Up this morning for a quick breakfast at 7, checked out, left with Peter, Bea, Tom and our driver Chande for the Serengeti. We passed rustling Acacia trees onto the endless plain of the Serengeti, which means endless plain!
Our first stop was the Oldupai Gorge where the Leakeys did their fossil work. There was an informative narrative done by a charming young lady with a great command of the English language. She explained the various levels of the gorge, the oldest of which is 2 million years old, and the discovery of homo erectus and homo sapiens.
On the next leg of our journey we saw dik-diks and a tower of giraffes who were going from tree to tree eating. They do this because, after a few minutes, the trees emit a distasteful liquid! We passed boma corrals for Maasai herds of cattle, sheep ang goats. The boma are made of bushes in a circle. Soon we were at a Maasai village where we had a tour.
At the village, Matthew, the son of the village chief, speaking in excellent English, introduced us to village life. The men of the village, dressed in traditional garb did a jumping dance. The women did the same. Joseph was Peter's and my guide around the village. He even showed us one of the huts where a family sleeps. Since the men are polygamous, each wife has a hut for herself and her own children. As a matter of fact, each woman builds her own hut, surmounted by a roof made of grass. SMALL!! After the tour, we surveyed the goods handmade by the village members all of whom are related. We ended the tour by buying 2 small carved animals and some jewelry and paid $90.00 in dollars! Way too much money but a good way to support the Maasai people.
At noon we left the Ngorongoro Conservation Area and entered the FLAT Serengeti. We soon saw jackals, gazelles and zebra and our first hartebeest, saddle bill stork and topi. Next we stopped to register for our balloon ride tomorrow and then proceeded to Dunia Camp. Along the way we observed our first leopards. They were snoozing on the limb of a tree, completely oblivious to us!!
Dunia Camp is another Asilia facility as was Oliver's camp. Asilia is a safari tour group based in Arusha and has planned and guided our safari in Tanzania. Our naturalist is Esto and our guide/drivers are Raphael, Emmanuel and Chande. They are 4 of the Asilia employees and have done a superb job!
At Dunia Camp we were greeted as we exited our vehicles with wet, warm wash cloths to refresh our hands and face after a fascinating but grueling 8 hour drive mostly on rutted dirt rods. Hence the "African massage and African poda!" Poda in translation means dust". Angel, the camp director, welcomed us and gave us the "lay of the land." We have raised tents, each with a deck, a zippered opening to the inside where there is a sitting area, a bedroom area with king size bed, a bathroom and a shower. We were able to rest a bit and take a shower before dinner; it's a bucket shower and I had to order the warm water and have it delivered to our tent. The water flow is controlled by a spigot! We then joined the others at"bush tv"for a drink around the fire before a great dinner with our group of 12 and then retired for the night at 9:30. We have to get up at 4:30 AM tomorrow and leave at 5 so we can start our balloon ride just before sunrise.
1 comment:
Always the educator - now I know that dik-diks & topis exist and are of the antelope family. Checked out your accommodations and again very impressive. The bucket shower looks like fun. A balloon ride at dawn should be spectacular. Sounds like they really keep you moving and doing - not much down time.
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