4 Days in Iceland

Iceland, July 26–29

Elf house

Summer in Iceland and the UK is so much better than summer in Texas. I packed up and left 110 degrees at the end of July and flew to Reykjavik, Iceland, where the high temperatures were predicted to be in the 50s. The boyfriend and I were going to his cousin’s wedding in England in August, so we tacked on an extra week to visit Iceland and Scotland first. Our Iceland plan included one day in Reykjavik, one day driving the Golden Circle with a night in Reykholt, one day between Vik and Reykholt, and one last day back in Reykjavik. Initially I wanted more time to see all of Iceland but in hindsight I think four days is just right. I feel guilty saying this, but I started to get bored in Iceland.

Day 1

We landed in Reykjavik at 6:30 on Thursday morning, both of us groggy and not well rested from the flight but determined to get adjusted to local time. We booked a rental car in advance, so we picked it up and drove the 45 minutes from the airport into town. (Unlike our previous trip to Cuba where we didn’t/couldn’t book much in advance, we HAD to book everything in advance for Iceland or we would have had nowhere to stay and no rental car.) Andrew had picked Braud and Co, a bakery with a cool mural in downtown, for us to have breakfast.

Braud and Co

The smell of fresh-baked bread in the crisp air was amazing and the pastries and coffee didn’t disappoint. After a quick bite and walk around a few compact downtown blocks, we jumped back in the car and drove an hour and a half to Glymur, a spot not near anything (because it’s Iceland). There were already a few cars parked at the trailhead but nothing crazy. We started on a beautiful hike, an hour out and an hour back with nice climbs, to see a stunning waterfall. We had to cross a river about 30 minutes into the hike, and the first half of it had nothing but a wire to hold onto.

Andrew

We just walked ankle/calf-deep into the rapids and carefully picked our way across slippery rocks until we got to the slippery log to finish the crossing. Exhilarating but freezing. By the time we got back to the river on our return, there were many more people on the trail and the crossing had a wait time.

Glymfur falls

We drove back into Reykjavik, stopped at a grocery store for some essentials (including skyr, the famous Icelandic yogurt that was going to be our breakfast tomorrow), and found our Airbnb just in time for check-in. We had a cute little studio in the back of someone’s main house. It was quiet and private with a little table outside in the yard. We cleaned up, took a tiny nap, and then got up for a cocktail at home before heading into downtown Reykjavik (we bought booze at the airport duty free based on a recommendation from a blog). We wandered the quiet, cute streets lined with simple, painted houses with nice gardens in the front. Reykjavik is a small city and it only took about ten minutes to get to the city center. Andrew had researched in advance and found a dive bar he wanted to check out, Micro Bar.

We stopped by for a beer flight and then kept walking to the restaurant I researched in advance, Grillmarkadurinn. We had to circle the block because we missed it the first time. It was tucked back behind the main row of shops and restaurants in a little courtyard. We didn’t have a reservation but they were able to seat us at the bar. The food was amazing (I had a trio of fish and Andrew had a single fish dish and we shared a side of roasted veggies), and I’d highly recommend anyone wanting a splurge dinner to go there.

My dinner

It was $180 for the two of us, with drinks, which is crazy by my normal standards but is pretty standard for a nice dinner in Reykjavik. You’ve heard it before, but I have to write it: everything in Iceland is expensive.

Clean plates at Grillmarkadurinn

We stopped at a cute café on the walk back for a nightcap but made it home and in bed at a decent hour. Our long day on a non-restful night meant we both knocked out pretty fast. It was still light outside (it’s light almost all night in the summer) but that didn’t keep us up. Unfortunately, the time change caught up to us both at 4:30 am and we were tossing and turning the rest of the morning.

Day 2

Pingvellir

We were up at 8:30 that morning and had our skyr for breakfast in the studio before hitting the road. (Our Airbnb host actually stocked the mini-fridge with skyr for us, but we decided to eat the ones we bought at the store.) We stopped at a gas station for surprisingly delicious coffee (with flavored syrups to choose from) and slowly made our way through the Golden Circle that day. The circle includes three stops at the most iconic Iceland tourist sights: Pingvellir, Geysir, and Gullfoss. Pingvellir is the site of Iceland’s first parliament (Alpingi, which first met in 930 AD) and where two tectonic plates meet (North American and Eurasian). Walking through the valley, we were literally crossing between the two plates. It’s also the site of the most expensive gift shop along the circle, where I made the mistake of shopping. Wait until you get to Gullfoss, where the exact same items are half the cost.

Geysir

Gullfoss

Next up was Geysir, an area of many hot springs and geysers. Geysir itself is one of the many geysers and the namesake of all other geysers, but it’s not active anymore. There’s another one in the area that goes off every 10 minutes, so we saw it and walked around the rest of the area before heading to Gullfoss, a giant, awesome waterfall. Pro tip: Don’t try to park in the lot down the hill (where the signs tell you to turn right), but instead stay on the main road to find a much larger parking lot (with the less expensive gift shop). After walking as close to the falls as we could get and me bugging Andrew to take a million photos because I forgot my phone in the car, we headed out. We were pretty close to our Airbnb but it was too early to check in, so we stopped at a café called Vid Faxa on the way. It was tucked away from the main tourist route so we were the only people there, but it had its own lovely waterfall. Andrew got a beer, I got a glass of wine, and we enjoyed the view and amazing weather without the hordes of tourists. A bride and groom drove up and started having wedding photos taken in front of the falls. Very picturesque.

Vid Faxa

After killing enough time in paradise, we headed to our Airbnb for the night, an actual B&B in the little town of Reykholt. We went in the White House Inn and saw our key waiting for us on the front table. The hotel owners were our running errands, so we went up to our room. We somehow scored the best room in the place, with its own huge bathroom across the hall and a private balcony off the bedroom.

White House

The inn had a patio downstairs with some lounge chairs, so Andrew and I decided to open a bottle of airport wine and read our books for a couple hours (one of my favorite vacation activities). It was sunny and warm, perfectly relaxing. When the owners showed up (a married couple with two kids), they chastised us and another couple staying there for parking so terribly and then offered a ton of suggestions for us. They said the weather was the best they’d had all summer, so we had to go out and do something. No staying in allowed. Unfortunately, doing pretty much anything in Iceland means driving, and Andrew and I had made our way through a significant amount of that wine, so we settled for walking through the little town to a recommended spot for dinner, Mika’s. It was a beautiful walk through rolling green hills and past greenhouses growing all sorts of summer veggies. The myth is that food in Iceland is so expensive because they have to import everything, but I don’t think that’s actually true. I read that most meat and fish is local, and they harness their ample geothermal energy sources to heat greenhouses and grown produce year-round.

Elf house

We made it the restaurant and saw people eating at tables in the backyard. I wanted to be there, but alas, no reservations again so we sat inside. My seafood pasta was generous but it couldn’t compete with Grillmarkadurinn. After a leisurely meal we slowly walked back to the Inn. I dragged Andrew off course so I could talk to some horses grazing in a field. Our plan was to go back on the patio and keep reading, chatting, and drinking when we got back, but the host family was having a cookout with friends and Andrew wasn’t comfortable crashing their party. It was still pretty early, though, and there wasn’t anything else to do. Looking back, this is when my Iceland boredom started to set in. It was still light outside and I wanted to do something…but we couldn’t drive anywhere and there was nothing to walk to. Andrew finally convinced me to read in bed and get a good night’s sleep.

Day 3

Skogafoss

The White House provided a full breakfast in the morning, and we were the first guests downstairs. There was coffee and tea, eggs, meat, cheese, pastries, toast, and skyr. We settled into our feast and the other guests trickled in. There was a Finnish couple, a Japanese and French couple, a Spanish couple, and two Austrian friends. We swapped Iceland stories and photos and listened to the Spanish couple describe spending ten days driving around the whole island, my original hope for our trip. They weren’t really selling it…. It sounded like more of the boredom I started experiencing the previous night. After breakfast we said goodbye to our fellow travelers and lovely hostess and headed to Skogafoss, a waterfall about an hour and a half away.

It started raining but we weren’t deterred. Neither were the droves of other tourists at Skogafoss. The waterfall was towering and impressive. There were hundreds of stairs on the side of the falls, so we got in line and climbed to the top to see the amazing view down the falls. 

Top of Skogafoss

There’s a 14-mile hiking trail leading away at the top of the falls, and this was supposed to be our big hike of the trip. We were going to go as far as we felt (the plan was about three hours out before turning around) and see dozens of other waterfalls along the trail, but unfortunately the rain ruined that. The trail is a grooved dirt path running up and down through the hills and the rain had turned it into a mudslide. We gave it our best shot, going almost an hour out, but when I had to butt-slide down a steep muddy hill, we decided it was time to turn back. I only fell once and butt-slid one more time and there were no injuries, so I’m calling it a success. And despite the rain, it was a gorgeous hike. The hills were an unbelievably vibrant green and we passed grazing sheep. The dark sky against the bright grass and the many waterfalls was dramatic and beautiful.

We made it to the shelter of the rental car and muddied it up with our shoes (and my butt). The rain was coming down hard but we stopped at the fish-and-chips food truck in the parking lot for lunch anyway. It’s a legend on the Iceland travel blogs so we wanted to check it out. I was happy that they offered flavored sea salts to put on the fish and chips (lava salt is the best) and we were cozy in the car scarfing down the food.

Black sand

Then we drove on to Vik, famous for its black-sand beach. It was still pouring when we got to town so we stopped for coffee and a little wool shopping (I found the cheapest item in the store, a hat on clearance for $40) in hopes that the rain would let up so we could go to the beach. But after an hour we had to admit defeat and drove to the beach in the rain. We walked along the black sand for a minute, took a couple rainy photos, and hopped back in the car. Andrew tried to find a geo-cache at a local church but the rain wasn’t helping with that either, so we finally called it quits on Vik and drove to our Airbnb about 45 minutes outside of town. This one was a big letdown. We waited too long to book (about 2 or 3 months before the trip) so there was nothing left in Vik and our place was the best we could find. It was a small hostel and we had a small room and shared a small bathroom with about 6 other people. Someone had showered recently and flooded the bathroom floor with water. It was just gross (and almost $200/night because it’s Iceland). This is when my real Iceland boredom set in. It kept raining all evening but we drove 15 minutes to the nearest restaurant, Grimsla Fjosio, which is part of a family-run cattle ranch. I got delicious mushroom soup with bread and butter and experienced the one good deal Iceland is known for: unlimited soup! It really is the most economical meal, if you’re trying to not spend all your savings. I got a second bowl and some more bread and butter and enjoyed the cozy warmth of the farmhouse restaurant while it kept pouring outside. But then…there was nothing else to do. We were literally at the only public place within 30 minutes of our hostel. I lobbied for driving back to Vik and checking out some tourist spots in town, but Andrew was sick of driving all over in the rain. Out of ideas, I agreed to go back to our gross little room and be bored for the rest of night.

Hallgrimskirkja

Reykjavik

The next morning, we woke up to no power in the hostel, which meant no hot water or coffee and so we packed up and bid good riddance to the place. The rain subsided to a drizzle as we drove back to Reykjavik for our last day in Iceland and I was looking forward to people and shops and things to do. The drive was a couple hours and we tried to stop at what looked like a big park on the way back for a walk, but it wasn’t really a thing, so we gave up and drove into Reykjavik. We parked near Hallgrimskirkja, the iconic church that looks very Scientology-esque to me, and walked in and around it for a bit before hitting up a coffee shop for much-needed caffeine. We spent the next few hours walking along the sea wall (which was much less picturesque than I expected, with industrial parks along it) and up and down the main shopping streets before having lunch at a place called Bastard’s. And then it was time for the Blue Lagoon!

Blue Lagoon

The Blue Lagoon is definitely a tourist trap, but it’s worth it. We reserved tickets online in advance and lined up at our allotted time with about a hundred other people and were efficiently shuffled through the process. We were given a towel and bracelet with a chip in it that allowed us to charge drinks at the bar or facials. Then Andrew and I split up to go through our separate changing rooms. They make you shower naked, then put on your bathing suit, and then shower again. They offer conditioner to put in your hair to protect it from the water, but I’d recommend keeping your head above water. Even with the conditioner, my hair was straw for the next week.

After the ritual baths, I emerged to a little lobby to find Andrew waiting. We headed outside and saw the lagoon. It was beautiful! Even with tourists everywhere the eye could see. The water was a milky blue and steam was rising off the surface. We waded into the warm water and headed right for the facial bar. Our entry tickets included the cost of a silica mask and one drink, so we slathered our faces with white gunk and then happily bobbed over to the booze bar to collect prosecco and beer. Then we bobbed out to the back side of the lagoon where we scored a sweet spot with room to sit away from other people. Even with the crowds, it was easy to find some space and quiet. We let the mask work its magic for the allotted ten minutes and then dunked under water to wash it off, emerging with shiny, happy faces. We hung out in the lagoon for about an hour and then I ran back to the locker room for my phone to take a few terrible photos, and then we drove back into town.

We checked back in to the same studio we stayed in our first night and I tried and failed to revive my hair with a week’s worth of condition before going to dinner at Snap’s, a French bistro about 30 minutes away by foot. It was a nice walk (the rain had cleared up) and dinner was lovely, but still didn’t compare to Grillmarkadurinn (seriously, eat there if you go). 

Micro Bar

After dinner we were out of sightseeing ideas again, but this time we had bars to go to. Hooray! We went back to Micro Bar because we decided it was our local and met a very friendly bartender. He kept taking breaks to hang out with us, and then one of his friends showed up and joined our table. I was being really superficial but couldn’t help loving that our new friend looked like a Viking with a giant red/blond beard and long, flowing hair. Plus his brother was a member of parliament. We had a great time learning about life in Iceland from locals and had to drag ourselves home after midnight (it was still light out). It was tough to leave, but we had an early flight to Glasgow in the morning.

Iceland Tips

• Book everything well in advance. Some of the Airbnbs we wanted were taken by the time we got around to booking. At the airport someone was trying to get a rental car onsite, but there were none available. Plan ahead to make sure you stay where you want and have what you need lined up when you get there.
• Buy wine or liquor at duty free on the flight in. Everything in Iceland is so expensive, and we were happy to have read this tip in advance. We bought a couple bottles of wine and were able to have “cocktail hour” at our Airbnbs before going out for dinners.
• Don’t bother getting cash. Everyone takes credit cards, but you need a PIN at gas stations. All of my credit cards told me I didn’t need to worry about setting up a PIN for European travel, which meant I couldn’t pay for gas with them. Luckily, I had my debit card with a PIN, so we used that for gas each time.
• Stay at the White House Inn if you're near Reykholt.
• Eat at Grillmarkadurinn and Braud & Co. Drink at Mirco Bar.
• Bring a deck of cards or small travel game so you have something to do when your boyfriend won’t chauffeur you around in the rain.

West Texas, April 2017

The last time I went to West Texas, it was August and I was on crutches. It's much better in April with full mobility. Ironically, I roughed it way more on crutches.

Moon rise at Indian Lodge

Indian Lodge

This time around, Andrew's parents and his aunt and uncle planned a long weekend for all of us, based in Indian Lodge in the Davis Mountains State Park. Andrew and I drove out on a Wednesday and I was pleasantly surprised that the drive from Austin to the Davis Mountains was only 6.5 hours. I thought it was 8. We beat the real grown ups to Indian Lodge (they were coming from Houston via Kerrville via San Antonio via a bunch of backroads for geocaches), so we checked in, dropped our bags in our room, and wandered the beautiful hotel made to look like an adobe village. After our tour, right on time, the adults arrived.

After Ed, Sharon, Mary, and Lee settled in, we piled into Mary and Lee's car and drove to Marfa for dinner. Only 30 minutes away, it was the first of a few satellite destinations on our list.

Paisano patio

We had dinner at Hotel Paisano, the fancy hotel in Marfa, followed by drinks on their picturesque patio while we waited for the sun to go down. Aside from the Chinati Foundation (which we did not go to but I've been to on that crutches trip--highly recommend), the Marfa Lights are the biggest attraction in town, but you can only see them at night. So we had a little time to kill before driving over to the viewing area. On a good night, visitors can see inexplicable dots of light on the horizon, moving in weird and unpredictable ways. Some seem to fly right at you, others dance around or flicker, and still others just flash on occasion.

Looking for the Lights

I say this based on experience. I've seen them before, and they're super cool on a good night. Theories abound as to what causes the lights (aliens, car lights, atmospheric reflections, cow farts, etc.), but there's still no scientific consensus, which is one of the biggest draws. We all think we'll be able to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for our group, we did not make any groundbreaking discoveries that night. We saw a couple lights in the distance that might have been remarkable, but also might have been porch lights on distant houses. After about 30 minutes of valiant staring, we all gave up. No Marfa Lights for us.

Old Mine Trail, Big Bend

The next morning Andrew and I got up and headed straight for Big Bend National Park. We were going to spend the day there, while the grown ups went to Terlingua (a very cool ghost town with a general store and a bar full of locals, but not much else). The drive for me and Andrew was about two hours to our trail head. We hiked the Old Mine Trail, a nice, 5ish-mile roundtrip. After the hike we drove around the park for a while, seeing the Santa Elena Canyon before heading back to Davis Mountains.

Old Mine Trail, Big Bend

Santa Elena Canyon, Big Bend

There's one restaurant at Indian Lodge, but they're only open for breakfast and lunch. (Side note: If you're in the area, go there for breakfast and order something you can put their syrup on. Best syrup ever. It tasted almost like an ice-cream topping, caramel or dulce de leche. Do it.) But it was getting close to dinner time, so Andrew and I drove into Fort Davis (the town by the Davis Mountains State Park) to scope out the options. It's a cute small town, with a main street housing pretty much all the food choices (which are limited). We decided to try the Blue Mountain Bistro and, despite the dreadful service, had a delicious meal. Then we were going to wander the cute stores on the main street, but everything was closed already. It was maybe 7:30.

Hotel Limpia, Blue Mountain Bistro

The next morning we hiked through the Davis Mountains and into the Old Fort of Fort Davis. It has a lot of the old, preserved buildings from when it was a functioning fort after the Civil War. At some point the army converted it to a "buffalo soldier" fort, and it was interesting to read about the history and class systems in the fort. But it was hot and we were in full sun and I accidentally kicked a rattlesnake who was sleeping in the grass, so we decided to leave pretty quickly. The roundtrip hike was about nine miles, and Andrew and I both got sunburned. Other than those two hikes, we did a lot of lounging around the hotel, reading by the pool, taking naps, and so on.

Old Fort, Fort Davis

We also drove out to the McDonald Observatory, about 20 minutes from Davis Mountains, for a star party one night. It's a fully functioning, academic observatory, and they frequently host star parties for the public to come out, listen to experts talk about astronomy, and actually look through some of the professional telescopes. They had about seven giant telescopes set up that night, trained on different spots in the sky, and an expert at each one to explain what you were looking at. I loved it, and highly recommend it. One tip, though. The party starts in an open-air auditorium with a speaker pointing out constellations in the sky and discussing all things astronomy. It's interesting, but not the best part and kind of basic information. After about 20 minutes of talking, the speaker paused and said people with kids or anyone generally impatient was free to get up and start looking in the telescopes if they wanted. Everyone else could stay seated for the rest of the talk. I'm impatient, so I headed right for the telescopes. Most people stayed for his talk, so the lines at each scope weren't crazy. I managed to look through almost all of them before he released the rest of the audience, at which point the lines got awful. So leave when the speaker makes the first offer.

Planet Marfa tipi

We spent our last full day back in Marfa, wandering around before lunch at Pizza Foundation, and wandering around some more before drinks at Planet Marfa, my new favorite spot in town. It's a beer garden with an old school bus, a tipi, and little tables tucked into random angles around the patio. But then it was time to head back to Indian Lodge for our last lazy evening in West Texas before the not-as-bad-as-I-expected drive back to Austin. I love this corner of my home state for its vastness, variety of landscape, quirky character, and peaceful vibe. I'm sure I'll be out that way again within the next few years. If you have any favorites in the area, please let me know!

West Texas sunset

Safari in the Serengeti

Serengeti runway

After climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro and back down, the boyfriend and I had earned what came next: SAFARI IN THE SERENGETI! The morning after we finished Kilimanjaro, Andrew and I were having breakfast (with Dustin) at K’s hotel one last time. Then we caught a ride to Arusha, the next city west of Moshi, to a small airport. We took a prop plane (the first one I’ve been in and I never want to be in one again: it was terrifying) to the middle of the Serengeti. As we were landing, I saw little gazelles running off the runway to make way for the plane. 

"Serengeti" in the Maasai language means "endless plains"

Our driver with Wild Frontiers, Nurdin, was waiting for us when we landed. Again, we were supposed to be part of a five-some, but the others bailed right before the trip so Andrew and I got personal service. Nurdin picked us up in a giant Land Rover with a pop-up top for optimal animal watching and room for about eight passengers. We hopped in at about 3 pm and immediately were “on safari.” Nurdin drove us around the Serengeti for about four hours before taking us to camp, and in those four hours we saw so many animals! I told Nurdin my priority was elephants and he assured me we wouldn’t have any trouble finding them. I wasn’t about to get my hopes up, though.   

Can you see the leopard, up high, dead center?

The very first animal we came across (aside from the gazelles on the runway) was a leopard in a tree. Nurdin was freaking out (he is adorably nerdy about animals and has the perfect job for his passion). He told us that leopards are one of the rarest animals to see in the Serengeti because they often hang out in trees. And this one was pretty hard to spot; I’m sure Andrew and I would never have seen it on our own. After the leopard, we came across more gazelles (both Grant and Thompson varieties), zebras, antelope, wildebeest, hippos, crocodiles, and then … Nurdin pointed out, far off in the distance, giant forms moving slowly on the horizon: elephants!! We drove over to a soundtrack of my squeals and came upon a family of three adults, three kids, and one tiny baby almost hidden in the grass. They were about twenty feet from our truck, just meandering around and eating. It was an amazing moment in my life.  

Lioness in the front, ellies in the back

After letting me gaze in awe for an excessive amount of time, Nurdin started driving again. In that one afternoon we saw two lionesses (one stalking prey), an eagle, an impala family, lion lovin’, warthogs, dik diks (little antelope that mate for life), topi, giraffes (including a baby), guinea fowl, buffalo, and two separate elephant families. By then it was time to check into our “camp” for the night. We pulled up to a couple portable buildings in the middle of the Serengeti surrounded by large tents at wide intervals. We were met by a whole crew, including two guys who grabbed our bags and the camp manager who walked us around the common areas (there was a dining tent, a lounge tent with couches and a bar, and open seating around a fire pit). Then he showed us to our “tent,” which was a significant step up from the hike. We had a king bed on a frame with two bedside tables and lamps (everything was solar powered), a dresser, and a full bathroom with shower. It was dark at this point, so the camp guard was walking around, shining a flashlight into the plains to keep animals away. 

Simba

Glamping

After settling in, we headed back to the lounge tent and each grabbed a beer before sitting by the fire pit. Shortly afterward, the manager came by to tell us dinner was ready. We went into the dining tent and were going to sit down with the only other couple staying at the camp but the manager ushered us to separate tables. Apparently there are rules.  

Lounge tent

Dinner was buffet style starting with soup. Every lunch and dinner had a different soup, and they were the best food of the entire trip. Cream of various vegetables and oh, so yummy. The rest of the food was better than our hiking food, but nothing remarkable (other than those soups, which I still talk about).  

Before we finished eating the manager came by with a clipboard and asked us what time we wanted to wake up and if we wanted coffee delivered to the tent. Yes, we did! I didn’t know that was an option. 

Sunrise over the Serengeti

Day 2

We had breakfast with this elephant

We were in our comfortable bed by 9 that night and slept like babies. The next morning our coffee was delivered at 6:30, and we sat on our tent porch and watched the sun come up over the Serengeti. We had breakfast in the tent at 7 and an elephant came by for a visit. He walked up to the camp parking lot to eat some leaves and then walked around our dining tent before heading off in the horizon. I squealed a lot. The German couple told us they heard animals outside their tent in the night and found out the next morning they were lions. 

Cheetah

I really liked the hyenas

Nurdin picked us up at 7:30 and we were off for another animal-filled day. We went back to camp for lunch at 1 and had a break until 3:30 before heading back out until about 5:30. That day we saw: black-back jackals, hyenas, sacred-heart birds, ostriches (they’re so crazy looking!), rock hyrax, a cheetah mom with four babies, bat-eared fox, lizards, hartebeests, a vulture, heron, sausage trees (the fruit looks like sausage, and elephants and baboons eat too much of it and get drunk), vervet monkeys, bush-back antelope, lion cubs (almost newborn), mongoose, a baboon family with babies, a family of lions feeding, and another leopard in a tree (I’m not listing the repeats of animals we saw, but this one warrants a mention because they’re so rare).  

I won't show you the lion family eating
a wildebeest, but this is all the tourist
gathered to watch it happen.

Our second night on safari was much like the first: beers by the fire with the German couple, dinner in tent, and then off to bed. The next morning we had coffee delivered again and watched the sunrise on our porch. We could hear buffalo mating but they were too far away to see. We did see one lonely bachelor buffalo wandering near camp and grazing before we walked to breakfast.  

After eating we had to pack up because we were leaving camp that morning. Nurdin drove us from the Serengeti National Park to Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Once we passed into the conservation area we saw Maasai villages and children on the side of the road, hoping to flag down tourists who would pay to have their photos taken with Maasai or to tour their village. Nurdin explained that no one (except rangers and park staff) is allowed to live in Tanzanian national parks, but the government granted the Maasai permission to live in conservation areas. He also told us that, according to Maasai religion, all the cows in the world belong to the Maasai, so they routinely steal cattle from other Tanzanians. The government has essentially given up trying to stop them and instead just reimburse people whose cows are stolen. 

Olduvai Gorge

During the drive we stopped at Olduvai Gorge, a famous archeological site. Then we drove to Ngorongoro Crater, which might have been my favorite part of safari. It was like a mini Serengeti isolated in an old volcano crater. We drove down into the crater through stunning landscapes and leveled out at the bottom. It took almost two hours to drive from one side of the crater to the other, and during that time we saw almost all the same animals in Ngorongoro that we saw in the Serengeti. The notable addition was a rhino that Nurdin pointed out to us, very far away. He was sleeping in the sun and, honestly, he looked like a rock from our vantage, but nevertheless I’m counting it, especially because it meant we saw the “big five” animals: lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino.  

Ngorongoro Crater

After a full tour, we drove out of the crater and to our home for the night: Ngorongoro Farm House. We definitely saved the best for last. It was a picturesque hotel with rolling fields of flowers, vegetable gardens, coffee plants, and a coffee roaster on site (so the whole area smelled like fresh coffee). When we checked in, the front-desk attendant handed Andrew and I each a fancy water infused with fruit. Then another woman came over to carry our bags and show us to our room, which was actually a standalone cottage overlooking the hillside, with a family of cats living under the front porch. The room was stunning: bright, open, and clean, with a four-poster bed wrapped in a mosquito net, a giant walk-in shower, and a separate sitting area. We realized all the rooms were named after animals (with the Swahili names). We were in pundamilia, which means zebra. 

Ngorongoro Farm House

After marveling at the beautiful room, we walked around the grounds of the hotel. There was a big, main building with a bar, couches, and tables being readied for dinner service. There was a pool with lounge seating, a separate little hut for massages, and a large patio off the main building. Andrew and I ordered drinks at the bar and took them out to the patio, which overlooked the gardens. To the right were coffee plants, in the middle directly in front of us were flower gardens, behind the flowers were the vegetable gardens, and to the left were meandering paths leading to other cottages. We sat on the patio and talked through all the details of our trip. It was our last evening in Tanzania, and I couldn’t have dreamt up a more perfect place to wrap up the trip.  

Farm House gardens

After our drinks, we walked around the grounds and gardens for an hour. The weather was perfect and we encountered almost no one else the whole time. As dusk came in we went back to the patio and grabbed another drink to kill time before dinner. Most of the other guests were starting to come out too, and there was a good crowd gathering. As the sun started to set, the nightly entertainment came out: a man who called himself Baba Dingi walked around and introduced himself to almost everyone. Then he called his wife up to join him, and they started playing music. They were joined by more women singing and dancing. After one song, Baba Dingi’s wife walked around and pulled women from the audience (me too) up to dance with her. I’m a terrible dancer and I hadn’t had nearly enough drinks for it, but it was such a beautiful night and a surreal vacation that I didn’t even bother resisting. I danced like a jackass with a bunch of other tourists, and then it was the guys’ turn. I got a nice video of Andrew shaking it to pseudo-tribal music, but he probably wouldn’t want me to post it. 

Then we went inside for the fanciest dinner buffet of the trip, but again the food wasn’t memorable. After dinner we headed to our cottage and I was giddy to sleep in the amazingly fluffy bed with approximately twenty pillows. Plus it was the only night of our trip that we didn’t have to set an alarm; we were going to sleep in as late as we wanted! 

Coffee beans

Coffee flowers

The next morning we got up in time for the breakfast buffet, packed up our bags and left them at the front desk, and then waited around to meet our guide for a coffee tour. Surprise, surprise, it was Baba Dingi. He already loved Andrew from the night before (Andrew’s a good tipper), so he was excited and chatty with us. He walked us around the coffee plants and pointed out the various stages of flowering. He asked us about our lives in Texas and was shocked when Andrew told him he was 37 (“No! You look in your 20s”). But when he asked me my age and I said 34, he nodded and said, “Yeah.” He’s lucky Andrew was tipping that day. The tour took about an hour, and included a walk through the veggie and flower gardens, before we ended up in the roasting room. This was where they roasted their coffee beans, picked right from the garden, and made the coffee served in the hotel. We got a cup and took it back to the patio after saying goodbye to Baba Dingi. The hotel seemed to have cleared out again, and we saw almost no one else. After a quick lunch, Nurdin came by to pick us up and take us back to the Moshi airport. The drive took a few hours through chaotic traffic, but before I was ready to leave, we were checking our bags and going through security for the 10.5 + 8-hour flight +2.5-hour drive home.  

Tanzania was an amazing experience and the trip of a lifetime. I’d go back in a heartbeat to drive around the Serengeti and stay in Ngorongoro Farm House, but I’d probably be content to see Kilimanjaro from town. Our guides joked about how we need to try Everest next, but I think 19,300 feet is probably as high as I’ll ever climb.  

Until next time! xoxo