February 7 & 8, 2014

We started the day with a drive over much of the same territory we traveled visiting Ngorongoro yesterday. Our plan was to drive 2 hours to meet a new guide from the southern Serengeti Alex Walker Camp at 11 am. Then the drive included another 2 hours with the new guide to the camp. Just as we reached the gates to Ngorongoro Conservation Area, we made the turn to our new route and the END of pavement. We arrived the "Y-in the road" meeting spot on time but the new driver was an hour and a half late. We could not imagine what might be wrong. Suddenly and finally he drove up. His Safari vehicle completely covered in mud. He told us his name was Barack and introduced us to our game spotter, Tsaibull (a Maasai). He explained that heavy rain had taken place on the usual route making the road impassable and too dangerous for us to take to the camp. Instead, we must take a longer, alternate route which would add three hours to the drive. Oh great.

Not long after we started the trek on this rub-board road, we found a tremendous male Giraffe not far from the road, then another and then another—two males and a female! This, our guide said, is a very rare sight (we are so lucky). It appeared that the intruder Giraffe gave way to the one with territorial rights rather than fight the other in order to possibly mate the female.

As we continued, bumpy is not the word for the road!! We went up and down and left to right, and we faced two hours of this. I felt my core muscles engage. Finally, at one point we turned off to a soft dirt road and stopped for a late picnic lunch and to check WIFI (code word for bathroom break behind a bush or the vehicle). The camp chef had sent breads, cheese, sliced beef, pasta salad, roasted vegetables and chocolate cake. Very nice!

We began the next three hours of our trip. That soft dirt road that we preferred over the rub-board road soon became MUD and water. Any bump in the road threw up a wave of dirty water and mud over the vehicle. It was impossible to see through the windows. Stan's window would not roll up, so he got a good view but he also got slurped with mud every now and then. Again the bumps were up and down, throwing the vehicle, left and right, slipping and sliding. We struggled with this for about two hours and reached a station in the middle of nowhere where Barack had to stop to purchase vehicle permit. As he returned to the car, he noticed we had a flat tire (puncture as they call it) on one of the rear wheels. Barack and Tsaibull worked on changing the tire a great while. They had serious difficulty with the vehicle as it kept trying to slide forward on the jack in the mud. Finally, the spare was installed and we were on our way again. More mud and water!! Much more! Sometimes the mud was so slick, our vehicle spun around in a circle. Finally we began to make a little progress. We received a radio call from Alex, the proprietor of the Camp to check on us and about the time Barack assured him we were fine and on our way, the wheel with the newly installed spare went rolling away and the vehicle thudded to a lop-sided stop. Stan said, "You just lost your wheel!!!" Sheesh! There we were, stuck in the mud, no potties available, no bushes for cover and I forgot to mention that the weather was cold and DAMP.

Believe it or not, we finally made it to camp—a couple of hours later after a rescue crew arrived and helped make repairs to the brake drum shield and to find enough lugs to put the spare back on.

Ok, at this point my head was truly spinning. We were still in the middle of vast nothingness. No buildings, no roads, just muddy ruts in the plains. I was thinking . . . how much money did we pay for this??? And how long are we going to have to ride mud paths??? Will we ever find our camp? Is there a camp?

Well, we finally reached the camp and the evening turned out to be fine - even fantastic. We found that our camp tent could almost be considered luxurious. It is very solid and has all the comforts of home, nice furniture, indoor toilet and shower, and grass rugs covering the floor. Sleeping is wonderful - big fluffy down comforter on a just-right bed, cool breeze flowing through the big window flaps and the soft sound of animals murmuring outside. Mix all that with a glass of wine and a delicious, gourmet dinner in the dinning tent, interesting company with a handful of other guests from different spots from around the world, with much conversation and laughing. Sleep came quite naturally.

February 8, 2014

Our first game drive in the Serengeti began at 6:30 am. We were awakened by one of the camp porters who came to our tent with a flashlight and a tray of coffee. In clearer skies and sunlight we began to appreciate the vastness and splendor of the green Serengeti. The horizon can be seen in all directions, there are a few small clumps of bushes, soft hills and in other areas endless flatlands of grass with the occasional acacia tree. We were a little concerned of the drive because we were given the same vehicle, same driver and same spotter as yesterday - we were still a bit leery of flat tires, windows that won't go up, mud flying through the window, and wheels falling off. But as the morning went on, we realized that Barack is an excellent guide, Tsaibul is a well-seasoned natural spotter and our vehicle is top notch. Tire calamities are simply part of the scene driving the bush.

We had a very productive day. We found and captured fabulous photos of hyenas crossing the road immediately in front of our vehicle. And we saw several more later in the day. From a distance, the hyena's walk makes him look much like a bear lumbering across the land.

We began to comprehend and appreciate the unending streams of wildebeest and their babies. Wildebeest are strange creatures. First, they are not handsome, yet they are beautiful in their own sort of way, but most interesting is how comical they are. As the herd is moving along, one of them will suddenly become inspired and will run as fast as he can, jumping side to side and kicking up his heels as if to say "look at me!!!" and as if it were the happiest moment in his life. Others might take notice of our vehicle and keep walking forward yet turn their face in our direction with eyes glued on us. Out on the plains, I guess, they don't have to worry about running into a tree but they could surely stumble over one of their fellow herd members while paying such strict attention to us.

We a found lion and his lioness lounging and warming their bellies atop big rock formations. We watched them a good long while, hoping they might mate but our timing was not that perfect. We saw ostriches, herds of zebra—we learned the males have black stripes and the females' and babies' stripes are more brown. We saw more Gazelles than I can count. Their camouflage is amazing. Then the coup d'grass!! We found a Cheetah resting under a grove of trees. He allowed us to come nearer and even entertained us by spraying a tree to mark his territory and by harpening his claws of the tree. Please see the photos!!

We did a second game drive in the late afternoon and while we didn't find any new animals except Mongoose, we did witness thirty or more vultures devouring or waiting for their turn to pick clean the remaining carcass of a wildebeest killed earlier in the day. These birds have a wingspan of about 10 feet and can become very nasty with each other if they don't get their rightful turn at the feast.

Before I close I want to tell you a bit about the weather. First, we have not seen the actual sun since we left Arusha. The sky has been dense with clouds most of both full days we've been here. The ground is still very muddy from the rains that came during our drive here on Wednesday. The mornings are very cool. Stan and I pack on the layers, the buff, long pants and hats. Then as the day goes on, we peel off enough layers to become comfortable until late afternoon when it becomes cool again. Sunscreen is needed every day, regardless of clouds or cool temps. Nighttime can be downright cold and damp-ish. The camp porters turn down the beds at night and leave a nice hot water bottle in the bed to take off the night time chill. At this moment, I hear thunder in the distance. I'm hoping we get no more rain. I have only a few unfulfilled wishes for this trip and I need clear skies for a couple of them. I want to see a mother Wildebeest delivering its young since this is calving season. I want to see the Milky Way from this vantage point. I hope to see the almost extinct wild dogs. I'd love to see a leopard, and I want to see lions mating.

February 9, 2014

Dad-gummit! I've come down with a cold! I'm never sick!! Why now?? I coughed and snorted all night last night. During one of these sneezy, miserable moments, a stream of Wildebeest tramped right by our tent. Their grunts, "emmmph" sounded like deep bass vibratons. A path of many footprints and clods of Wildebeest poop outside confirmed that I had not been dreaming and they were just feet away from my bed.

We started Day 2 of our drive at 6:30 am again. No one, not even other guides was finding anything. We drove and drove, looking and searching but found nothing other than Wildebeest. Even more, hundreds of thousands, Wildebeest were streaming in their migration southward, along the horizon and down and up the hills for better grassland. As we decided to take a closer look at the crowd, we suddenly realized that a cow just to our right was in the process of delivering her baby. It was fully on the ground but was still covered with wet afterbirth. The mother looked a bit concerned that we were there and also little concerned that this slimy new thing was to be her baby. She helped it get rid of some of the birthing material and in a moment or two, the little one began its long and difficult job of trying to stand. Within about 10 minutes, the little one was on his feet and actually walking, a bit clumsily but walking nonetheless. He was trying to nurse but mom wouldn't allow it. We surmise that the mother forces the baby to become adept at walking and running before it can have its first meal in case the immediate presence of a predator forces them to run. By the time the baby was 15 minutes old, he could run.

Today must have been an important birthing day for the Wildebeest! We found mothers and babies herded together away from the long streams of those on the move and crowds of others grazing. Again we assume that in order to protect the baby from being trampled, lost in the herd or singled out by a predator, new mothers and babies stick together, separate from the rest of the herd until the baby is strong enough to run with some degree of speed and endurance.

Barack found a dry spot for our late picnic breakfast. He and our new game spotter, Marabee laid out boiled eggs, sausages, watermelon and breads. We brought our small laptop along so that as we all ate; Baraka could see all the photos we've taken so far. He loved seeing them -- I hope you do too! Some are really quite nice!! Up over our breakfast place we spotted three giraffes, a male, a female and her baby. The mom saw us looking at them and became very concerned. She eyed us the whole time we were there. These are truly huge and magnificent animals!

Later we found a group of five hyena relaxing in a pretty waterhole. Finally before heading back to camp or lunch, we found another pair of lions who were watching long streams of Wildebeest go by. Their stomachs were round so these lucky Wildebeests did not have to worry about losing their lives this day.

The highlight of our evening drive was a herd of Wildebeests consisting of nothing but mothers and their new babies. The day-old babies had gained strength and learned to use their legs. What fun they had! They ran and ran from one end of the small nursery herd to the other and then back to their own mom to touch base. They jumped for the pure sake of jumping and some learned to kick their heels for joy. They played chase with one another and ran until they had to go back to the mother for milk. It was simply glorious - and a bit sad to think what treachery these innocent babies must face in the next two years as they too become an adult.

Back in the camp we met with the other guests for the nightly camp fire, drinks and dinner. We all shared stories of our day and also shared a bit about ourselves. Tonight the group included a newly-wed couple from Singapore. He is an eye surgeon; the new wife's family owns a string of hospitals. There also was a family of four from Switzerland. Both the mother and father are doctors; she a dermatologist and he a physician specializing in AIDS. Their daughter is in med school and the son is studying Economics - he added that he's the only rebel in the family since everyone else is or will be a doctor. Another American couple from Seattle rounded out the full dinner table. Stan and I travel a great deal surely, but this couple has been everywhere, doing two big trips per year. In fact, this trip makes their 8th to Africa alone. Conversation around the table was lively, varied and great fun!