A Letter from Dick Gray
an invitation to travel with him on a safari to Tanzania

Editor's note: Dick Gray taught vocational agriculture in Rolfe from 1952 to 1954. A few years after leaving Rolfe, Dick returned to graduate school at the University of Missouri and received both a master’s and doctorate degree in animal husbandry in 1965 and then was Chairman of the Department of Animal and Food Science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and later moved to North Carolina Agriculture and Technology State University at Greensboro. Dick and his wife, the late Marcia Lehnus, worked in Africa in Tanzania, Malawi, and Botswana from 1978-1988.

During the summer of 2005, Dick has been working as a wildlife ranger at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. In November, he is moving to San Antonio to do volunteer work for the National Park Service at the Missions Monuments. If you are going south to Texas for the winter, you will find him operating the San Jose Mission grist mill on weekends and blacksmithing during the week. Next year, he will be moving west to the Gila Cliff Dwellings near Silver City, New Mexico. However, in June 2006, he will be leading a wildlife tour to the Serengeti in Tanzania. Email him if you are interested in more details.

You can check out some of Dick's safari photography on-line at his Yahoo site.

September 25, 2005

Hi folks,

I am putting together a safari to Tanzania for June17-30, 2006. Present plans are for the participants to fly from their home airport to Detroit where the group will depart via NWA/KLM to Amsterdam. The proposed itinerary is as follows.

June 18, 2006 (Sunday) depart from various points (Atlanta, DC, Dallas, Minneapolis, Orlando, Raleigh) via NW/KLM to Amsterdam (we will all meet in Amsterdam and fly to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania from there).

• June 18, 2006 Depart your home airport
• June 19, 2006 (Monday) arrive Amsterdam and book into KLM hotel
• June 20, 2006 (Tuesday) Amsterdam all day, depart to Kilimanjaro in evening
• June 21, 2006 (Wednesday) arrive Kilimanjaro, overnight in Arusha (Impala Hotel)
• June 22, 2006 - Taranagere (tent camp)
• June 23, 2006 - Lake Manyara (Lake Manyara Hotel)
• June 24, 2006 - Serengeti (Seronara Lodge)
• June 25, 2006 - Serengeti (Seronora Lodge)
• June 26, 2006 - Serengeti (Lobo Lodge)
• June 27, 2006 - Oldulvi Gorge in morning, Ngorongoro Crater and overnight at Ngorongoro Crater Hotel
• June 28, 2006 return to hotel in Arusha (Impala Hotel)
• June 29, 2006 depart to Amsterdam via KLM
• June 30, 2006 arrive at home at various points in USA via NW/KLM

We will spend one night in Amsterdam on the way down to Tanzania. This will give you time adjust to the jet lag with can be very tiring when you fly east across several time zones, and in addition, give you time to visit some of the museums, and other points of interest in Amsterdam. You will also have time to explore the City of Arusha in Tanzania. If anyone is interested in visiting Zanzibar, the spice Island of Tanzania, that can be arranged on the return trip since we will be flying from Kilimanjaro to Dar es Salaam to Amsterdam and you could stop over in Dar and make a two day side trip to Zanzibar. Otherwise, the return trip will be straight through in about 22 hours, unless you want to spend additional time in Europe on your own. I will need to to know that when I make your flight bookings.

I will have a firm price for the trip tied down in the next two weeks. If you are interested in receiving further information, please contact me within 10 days by email so I can get airfares from your nearest major airport if I don't already have it. .It now looks like the tour will cost in the neighborhood of $3,750-3,950 per person/double occupancy, depending upon your point of departure from the USA. In addition, you will need to get your own passport that must be good through December 2006 and I will arrange for visas for Tanzania which will cost $50 and will be included in the tour price. The package will include airfare from your nearest airport to Kilimanjaro (Arusha), Tanzania and return, and will include transportation, hotels with full board, tour guides, park entrance fees, etc., from arrival in Tanzania to departure. Alcoholic drinks, tips to guides not included.

You will need to have a current yellow fever vaccination (within 10 years) and be on a malara prophylactic prior to departure (consult your physician).

Please visit the following website to get information about the tour operator in Tanzania, Horton Safaris.

http://www.hortonsafaris.co.uk/

Please let me know if you are interested in participating in this "once in a lifetime" opportunity to go on a Safari to Africa. You won't regret it. Contact me if you have questions. I am currently in New Mexico, but I will be leaving here to travel back to Florida October 1, so email is the best way to communicate with me.

Dick

Dick Gray
PO Box 92
White's City, NM 88268
Phone: 505-887-3541
e-mail: rc_dick_gray@yahoo.com