Animal sightings and Kilimanjaro

Our trip (October 25th, 2023) to Moshi, on Mount Kilimandasher, was probably our most beautiful car trip we have ever had! Nature in Africa is indescribably beautiful. Despite the severe drought, the vegetation is constantly changing. Sometimes everything is bare, sandy and dusty. You can see dust devils moving across the fields. A few kilometers further everything is green again. Our route to Moshi took us past Tarangire National Park. We looked for a gas station. Chris looked to the right and Madlin looked to the left. Suddenly Chris shouted excitedly: "There! Have you seen the giraffe?!" and Madlin was just able to catch a glimpse as he drove past. At the next opportunity Chris turned around and we couldn't believe our luck. A giraffe stood a few meters in front of us and happily ate the leaves on the tree. Our first animal sighting 🤩! We drove on completely euphoric. However, our focus was no longer on the gas station, but we hoped to see more animals. At first we only found the gas station we were longing for. After a short stop, we drove on full of confidence and this confidence paid off. Suddenly there were zebras on the side of the road. This time too we stopped to watch the animals and take photos. Watching giraffes and zebras just eating on the side of the road were exciting moments for us. Once again we realized that we have luck on our side on this journey. For many of the things we've done over the past few months, we've been told by locals that we need luck and no matter what it was, we've always been lucky. For example, we were able to see whales in the wild, watch a turtle laying eggs on the beach, and see wild elephants in Sri Lanka.

When we arrived in Moshi, much of Kilimanjaro was covered in clouds. Since we had prepared thoroughly in advance this time, we knew that the snow-covered peak would rarely be seen. Due to its height of 5895 meters, it is often hidden by clouds. Kilimandashero consists of several mountain ranges and is one of the "Seven Summits", the highest mountains on each of the seven continents.

Here, too, we had rented a small apartment for two nights via Airbnb in advance. Before check-in we went shopping for a few things for dinner and breakfast. On the drive from the supermarket to our apartment, we could hardly believe our eyes - the cloud cover over Mount Kilimandasher had opened up and we were treated to a view of the snow-covered peak. For the third time that day we were overjoyed!

We needed yesterday (October 26th, 2023) to relax because we have covered 2200 km since the road trip began last Thursday (October 19th, 2023). Since we noticed yesterday that the rest was good for us, we spontaneously extended one night. We are really enjoying having apartments and being self-catering at the moment.

Today (October 27th, 2023) we were out by car again to explore the area and hope to see more animals. Unfortunately there were a lot of thick, gray clouds hanging over Kilimanjaro today, so we decided to change our route at short notice. We drove towards the Arusha National Park. In the distance we saw a large lake in which hundreds of flamingos were bathing. Chris parked the car and we walked towards the lake. The sight was magical!

Our road trip continues tomorrow. We drive to the Usambara Mountains.