The Girl usually gives me a list of things she hopes I see while I travel.  I love this because I think of her (and maybe a little like her) each day I am gone.  I am especially fond of this list – the spelling might just say something about my accent since she spells phonetically?  I’ll translate each item before I show the corresponding photo(s).  Here is her list:

1. Monkey

We went to Arusha National Park for a short “day safari”.  We enjoyed watching 3 different primate species in the old growth tropical forest that is growing around the Ngurdoto crater.

This gorgeous monkey is a Black and White Colubus (Colobus guereza).  Interesting fact – these monkeys do not have thumbs! (more info:  http://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/colobus-monkey)

We also saw Sykes’ Monkey (Cercopithecus albogularis)

2. Rainbow

Considering there was no rain – it was pretty impossible to find a rainbow.  I think the girl was expecting rainbows like the ones we saw in South Dakota (do you see it?  It was pretty far away):

Since I didn’t see an actual rainbow, I thought I would show you the rainbow of flowers I saw.  These colors don’t necessarily follow the ROYGBIV rule of prismatic colors…

This is a Calliandra

?

sunflower
a legume of some sort..

Hibiscus

3. Sheet Music

I wasn’t sure how this would happen, but thanks to a musical friend who posted a picture of sheet music on Instagram while I was in Tanzania – I found it! Here is the screenshot from my phone.
4. Giraffe

5. Elephant

I loved seeing this group of Elephants, so I couldn’t pick one photo!
 6. Snake  – sorry, I didn’t see one…and I can’t think of a photo I took that would be a good replacement.

7. Bird

There were so many amazing birds!  Here are some of my favorites:

Hartlaub’s Turaco

Scarlet-chested sunbird

Klaas’s Cuckoo

Little Bee Eater

African Fish Eagle

Lesser Flamingos

8. Lizard

I was pretty excited to see my first Chameleon!! I’m not sure of the species.

This tiny Gecko was too cute to not include!  I can’t id this one either.

9. Lion –

I didn’t see any actual lions on this trip, but these looked pretty life-like!

10. Hippo

There aren’t any Hippos at Arusha National Park, but these rocks sure tricked me!

11. Cheetah

I would have loved to have seen a Cheetah – but we didn’t see any big cats.  I did; however, see this very cool beetle.  It has spots – Cheetahs have spots too!

(the weird thing next to the beetle is its egg case – this tree was covered with beetles and egg cases and pupae)

12.  Maasai

This shepherd is Maasai.  We stopped to talk to him about an invasive weed that his animals were grazing near.  The weed can hurt his animals, so I think that he was happy to know about it.

I got the girl a Shuka – the Maasai wear these colorful blankets (actually a lot of people – Maasai or not- wear shukas – it’s how they stay warm).

13. Gazelle

I didn’t see a gazelle, but I saw this gorgeous animal – and it was a first for me. I think this is a reedbuck (that’s what I was told, but I’m not positive).

14. Baboon

15. Sunset

16. Fabric

17. “pooinatolit”  

I promise I didn’t see this one until I arrived… I thought a warthog pooping would have to do for this!

18. Bed

These birds are asleep – so are they in a bed?

Vix (the family watchdog) always slept in this spot – again, is this his bed?

I actually saw a bed at the agricultural fair that I visited.  We went to a stall where there was a lot of metal furniture.  I thought I took a picture of the bed, but I guess I decided to take a picture of this desk – I wanted the girl to see the school desks other kids have to use.

19.  The scribble…

I just decided that I would add something that was really beautiful and unexpected – this moth was just too cool not to share!

I asked the girl to make a list of things I should photograph while I was on the “Western Trip” with the ecology class. I enjoyed trying to find each of these things. I was really close to finding all 20 animals/items, and I only needed to ask for 2 substitutions (which the girl granted). Here are the resulting photos:

1. “8” made out of sticks

  
(S. Tongue River)

2. Moose

 
(Tetons)

3. Ketchup

  (Yellowstone general store)

4. Mountain Goat

  
(Beartooth Mountains)

5. Snow

  
(Line Lake Plateau Montana)

6. Uncle Rob eating ice cream

  
(Tetons)

7. Uncle Ken looking at a blue and white bird

  
(Bighorn Mountains)

(You have to take my word for it…when I took the picture he was saying “I’m looking at a blue and white bird”. It was a Lazuli Bunting. 

8. A beautiful tree

  
(Hunters Peak Wyoming)

9. Orange flower

  
(Yellowstone)

10. Frog. (I didn’t find one, but I was allowed a substitution- I saw a snake- a Northern Rubber Boa)

  
(Tetons)

11. A cool rock

  
(Bighorn Mountains)

12. Bunny

  
(Yellowstone- mountain cottontail)

13. Ground Squirrel

  
(Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel)

14. Cool pine cone

  
(Lodgepole pine)

15. Caterpillar 

  
(Tetons – buck moth)

16. Dragonfly larvae (a second substitution – a mayfly larvae)

  
(S. Tongue River)

17. Red Squirrel 

  
(We saw them everywhere)

18. Bison

  
(Yellowstone)

19. Sunrise

  
(Yellowstone)

20. Sunset

(Bighorn Mountains)