Can't Help but Compare...

So I guess there's still some blogging I'm supposed to do. As much as Rwanda dominates my thoughts of our trip in Africa, we did also spend some time in Tanzania. It was probably a necessary step in the process of coming home... it was hard enough to leave Rwanda for a vacation in Tanzania, it would have been just about impossible to leave for the US.

Our time in Tanzania was pretty much one big safari, so rather than give a boring day by day account of 'we went here and saw this' on repeat I'll just give the highlights.

- The list of parks visited: Tarangeri National Park, Lake Manyara, and Ngorongoro Crater

- The list of animals seen: elephants, giraffes, zebras, lions, hippos, rhinos, wildebeests, warthogs, baboons, hyenas, impalas, a few other antelopes, and lots and lots of different birds

- The list of animals missed: leopard and (most disappointingly to me) cheetah

- We really stayed in luxury in Tanzania. The two lodges we had both provided 4 course dinners, shows of some sort for nightly entertainment, big and fancy rooms, and people to carry your luggage wherever you go. Not really what I had in mind for a trip to Africa.

- The landscape of Tanzania is pretty beautiful (although nothing close to Rwanda). I think that Disney's Lion King is inspired 100% from Tanzania. Everywhere we went made me think of the Lion King, which was a little funny I guess. The open, empty countryside was a totally different change from the population-dense Rwanda.

- The highlight of the time in Tanzania was probably watching the Champions League Final (kind of like the Super Bowl of soccer) at one of our lodges. I'm a Barcelona fan, and they won 2-0 over Manchester United. I made a few friends from Spain and maybe a little hostility from a British couple.

- The highlight of the safari was in Ngorongoro Crater, when we came across a male lion. At first he was just laying around relaxing, but after a while he got up and started to wander around. He walked right next to our jeep... dead serious, if I would have reached out the window I could have petted him. Pretty cool.

- Simba's lack of interest in the humans surrounding him also kind of illustrates a problem with the whole safari thing. Supposedly this was us seeing a lion in its 'natural environment', and yet he just walked around and through a crowd of jeeps with people leaning out to take photos and gawk at him like he didn't even know we were there. The wildlife is obviously completely accustomed to the presence of humans, which seems to not really be a 'natural environment' to me. Apparently they're discussing closing off the crater for a few years in order to remedy this, which I'll admit I can definitely understand.

Really Tanzania the country was overtouristed in my opinion. Gone were the constant stares of people at the sight of a group of muzungus; in their place were swarms of hawkers harassing us into buying necklaces or whatever souvenir every time our jeep came to a complete stop. Everywhere we drove, I could not believe the number of tourist shops that existed. Can an entire country exist where the only real source of income is tourism?

I couldn't help but compare Tanzania with Rwanda, especially since at that point in time I was pretty much dedicating every waking thought to Rwanda anyway. I have to say, the comparison didn't go too well for Tanzania. I'm sure that a major reason just had to do with our purpose in being in each country, but I also think that reflects the country itself. Tanzania is a country of tourism, and as a result our time there consisted of lots and lots of animals and luxury. Tourism is basically nonexistant in Rwanda outside of the gorillas, and as a result our time there consisted of working with people and making meaningful connections. Even though we were more detached from the daily life of Rwanda than I would have preferred, I still feel as though we really had the opportunity to see the country for what it is and learn about this wonderful place. The attachment I felt to Rwanda was obvious when we were getting ready to leave Tanzania in the airport. I had no trouble leaving Tanzania, I just couldn't believe that we weren't getting on a plane to head back to Kigali. I definitely wasn't ready yet.

I think the best way I have of summing it up is what I told our program director as we were boarding our plane, when she asked me what I thought about our vacation in Tanzania.

"I have nearly all of my souvenirs from Tanzania, but all of my memories are from Rwanda."