Today we left at 8:30 for our plane ride to the northern Serengeti. We said our farewell to Angel, Fortune and the rest of the staff at Dunia Camp. Our regular drivers Raphael, Emmanuel and Chande drove us to the airstrip in central Serengeti where we said adieu to those three perfect guides. Esto, our naturalist, accompanied us. The plane was SMALL, 14 passengers! The flight was quite pleasant in the Cessna Grand Caravan with our pilot Harry. We were able to observe the migration lines of zebra and wildebeest in the grassy terrain. Arrived at Kogatende at 10:25 after a 25 minute flight.
All 12 of us plus left in 2 open Toyota safari vehicles, each equipped with Mkias, fly swatters made of animal hair, to wend our way to Sayara Camp. There are bigger trees here and it's hillier and the roads are muddy and deeply rutted. We arrived at Sayara Camp at 11:30 and were,as usual, greeted warmly with cool, wet wash cloths. The camp has elaborate tents, a dining room, a lounge area and a natural pool built into the rocks. We freshened up, unpacked a little, relaxed on our canopied deck and went to lunch at 1. Lunch was a salad spread with sorbet for dessert. Bea and I then spent some time at the pool.
At 4 we went on safari. Saw many impalas before arriving at the Mara River. There we saw a harem of Impala, all females with one male. An all male group is called a bachelor of Impala! We observed the points for migration which will start in a week or so. As of the 2000 census, there were 1.6 million wildebeests, 700,00 zebras and 330,00 gazelles in the area. Many, many more now! We observed a crocodile lounging on a rock in the river and another croc moving around on a sandbar. We also saw some hyrex on the rocks. Hyrex is of the elephant species because of its bone structure and because it has internal testicles. But, it looks like a rodent! Also saw a leopard.
Back at the camp, we had cocktails at the fire pit and then dinner Al fresco. Conversation and wine were flowing! Tomorrow we start at 7!! So, off to bed.
2 comments:
Once again I went online to check out your new digs and couldn't find "Sayara Camp" but I did find "Sayari Camp" - is that it?
And when I googled Mkias I came up w/nothing - curious at to what it is?
Can't stop thinking and praying about tomorrow and Suzanne. Her last entry brought me to tears as I sure it did you.
Love to all & God Bless,
Pam
Whoops, forgot to ask if you had to jettison anything to meet the 30 lb weight limit?
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