Day 16, 20 July 2012, On Safari in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania - "Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right... Here I am, stuck in the middle with you" - We found this bemused bloke on the side of the main road that links Iringa with Dar es Salaam. Via a national park if you can believe it! We travelled 280 km over 5 hours to get from Kisolanza to tonights luxurious accommodations at www.tan-swiss.com and after snaffling a quick lunch jumped into a game truck for an afternoon game drive into Mikumi N.P. The incongruity of having dozens of petroleum tankers, coke trucks and container lorries pounding past us on the highway as we spotted giraffes, elephants, impala and the ubiquitous yellow baboons does not escape us. Neither does the fact that once we turn off the main drag and head into the park itself it seems like all the wildlife has taken a half day Friday. Mikumi is, apparently, home to lions as well as the wildebeests, warthogs, buffalo, vultures, elephants, giraffes and zebra that we saw. But today the lions are all hiding in long grass and refuse to show themselves - we have faith in the Serengeti to serve up a lion. Speaking of serving up... Come to Africa, See the Wildlife. Then eat it. Dinner was a huge surprise and we tucked into kudu-stew. A delicacy that is hard to come by in most of Africa as eating the continent's meal ticket is frowned upon. We can honestly say it doesn't taste like chicken - probably more so a very richly flavoured venison. So while there is one less lonely kudu in the world, there are however squillions of Baobab Trees. We travelled through Baobab Valley today. The locals say that if you see a tree small enough to put your arms around, then all your dreams and wishes will come true. The valley is full of Baobabs - also known as the upside down tree - and it has a multitude of uses for both people and wildlife - food, rope, paper, cloth and the bark and oil from the seeds have medicinal properties. One of nature's department stores it seems. On that note, we are starting to think of anything we need as tomorrow brings a trip to the city of Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania in all but name.