JAMBO! Can you guess where I am? Jambo is “Hello” in Swahili and that is the language they speak here.  I am in Tanzania, Africa to go on an animal safari.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?! I am so excited I can hardly wait to go! After a good night’s sleep we are off early in the morning to go on safari. I hope I see lots of BIG animals.

Wow, we were on Safari today and I cannot tell you how many animals we saw up close!  There were times when I was a little scared but our tour guide gave us lots of great tips and kept us safe the whole time.  I saw animals I never even knew existed. First we saw a black rhino; the black rhino is almost extinct here and they are trying to save them. We also saw a warthog. Boy are those animals ugly! They kind of look like a big pig with hair and have this really crazy looking head that has teeth in strange places on it. I was very excited to see an African elephant up close.  I always knew they were big, but they are REALLY BIG!!  We were all very excited because we were able to see a baby elephant as well.  They are so cute. Even though the babies look very small next to its parents they are still bigger than me.

During our safari we were able to meet some of the people that live in the rural areas of Tanzania. They are called the Masaii Tribe.  We learned a lot about their ways of living and the meaning of their beautiful clothing and jewelry they wear.  The Masaii have many traditions with songs and dances they shared with us.  I cannot believe how high they jump during one of their dances.  I cannot jump that high but I think I need to practice for basketball tryouts.  It is amazing how simple they live compared to all of the things we have where I live. I am not sure if I could live out in the open as they do.
During our trip I saw these beautiful trees that are native to Africa. They are called the Acacia tree and sit in the wide open range as you drive by. There does not seem to be too many of them but they are beautiful to look at with their unique shape and style.

One last stop as we were heading back to our hotel was to an art studio to view some art with a silly name. The art style is called Tinga Tinga.  It was named after the man who created the art form, Edward Saidi Tingatinga. Many of his original paintings were of wild animals. They have lots of color and are really beautiful to look at. We are going to bring one home of a giraffe.

I do not know where I am off to next, but I hope it will be as exciting as the safari was!  I can’t wait to share my next journey with you.

Photo Credits:
Black Rhinoceros - Comstock/Photos.com
Masaii People - Sara Mooney