February 10, 2014

It's threatening rain again. I'm still hoping for a clear night to see the stars. I may have to wait for our time later in Botswana.

My lovely head cold is in full bloom, but fortunately, the camp, its gracious people, the animals and the adventure distracts me.

Our drive started a few minutes earlier today. We thought that an earlier arrival at the herd might allow us to actually see the full birth of a Wildebeest. We looked and looked and drove and drove but that was not to be today. We did find a mother Wildebeest who had just given birth—how do I know?? The placenta was still attached. Ok, I know, that's TMI. She had lost her calf and could not find it. Another female was with her; it was as she was trying to help hthe new mother. The two had veered far away from the moving herd. Barack, our guide, noticed vultures in the distance. We drove there and yes, we don't know if the calf was born dead, or if a predator had killed it immediately after birth, but there was very little left of the body, only tiny ribs and leg bones. It was very sobering.

I don't know why but we did not see much more on this drive. We did see a group of three Giraffes and four Cape Buffalo. We saw a number of birds, eagles, vultures and storks—surprisingly some of the storks here are scavengers like buzzards and vultures.

We enjoyed our picnic breakfast which is served each day on the tail gate of the Land Rover. Today we had tea, boiled eggs, ham, sweet pancakes with honey and watermelon served on shiny metal plates. It was quite civilized for breakfast in the bush.

Afterwards we noticed four ostriches on the horizon. There were three males and two females. Two of the males were doing their dance to catch the attention of the females. Both of the suitors fluffed their wings, flounced their tail feathers, stamped their feet out in front of them and swooped their head and long neck up and down. But they got no action.

As we made our way back to camp later for lunch and a good hot shower, we found three Giraffes munching an Acacia tree. The female Giraffe had a young one and completely stopped eating to watch us and make sure her baby was safe. The massive male was farther back in the trees and made no concern for us. He just continued to eat from the top of the tree.

I think of all we have seen and witnessed, the most awesome sight and phenomenon is the number of Wildebeest congregated here and traveling together. They are from horizon to horizon and sometimes are in tight herds, others small groups are going North, South, East or West, grazing as they walk and eventually coming back together, but in the end, most of the migration is done single-file, in clock-wise direction all around the Serengeti following the water and the grasses. Zebra accompany them and work along with them to eat the taller grasses to force the growth of younger new grass for the Wildebeest. Other non-migrating animals follow the migration as well. Big cats like lions, Cheetah and Leopards must follow the migration or be left without food. The same is true for scavengers such as Hyena, Jackals, Vultures, Bustards, and Storks. So goes life on the plains of Tanzania.

For our late afternoon drive, our guide worked overly hard trying to make it something very special for us. We went far our near the boundaries of our permit. While we did not see lions mating, or a Cheetah making a kill, we did find a rarely seen Aardwolf. This variety of hyena is much smaller than his cousin, the Spotted Hyena. His fur is almost white, tinged with black, and he has a big fluffy tail like a fox. And unlike other hyenas, he is not a scavenger. We got a few good pictures—everyone at our camp was envious. But no worries, they all saw wonderful and rare things as well.

The rest of the drive was almost too sad to document. We found a baby Grant's Gazelle that could only be one day old at the most. We were elated. He was tightly curled up under the leaves of some tall weeds. His mother and "aunt" were worriedly standing lookout. He bleated and we let him go so that he could return to his mother. As we drove away, we saw three Spotted Hyena on the hunt. They heard him and zeroed in on him hiding in the leaves. He did not cry. They did not fight. The alpha Hyena simply picked him up and started eating him. We were and still are a bit sick and in shock.

We also found two baby Wildebeest who had lost their way and decided to hone in our vehicle. We tried to shoo them away, and we tried to drive in another direction but they ran and ran, almost following us and the faster we drove, the faster the youngsters ran. Finally, finally, we saw another heard and drove toward it. The little guys followed. We only pray that mother Wildebeest who has already lost her young will adopt these two little guys.

Tomorrow we leave Tanzania and the Serengeti. We have enjoyed it so. We made sweet connections with people here, Beyond at the Onsea House, Kevin, our well-informed guide who taught us much about the local culture and who also had a great sense of humor for Lake Manyora and the Ngorangoro Crater; Barack, and our very intelligent and hard-working guide and his two game spotters, Tsaibul and Mlagi who introduced us to the Serengeti. Finally, I simply have to say that I don't know how we became so lucky as to have arrived at the Alex Walker Camp. Alex and Robin, it was wonderful, rugged, yet luxurious. You left no detail undone. Stan and I agree, we are going to miss our late-night escorts to our tent by flashlight by our Maasai camp guard. We will miss the gentle wake-up by your morning porter and the wonderful pot of coffee he left for us. We will miss the warm water shower just delivered to the overhead bucket outside our tent. We will fondly remember the wonderful nightly campfire and the gourmet lunches and dinners we had with you and other guests at the big round table in the dining tent. And we will miss the nightly bed turn-down, complete with hot water bottle for staving off the chill of the night. We made good friends here, had a wonderful experience, and I must say, yours is my style of camping!

February 11, 2014

Today was 100% travel. We took three hops of a 12-seater airplane from Serengeti airstrip to Lake Manyora, to Arusha. The we had a three-hour layover before boarding a true jet to Nairobi. Yikes, Nairobi is big, overly populated with 4 million people. On our long drive from the airport, made long because we arrived perfectly at rush hour, it seems a contrasting mix of new growth, crumbling buildings, dirt sidewalks and a modern-looking city center. Our driver was wonderful and gave a quick education Nairobi high points. He even pointed out the ghetto we passed that is home to 800,000 people, I asked if it was unsafe and he said, no, he takes guests for tours through the ghetto quite often. We were not interested.

Finally we arrived at the Palacino. Ok I think this is the most fabulous place we have ever seen. Our driver checked-in for us while we relaxed o fluffy sofas. We were promised a jug of freshly brewed coffee at wake-up tomorrow and then we reached the suite. Stunning!! Beautiful sitting room, separate kitchen, bedroom with its own sitting room, walk-in closet and a bath fit for royalty. And, phooey, wouldn't you know it, we must leave at 8 am tomorrow morning.