Ngorongoro Canyon, Trip to Lake Manyara, Leaving Tanzania, Night in Rwanda and Travels Back to Sackville

 We woke up early on our last day in Tanzania, setting out to do the Ngorongoro Canyon later that day.  The rhino lodge was beautiful up in the rainier elevated area of the park, a nice change from the dry flatlands of the Serengeti.  With Gilbert, meaning the truck, we set out on the short drive over to the entrance of the park, which starts with a massive descent into the crater.  The crater is one of the most biodiverse ecosystems in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage area.  It has the highest density of lions, rhinos, zebras and wildebeest anywhere in the world.  The amount of animals down in the crater is hard to contemplate, it is literally jam packed with all of the big game that Tanzania has to offer.  We were able to see our first rhinos of the trip from some distance.  They are very interesting animals as they don't like getting too close to any of the cars, so you often observe them from 100 meters away.  There was also a massive amount of birds in the crater from huge storks to pelicans to lots of little brightly coloured chirpers.  We stopped for lunch while in the crater and were met by a massive Maribou stork.  It was probably about 4 and a half feet tall and was getting very close to us, trying to get a piece of our food.  Eventually, Gilbert started to pretend to throw rocks at it, which would send it running in the other direction briefly before it started, slowly walking back closer to the table.  After a bit, Gilbert just threw him one of our chicken bones, and he seemed satisfied and went to bother another table.  The crater was an incredible experience as we were able to see such a large amount of animals.  The drive out of the crater was crazy. It was about 15 minutes of straight climbing out, built into the cliff's side. The switchbacks made the drive-up easier.  

We drove to Lake Manyara after the canyon.  It was about 2 hours, and we went straight to our lodge close to the park.  We spent the rest of the day enjoying the heat and spending some time in the hotel pool.  It was nice to have time to try and eliminate the farmer's tan that had been accumulating from the t-shirts outside.  The dinner was very good, and so was breakfast.  

This day is officially the start of the longest travel sequence in my life. We left our lodge in Lake Manyara early that morning so that we could go do a quick tour of the park before we had to get to the Kilimanjaro airport by 2 to catch our flight back to Kigali.  We saw lots of baboons during our short tour of the park, and we were soon on our way to Kilimanjaro.  We drove through Arusha and all the way to the airport, with a brief stop to buy some local gifts and knick-knacks.  We got to the airport and said goodbye to Gilbert for the last time.  We entered the airport and successfully passed the four passport checks and security.  We were in the airport about 2 hours before the flight was to take off but soon learned that the plane had yet to leave Kigali.  So the flight ended up getting cancelled about 6 hours later, but it turned out alright as they gave us access to the lounge for free while we sat and waited.  We got to meet a family from England that was trying to make it back to Kigali that night so they could catch their flight to London that was also leaving that night.  As it turned out, a 6-hour delay was not exactly conducive to catching your flight that is supposed to leave 5 hours after the flight is originally scheduled to land.  Once we finally boarded the flight and officially left Tanzania, it was a short jump over to Kigali, where the driver we hired was nice enough to be still waiting for us.  They drove us to our hotel, where we crashed immediately.  The next day, I started by going to the gym and then getting into the pool.  It was a nice start, but I was ready to get home.  Our flight left Kigali that night, so we figured we would do something in the meantime.  We ended up visiting the Kigali genocide memorial.  What an absolutley devostatimng thing to happen, I have a difficult time putting into words the magnitude of the event when looking aroudn the memorial.  It really showcases the absolute lowest point in humanity as a whole.  It is truly incredible to see where the Rwandans have come in just 30 years since a tragedy so terrible happened.  It was an eye-opening experience to the full extent, and I am greatly appreciative that we went to the memorial.  After the memorial, we went to a grocery store to pick up some local coffee and then headed back to the hotel, where we had lunch before we headed to the airport.  We got to the airport that night and got through security and customs without any issues.  We spent about 2 hours in the airport and were then quickly loaded onto the plane bound for Brussels.  The flight was smooth all the way, and I was able to catch up on some sleep.  When we got to Brussels, we had a 2-hour layover before we boarded the flight to Montreal.  I got to pick up some Belgian chocolates in the airport store.  The flight to Montreal was about 8 hours and was quite smooth.  The entire time, I had great doubt that getting back to Sackville was going to work out properly.  So we landed right at the beginning of the storm.  My flight later that night was immediately delayed by 6 hours.  Knowing this, my father and I came to a consensus that there was a higher chance that I could get out to Moncton that night if I was in Toronto.  When the flight was changed, I connected to Toronto and headed to Moncton that night.  Me and Lachlan said goodbye to my parents and loaded onto our plane to Toronto in the middle of the storm.  We arrived about 2 hours late, and I still had about 5 hours until the flight to Moncton left.  I ended up waiting right up until boarding just for them to tell us that all the tires on the plane needed to be changed.  We were transferred to another plane, and the flight was cancelled.  Struggling to stand after nearly 30 hours of travelling, I made my way to the beautiful airport Marriott for the night.  I slept like a child that night waking up early the next day to go to the terminal, I spent to majority of the day in the Air Canada lounge drinking coffee and eamiling professors.  The flight left that night and ended, landing pretty close to time.  I reached Sackville that night so glad to be back, it was a great sleep in my own bed that night.