Sept. 17. 2019: Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania
Marilyn Jones visits the scene of a huge volcanic explosion millenia ago, and finds the area rich in wildlife and beauty.
Tanzania
July 16, 2019: Manyara National Park, Tanzania
Marilyn Jones finds quite a variety of wildlife on her tour of this Tanzanian park.
Tanzania 'Clean Cookstove' project: hope and health
Marilyn Jones visits a Tanzanian village, where social and technical changes are making a big difference for local people.
July 2, 2019: Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
Marilyn Jones has a chance to observe maternal protective behavior in the wild.
China's ivory ban: hope for African elephants
Elephants in Tanzania's Ruaha national wildlife park. Photo: Anna Rydin / Wikimedia China has pledged to phase out manufacture and sale of products made of ivory, which is good news for the endangered African elephants,...
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, March 23, 2015: Dawn at Sheffield Camp, Mt. Kilimanjaro
One of the most memorable mornings I've ever experienced was at Sheffield camp on the Shira route of Mt. Kilimanjaro. When the sun set the night before, we were on a dry desert plateau around 15,000 ft above sea level. When we awoke...
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, July 29, 2014. Shira Plateau, Tanzania
Mt. Kilimanjaro was formed by fusion of three extinct volcanoes (Kibo — 19340′; Mawenzi –16896′; and Shira -- 13000'). There are several routes to Mt. Kilimanjaro's summit most of which are very steep, but get you...
Gumbo's Pic of the Day, November 4, 2013: Sunset and Sunrise, Western Icefields, Mt. Kilimanjaro
I enjoy watching sunsets and sunrises whenever I can, mostly because of their beautiful light. This particular sunset (above) was partially blocked by a thick convoluted mass of clouds below us, but the diffused and changing light were...
Gumbo's Pic of the Day. September 16, 2013: Flamingos, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania
This photo was taken just at the crack of dawn in Serengeti National Park. We were already on safari, looking for wildlife, when we came upon this soda (alkaline) lake. A group of flamingos was slowing wading through the water looking for...
A Trek to Mount Kilimanjaro: 3) Summit and Descent
(Western Icefields, viewed from near the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro) We had spent the past week slowly working our way up the slopes of Kilimanjaro via the Shira route, an experience I’ve previously described in blog posts here. ...
A Trek to Mount Kilimanjaro: 2) Ice and Snow
(Fresh snow at sunrise, Sheffield Camp) We had ascended the western base of the volcano this past half week, had hiked through jungle and moorland, as I’ve described in a prior blog post here, and were now entering Kilimanjaro’s...
A Trek to Mount Kilimanjaro: 1) Ascent to Shira
(Summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, viewed from the Shira plateau) Mt. Kilimanjaro has fascinated me ever since I read Ernest Hemingway’s classic novella, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro“. Little did I know as a schoolboy that I would...
Perspectives on East Africa: 3) Lake Manyara National Park
(Lake Manyara, viewed from the Serena Lodge, Tanzania) The last safari destination we visited in Tanzania was Lake Manyara National Park. We left our camp after breakfast and drove the Ngorongoro Crater Rim Drive through...
Perspectives on East Africa: 2) A visit to "Noah's Ark", the Ngorongoro Crater
(Wildebeest on a misty morning, from the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania) In all my travels, visiting the Ngorongoro Crater remains one of my most precious experiences. The setting of this collapsed volcanic crater, its many...
Perspectives on East Africa: 1) Serengeti National Park. “The place where the land moves on forever”
(Lioness, Serengeti National Park) It takes a l-o-o-o-ong time to fly from the western USA to Tanzania, at the limits of my travel endurance really. But I’m about to head out on one of my greatest adventures, a week’s wilderness...