My first trip to the Crater was in 1964. I was on a safari with my mother and we we staying at Manyara. A day trip was being suggested by one of the other guests. My mother wasn’t interested but I was so off I went with another unknown man and woman. All was reasonably well until……..we weren’t finding any lions and the woman just had to see a lion. We drove and we drove and we drove around the crater floor – not a lion to be found. As the afternoon continued with this scenario, I felt ready to strangle this woman and leave her to be found by a passing beast – preferably a lion! Unkind thought. Eventually, thoroughly regretting having joined this safari, we drove back to Manyara. Safaris with strangers can be a mistake!.

Here’s a postcard of a more fortunate group.

Watching Lioness and Cub in Ngorogoro Crater

Here it is 3 days before Christmas and I feel distinctly disorganized. And presents are at the top of my list. Presents for my nearest and dearest that is. What to do? Dash out like the reindeer and buy SOMETHING. I sit at my desk and dream of foreign places. Keep tapping away to see other friends messages of joy and goodwill? Let me look for a postcard to illustrate my point.

Watching Lioness and Cub in Ngtorogoro Crater

Inadvertently I have chosen a postcard/photo that is very timely. It reminds me of a Christmas spent many years ago. It was Christmas time 1966 when I was in Manyara and Ngorogoro Crater. I was with my boy friend (funny term that) and we were merry travelers visiting Manyara for Christmas lunch and then Ngorogoro for Christmas dinner. A wonderful memory of happy times. We married a year later. The happy times continued for 54 years. Now he has “passed” but I have countless HAPPY MEMORIES.

From a letter written by me in late April 1991 – that’s approximately 30 years ago.

At that time I was living in Nairobi Kenya and my husband Ian was working at the United Nations office of the UNCHS, situated in Nairobi. UNCHS stood for United Nations Centre for Human Settlement. Most of my husband’s work involved travel to countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

I quote from my letter written to my mother in Hawaii:

“Ian phoned last night from Islamabad to report that he was back after his week in Kabul. I was particularly glad to hear from him as there was news of renewed fighting in Afghanistan yesterday. When I heard that news on Kenya television I wondered if the UN plane would have flown yesterday_____answer, it did. Ian and the one other passenger (a friend of a friend) flew in the smaller UN plane – not the one used by the Under-Secretary General – I happened to hear on Radio Moscow that the bigger plane was being used by the UN man to go on a special mission to Teheran” end of quote from my letter

Back in Nairobi I was dealing with problems of having proper office space at my job with the U.S. Library of Congress Field Office and issues over a partner for a ladies tennis doubles competition. Different from Russian missiles and top level missions to Teheran.