Flat Stanley here! 

I just recently returned from my trip with your Grammie from Africa, and it was so much fun! 

The trip was like two trips in one, the first was spending nine days on Kilimanjaro Mountain trekking up to the summit.

the 2nd part was spending time in the Serengeti on a safari where we saw all kinds of animals. 

Let me first tell you about my trek up Kilimanjaro. Grammie put me in her backpack where she keeps her water supply, so I got a bird's eye view of the four areas of the mountain that had different environments and climate that we walked through. 

The first area we walked through was a jungle or rain forest with very tall trees and giant ferns. We saw a black and white Colobus Monkey sitting high up on some branches. These monkeys have such a long flowing tail, and they would sit up in the trees and watch us as we walked past them. 

Once we emerged from the jungle, we were in the Moorland area which is mostly grasses and low shrubs. We saw many beautiful flowers in this area. 

. The 3rd area was called the Alpine Desert, and it consisted of more volcanic rocks and scree. 

Did you know that Kilimanjaro is a volcano? It erupted a million years ago under the earth's crust and pushed up towards the sky to create this free-standing mountain. It is dormant now, but it does give off some sulfuric gas around the ash circle, which we got to see. 

We met many people along the trail all climbing to the top of the mountain. I met one father that was carrying his son's sock monkey and another son's teddy bear on the back of his backpack. Grammie introduced me to sock monkey and teddy bear, and we took some photos together.  

 I found out he was from England. We met people from all over the world, Germany, Denmark and South Africa. 

The last day of hiking to the top of the mountain was the hardest for Grammie, but I kept encouraging her and telling her she could do it.

I was so excited when we got to the top. It was fun to be so high up at 19,341 feet that we were above the clouds. The last time I was ever above the clouds was when I was on an airplane!

Our guide told us that the top of Kilimanjaro used to be all snow and ice. Some people think that the name Kilimanjaro means "white top." We saw several ice glaciers at the summit but Julius, our guide, said they are melting and eventually will go away. 

 The night we summited was very special because we got to climb down 1000 feet into the volcanic crater and that is where we slept for the night. We stayed in tents along the way, and Grammie made sure I was tucked into the sleeping bag to keep warm. 

The morning in the crater was magical since we opened up our tent flap to newly fallen snow.

Before we started our climb down the mountain,

we did stop at the crater rim and viewed the volcanic ash circle. The ash formation is where you can still see some gas come up through the ground from deep in the earth.

October 4, 2017

Not everyone gets to see this, so I felt very lucky. The trek up the mountain with Grammie was a lot of fun.

The crew that helped carry our packs and set up camp and feed us were so nice. They taught us all kinds of Swahili songs and how to count to ten in Swahili. Swahili is the language spoken in Tanzania where Kilimanjaro is located. 

After the trek, we said goodbye to the mountain crew, and we met our new guide, Amani Amson who was going to drive the jeep and help us find animals in the Serengeti. We had to drive 8 hours to get to the Serengeti National Park entrance, and along the way, we drove through many villages of the Maasai people.

The Maasai tribe has been in this area for hundreds of years, and they were the ones that gave the Serengeti its name that means "Endless Plains." The Serengeti is mostly grassland that goes on for as far as the eye can see.

There are so many different animals that call the Serengeti home. Amani drove us around to find and view the animals. 

We saw Elephants 

Giraffes

Cheetahs