You all know that I have been here before but I don’t remember anyone pronouncing it with the accent on the “Zan”. It really does sound better that way.

We were “forced” to get up very early this morning because Josh wanted to beat the lines when we were crossing into Tanzania. And beat them we did! There was absolutely no one there except us. The last time we were there we stood in line for hours.

Afterwards we climbed into new safari vehicles that we will be in for the rest of the trip. When I say new, not only new to us, but brand new with all the bells and whistles. Charging ports, led lights, GPS screen. We were told they were $100,000 each.

Prior to reaching our lodge we stopped at the African Art Gallery in Arusha. I had been there before and made a bee line for a shop that I had brought “paper” earrings from. I was very disappointed that they weren’t there but that didn’t stop me from buying in other shops.

While I was wandering around I found some men at the back of a building who were carving ebony wood into very intricate designs.

They brought out all their chisels and showed me a piece of untouched ebony wood (which is very heavy) and how they go about making it into a piece of art. They brought out all of their chisels to show me, All of the pieces they make are sold in the adjoining art gallery.

The piece above is hard to see because the artist has a black shirt on. It took three months to carve and is already sold. He told me that they get the shiny black finish on the pieces by using black shoe polish and waxes. The detail in the second picture was exquisite. The artist was sanding it with very fine sandpaper and it felt like glass. All of the completed pieces they had were sold. There was a chair that took six months to make. The manager indicated that most of the pieces that they make are special orders but they still make pieces to sell in the gallery.

Watching the detail that is put in these pieces made me question all the more”massed” produced pieces in the gift shops that everyone claims are hand carved. I asked the manager if they were resin poured into molds and then painted and waxed but he claimed that he did not understand the question.

Next on to lunch

We had a wonderful lunch but we were sitting outside and it was freezing. The waitress came around and gave us Maasai blankets. Josh went someplace so I suggested that we put them over our heads. I thought he was going to die laughing when he came back to the table.

I had been telling everyone that our next place was my favorite place to stay on the trip. All the rooms were on stilts and elephants and zebras roamed by the rooms. When we arrived a new resort had been built that was something out of the Lives of the Rich and Famous.

This place had only been open for 3 weeks. We were told that it will be exclusively used for OAT travelers until more units are build. The place that I stayed in 3 years ago is owned by the same man who is building this resort. Happy Hour was from 6-7 PM with hor’dourves and free drinks. However, the free drinks don’t end with Happy Hour. They are free all the time. I could have had free wine for breakfast. The food was fabulous and was served family style. It was the best we had so far. We told our guide that we would have been very happy to stay here for the rest of the trip.

The following day was a game drive to Tarangire National Park which is known for the herds of elephants and the baobab tree that is known as the Tree of Life. We saw lots of baobab trees but not many elephants.

For a park that is referred to as the Elephant Paradise, these are the only elephants that we saw.