6.18.2021
[submitted by Lane]
Hi family and friends,
After a 10 hour bus ride across Tanzania, we spent the night in an inexpensive 15th floor suite ($47) overlooking Dar es Salaam and the Indian Ocean.
Today we take a ferry to the Island of Zanzibar and a remote beach resort for more adventure.
Since leaving the safari, we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants, taking one step at a time.
Here’s a small reminiscence of safari days…
Hippo Hilarity
Watching Carolyn get excited, point, laugh and almost jump up and down was as much fun as watching the huge hunks of hippos themselves. They take a deep breath and then sink into the water for 20 minutes to keep cool. But their tails twitch every minute or two to swish a little water onto their exposed backs. And now and then one will twirl their ears, give a gargantuan yawn or roll on their side, showing their pretty pink underbelly. As a side note, they purposefully poop in their ponds to create a “soup” in which to spend their leisure time. Carolyn could never get enough hippo time and watched longingly with the binoculars as we drove away.
These following numbers were accumulated a few at a time during long, bumpy drives over dirt roads in the Serengeti. Many sightings had unique stories to tell. The larger numbers came thousands at a time and were sometimes overwhelming.
We love you and think of you often.
I’ve imagine a get together with videos, slides and stories but Carolyn says we would just bore you to tears.
See you in a week — or later in some cases.
Dad & Mom
6.16.2021
Hello 👋🏻
From Tiffany, ClimbKili employee, you’ve seen some of our pics and a day by day account of the safari that might have been. Actually we met with our guide the day we arrived and soon had shuffled the 5-day itinerary, adjusted for road conditions, and added 3 days.
You should know that Hakuna Matata is real here! Warthogs are ‘pumbas’ and a dozen ‘simbas’ rest on ‘pride rock’. “No worries” is repeated often.
The wilderness is thrilling, discovering wild things large and small. Quickly learning that lions can be hidden in 2 feet of grass, that leopards drag their kill by their teeth up into acacia trees, that zebras & wildebeests make a great defensive team - the 🦓 have heightened hearing, the wildebeest have better eyesight.
I actually watched a male lion, a herd of wildebeest, a family of cheetahs, zebras and elephants cross behind our safari jeep at various times over the course of 6 days. So, I hesitated to go behind our vehicle, in fact, we are warned to stay in the jeep. But when faced with 3 more hours in the Serengeti before returning to camp, you can bet I did ‘go’ behind the jeep. 
We opted to sidestep the Maasai and instead visited the Click and Datoga tribes, 2 of the 125 remaining tribes in Tanzania. For example, our guide/driver is born of parents from tribes. He is university educated, speaks Swahili, English, Spanish and several dialects.
Click people
This beautiful tribe has self-isolated. They don’t know the earth is round, men have walked on the moon or that humans are inside the big metal birds. Most shockingly is the fact that they openly reject running water, sanitation, education, improved nutrition and any efforts to become civilized. We hunted with 5 of them. With bows and arrows they brought down 3 sparrows, killing 2 of them by biting their heads or smashing them on the ground. We watched them pluck off feathers, roast in coals and eat them.
They remind me of the Lost Boys in Neverland. Astonishing! The absurdity of their lifestyle is all the more unbelievable due to the fact that they live 3 miles from a modern town.
Datoga people
This tribe farms, trades, and are accomplished blacksmiths. Practicing polygamists. One toddler tried running away with us.
We finished up by taking a village walking tour before returning to Arusha, our starting point. 
Our trip is 1/2 way through. Today we take a 12 hr bus ride to Dar es Salaam, a city of 6 million and former capital. Then we finish with 5 days on the Island of Zanzibar.
We’ll be home soon. Please let us hear how you are doing.
Love, Momma C & Dad Lane (G&G Howell)
Sent from my iPhone
6.6.2021
Hello precious peeps,
As you browse this email you’ll understand why I could not choose only 1 photo.4 beautiful G’daughters performed with excellence during their recent dance concert. (Callie knows these girls love pineapple so she started a new tradition…funny & fun!) Pictured L to R Sophie, Sadie, Raylie, Chloe
3 handsome G’sons all graduated at the same time on the same day - June 2nd. Congrats to each one! Keep moving forward and keep making us proud of you.
Pictured L to R Josh, David, Matthew
Lastly, I got my 10K steps today between the SLC & JFK airports. AND it's already Sunday here. We board our next flight in 10 minutes.
Signing off. I’m hustling to make the flight.
Important dates;
June 7 ~ Erin is 36
June 7 ~ Steph is 45
June 7 ~ Jon is 54
June 10 ~ Sophie is 7
June 11 ~ Sarah is 24
We’ll be traveling in Tanzania, East Africa until June 24th. You might receive an update or two this week from our safari guide.
We love you forever,
Momma C & Dad Lane (G&G Howell)
Sent from my iPhone
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