the land of punda milia (striped donkeys?)

this past saturaday was the day of many zebra. (we travelled to tarangire national park, 2hrs from arusha for a daytrip into the life of a "tourist")

funny thing is, both michael and i agree that these 'striped donkeys' (as the kiswahili word literally tanslates) were not the highlight of our day (apologies to the zebra, you were all beautiful... no hard feelings...)we have two fav moments to share.

the most exciting and least likely to happen again was when a young giraffe (foal?) went running alongside our vehicle. we kept going, and so did the little guy. so, we were at exactly the same speed and i got to snap a few pics while michael managed to get a little video footage of the whole thing.
we've decided that animals in movement are one of the most beautiful things to get to see. most of the animals in these parks stand and hang out, or flee just too fast to appreciate.
so basically, we just like running with the herd... ?
(below is an adult giraffe, also caught on the run)ok, experience #2 was the elephants - and our first meeting was an extreme close-up...
not more than 10-15 feet from the vehicle, a bunch (pod?) of elephants had just finished drinking/bathing in the river and were en route to crossing the road we were on (they had stopped momentarily for a snack when we came upon them)so they then crossed right behind our vehicle (as again michael videoed)...
with a few sniffing trunks pointed in our direction, but i suppose they determined us to be harmless, and thankfully all went on in usual order.
the rest of the day, we saw elephants a few other times - always awe-inspiring.

overall, a beautiful venue
and some haunting treesplus another candid shot or two (there were so many great pics... but then if i put too many up they will start to seem repetitive...)(if you look closely, this little zebra was giving me some lip!)then we were off.
(homeward bound for all?)sunday: michael got to try out the sport of cricket for the first time - alas, i left the camera behind, so you will just have to imagine the hilarity, boredom (it is cricket after all), and beautiful views of mt. meru that were involved.

warning: this gets a little flowery

so i can't help it, i have a small obsession with flowers. it's quite simple: they're pretty, they're easy subjects as they never move and i don't have to ask their permission to photograph them - or worry that my photo-taking has somehow stolen their souls. oh, and the colours... !
plus, some of these are quite far from anything i'd ever be able to capture in the viewfinder at home. so enjoy.
the colours help to add a little life to some of the pages of this blog that were being overtaken by a foggy greenish-brown colour.
these were taken in Lushoto and area, which is about a 5 hr drive east of Arusha, in the Usambara mountains. I followed Michael there last wednesday, and although I had some of my own work to keep me busy, I also had these lovely subjects to while away the hours when he was working. we spent the weekend there too and some of these are taken while hiking through Magamba(sp?) Rainforest.more from Lushoto to come (the last pic below is actually from our yard in Arusha - shhh...).

the eensy, weensy spider... and other animalia

I have some photos of various animals we have encountered to date. Some were in Jozani Forest in Zanzibar, others we met just last weekend in Arusha National Park - the weather was a little cloudy, so the pictures aren't as sharp as i'd hoped, but they should give you some idea of what's to come hopefully (i figure i have a few more park visits ahead in which to make a few adjustments and improvements!)

From Jozani, most famously present were the red colobus monkeys, who paid little attention to us, jumping (and peeing) just feet from us... even having territorial squabbles, ignoring us entirely
And the tiny bat-spider, above (this may not be its official latin name, but it was descriptive!)
And then... our guided spotted in the mangroves a strange pair:
In Arusha National Park (where Mt. Meru is based - although it was covered by clouds all day, so no pictures there!), there were many of the usual suspects:
The shyer black and white colobus;
Lots of baboons (in troops hanging out on the road... until we rudely made them saunter off);Lots of buffalo;Giraffe and zebra;Scaredy-cat warthogs;A lone brave dikdik (teeny little antelope like creature, less than a foot long);









And, for the grand finale, slightly-suicidal or very very brave, little blue monkeys making huge leaps among the treetops (this little guy seen launching himself barely made it across this gap, falling far out of this frame to a much lower branch on the tree...) Michael has it on video - although the part where the monkey actually catches the branch is cut off and makes the end appear rather ominous for the little guy. Fear not, he scrambled away on the branch unscathed by the heart-stopping near miss.


(below is the closest Mt.Meru came to showing itself to us...)