourism season in September, which sees more rains, but also offers unbeatable view of fall colors and tundra field. A couple of miles into the park, we found ourselves surrounded by the seemingly endless red and purple sea of tundra. Tundra is dwarfed shrubs adapted to the short growing season. They blossom in August and turned to brilliant colors in the fall.

Tundra panorama in Denali National Park dotted by spruces, Alaska

Fall color of Denali National Park, Alaska

Fall color of Denali National Park, Alaska

It’s a good decision to see the park first. It started raining at the time we turned back at about the 12 mile mark. Our lodge, McKinley Village Lodge, is 7 miles south of the park entrance. It’s a large facility with multiple buildings. The lobby was warm and cozy. The lodge was built along the Nenana river bank. One of our rooms got the river view.

The section of Nenana River where McKinley Village Lodge is located, Alaska

Our Denali National Park bus tour started at 7:30am the next day. We waited at the Wilderness Access Center half an hour before the shuttle bus came to pick us up. We chose the tour that reaches Eielson Visitor Center that is located at Mile 66 of the park road. The round-trip time is about 8 hours. It’s a good duration considering that we had to keep some strength to drive back to Anchorage at the night. The furthest point that the shuttle bus can take you is Kantishna at Mile 92, but most visitors who are willing to go that far probably camp at Wonder Lake at Mile 85.

The sighting is generally better if you sit on the left side of the bus, which offers more open views of the river and the valley on the way going into the park. It’s also more “scarier” when the bus runs on the cliff at some section of the road. On the way back, you would most likely fall asleep anyway. Our guide was funny. He almost keep talking all the way without stop. The tour is somewhat disappointing mainly because of the weather. We had a grey day and animals were rare. We didn’t see Mt. McKinley at the Eielson Visitor Center because of the cloud. (The rangers also kept us inside because some bears were around.)

Tundra in wonderful display as we just passed the check point where private vehicles have to turn back, Denali National Park, Alaska

The park offers hiking options in the total wilderness, Denali National Park, Alaska

At Stony Hill Overlook where we should supposedly see Mt. McKinley in a clear day, Denali National Park, Alaska

Only tundra no taiga near Eielson Visitor Center, Denali National Park, Alaska

A bear with hear two cubs, Denali National Park, Alaska

A Bull Moose near the entrance of Denali National Park, Alaska

We returned to the Wilderness Access Center a little before 4:00pm. We left the park immediately – we had 240 miles to drive to get to Anchorage. The rain stopped and started. It’s raining very hard near Wasilla. Somehow we managed to beat the time to step into the VIP Korean restaurant that we liked so much before its close. (We ordered the food while driving as we were approaching Anchorage).

We had some time to stop by the University of Alaska Anchorage in the next day morning, before we took the flight heading home at noon.

We came to Fairbanks with very little expectation to see Aurora – the northern lights. The auroral activity was only 1 or 2 for the two nights that we were there. Because Fairbanks is in the central of Tanana Valley, the sky is often cloudy in the night. It’s said that the chance is better if you drive north away from the city and up to the mountains. Some lodges there also offer the Aurora Viewing programs with hefty price. As I knew the chance was very low in September, other than opening the window to watch the sky from time to time, we didn’t do anything.

In the morning, we first went to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline visitor center, which is located only 10 miles north of Fairbanks. The pipeline is one of the largest projects of its kind. Although controversial, it’s truly a man-made wonder and solved many difficulties to deal with permafrost and earthquake faults to being financially and environmentally feasible.

Trans-Alaska Pipeline visitor center, Fairbanks, Alaska

We then went to see the Georgeson Botanical Garden. It’s a lovely garden with many species, which is specially challenging consider Fairbanks’ northern environment. The garden is within University of Alaska Fairbanks’ campus and serves as the field ground to study subarctic horticulture.

Huge cabbage in Georgeson Botanical Garden, Fairbanks, Alaska

Different species of wheat in Georgeson Botanical Garden, Fairbanks, Alaska

Berries of Alaska, Georgeson Botanical Garden, Fairbanks, Alaska

We drove back to the main campus of University of Alaska Fairbanks and walked around the Museum of North.

University of Alaska at Fairbanks’ campus, Alaska

University of Alaska Museum of the North, Fairbanks, Alaska

There are not many choices for restaurants in Fairbanks, but a Japanese Restaurant with a very plain appearance named Ajimi is one of the best.

Our first stop in the afternoon is Morris Thompson Cultural & Visitors Center located in the downtown. There were some informative displays and video here. It’s a good free “museum” to spend a hour or so. After that, we went to the Pioneer Park. It’s a park that was built to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the purchase of Alaska from Russia. Later, some old cabins were moved to the place and it has became a historic park that mimics a gold-rush town and demonstrates living environments of the early settlers.

Pioneer Park, Fairbanks, Alaska

Pioneer Park, Fairbanks, Alaska

Pioneer Park, Fairbanks, Alaska