Tanzania - an exotic place on a map. We must get some good shots of animals! Will we like the other people on the trip? Hope we don't run out of clothes and wipes!

But in the end, the trip was much, much more. It definitely was animals and tremendous photographs of them - this book is proof of that. But it was Kileo's warm smile and Leonard's jokes. It was Andy's knowledge and everyone's willingness to share. It was stories about Boston, Houston, D.C., New Jersey and other hometowns.

It was the welcoming warmth of the Tanzanian people. It was learning about the Masaai, in whose language Serengeti means "endless plains" and seeing the beauty of those plains firsthand.

For some of us, it was meeting hundreds of smiling Tanzanian children while putting windows in school rooms and patching cracks from earthquakes that happened decades ago.

In short, the trip is made up of many experiences and memories. New friends and amazing sights. Welcoming people and incredible animals. Blue ball monkeys and a family of lions who shared their warmth and love with us.

This book is dedicated to those experiences and to the new friends we shared them with.