May 14, 2013 First, I
apologize for being so tardy in updating the blog. We are up at 6 am, breakfast at 7 am and on
the move at either 7:30 or 8 am. The day
ends at about 9 pm after drinks, entertainment, and dinner. I am worn out as much because our activity as
I am about riding on these roads. With
few exceptions, the roads are dirt roads that have been washed out leaving ruts
that are a foot deep. While the rainy
season has ended, the washouts and ruts remain.
We have had marvelous weather although it is very chilly here on the
NGORONGORO rim which is at 7,500 feet above sea
level.
Over the past five days we have visited an orphanage and
school, a Massai village, ate lunch at a wonderful Plantation, toured Tarangire
with giraffes, elephants, birds, and tsetse flies. We were treated on our last
day with a pride of lions sitting on a termite hill. We have had a full day in Ngorongoro with its
abundance of wildebeasts, zebras, warthogs, kori bustards, crowned cranes,
ostriches, water buffalo, hippos, and a pride of lions that insisted on taking
a nap in the shade of our safari land rovers.
Last night and tonight we were treated to entertainment at
the Serena Lodge. African drum bands,
acrobats, and Massai chorus were very entertaining. Also, singing happy birthday was a big event
(we had two of our party celebrate birthdays) with at least twenty cooks,
waiters, servers, etc singing in Swahili.
They put Ruby Tuesday or Cancun birthdays to shame.
Our guides/drivers have been first class. Grayson, Modie, Sam (who claims I am his
cousin), and Shadrack are all under thirty five and very knowledgeable about
the animals and birds. They make the
miles (or kilometers) zoom by. We had
lunch in Arusha on the way to Tarangire with the manager of the NAIPENDA Safari
Company and he presented us with Tanzanian wine (most of what we drink is South
African) which is very sweet.
I am off to bed as we are going further in the bush to Ndutu
tomorrow. The roads are not promised to
be paved. But I am looking for a sun
rise like we had this morning.
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