Elections and Goodbyes

Goodbyes ... well, we were all very sad to see Leslie and John leave us yesterday but we drove them down to the airport to pick up their flight to Zanzibar for a few days and then off to Ethiopia for a few more ... our kids really bonded with Leslie and John and it was so so so good to have them around and 'hang out' ... we did our traditional 'goodbye' routine of driving them down to a game lodge for a lunch, see a few animals and monkeys in the trees ... and then on to the airport.

we saw a few monkeys in the trees there ... 'Colobus monkeys' ....

Here is a shot at the airport ...

and then one last adventure for the day ... local by-elections ...
as we were driving to the airport, around the town of USA River, we ran into a few demonstrations ... and quite a few people! - they banged a bit on our windows and doors but it was for the most part a celebration of the ruling Chadema party win.  Still, it was a bit much for us ...

So, as PJ and I headed home from the airport ... we ran into even more people, so we decided to take a short cut ... haha!  Quite a few km's of dirt / back roads ...

As much as we were a bit scared by it all - it was also kinda of uplifting believe it or not!  People were walking by flashing peace signs, honking horns, waving flags and smiles smiles smiles ... Tanzania is quite famous for being such a relatively peaceful country on this continent and it was fun to drive through the celebrations and great moods - even our security guard when we got home was quick to share a smile and show his good humor with the election results.