Day 8
I am writing in the back of our vehicle which is very bumpy as we go into and out of massive potholes which are the norm on these roads. Three large giraffe just ran in front of our car, with their long necks swaying and their long legs splayed at an angle to keep their balance. It takes your breath away. We pass over a number of “bridges” which are concrete slabs placed over a small stream of water, no rails of any kind and barely wide enough for the safari vehicles
On our route out of the park to head back down to the central Serengeti, we pass through a small village where there are concrete block store fronts with fruit hanging from their fronts or more rickety wooden structure used for selling food with a few bananas and other fruit and vegetable for sale. Many houses have large black plastic containers for water nearby for their every day use .
The road is so rough that there is a risk of my computer now flying up out of my hands. I have my seat belt on but it is uncomfortably tight and I dare not loosen it. I hear from our guide that I missed seeing a local Masai boy dressed up in a very high end tribal outfit, the equivalent of designer clothes.
We just passed through a small town outside the Serengeti Park. There are many people with brightly colored rectangular cloths wrapped around their waist carrying heavy bundles balanced on their heads. There’s a man with a huge load of socks for sale walking among the cars at the petrol station we stop at to use the rest room (which was a clean squat toilet). If we knew what material the socks were made of we might be interested! The.store fronts have mostly metal roofs, which most be hot in the summer heat. Earlier we passed school children in their blue uniforms, including sweaters, which looked rather warm for this sunny day. Every time we pass a group of school children they wave to us and often shout out “candy”. Obviously tourists have given them treats along the way.
The crops along the road are corn, potato, sugar cane, onions and coffee beans. We passed some sunflowers probably harvested for sunflower oil. The newer buildings are mud brick and must be sturdy until the rains come heavily down. The many churches in the villages seemed to be clustered together in one area, small buildings with a sign outside displaying their particular denomination. Once outside the limits of a village it is spare acacia trees on dry grass and a long dusty road.
Our guide tells us that one of the firsts Presidents of Tanzania determined that there should be no counting of population by tribe or religion. And this has prevented the kind of warfare which exists some times in Kenya where the two largest tribes clash for dominance. In fact we are told that in secondary school, you may be required to go some distance away so that there is a mixture of ethnicities and cultures within each school. Some people from Kenya move temporarily to Tanzania during election time because the risk of violence is great.
We just passed a few new homes with solar panels on the roof, and closed windows for air conditioning. These are the rangers housing area which must be a big perk for the park employees. And then we are back into the park.
We continue to have various animal sightings along our way back to the Acacia Central Camp where we had stayed before. There are numerous impalas and gazelles and the occasional lion in the grass on the side of the road.
Suddenly, our guide shouts out “Rhino!” and there running across a field is a rhino which hides in a bush area. We can see the movement of a baby rhino as well through binoculars. This is a special sighting and our guide begins calling on his walkie-talkie to let our other vehicle. Soon we are surrounded by others who have heard the call and are as excited as we are. We are not quite quick enough to get a good photo but Shira has captured a somewhat blurry photo of the rhino running to at least prove the truth of our sighting! Drake with his zooms lens also caught it but I can not upload his photos at this time.
We have seen several pods of hippos in this area. Wherever there is a muddy watering hole there seem to be groups of these very large animals almost entirely submerged. In one we saw a fight between two giants with a lot of splashing. And they are very smelly.
Along the road we see one of the many Cape Buffalo we have seen in single or small groups along our way. These are actually considered one of the “Big Five” dangerous animals in Africa. And, with our rhino sighting today, we have seen all 5: Lion, Elephant, Leopard, Rhinoceros and Cape Buffalo.
A very satisfying time for all of us!
Back at the relatively luxurious Central Camp, we played dictionary again, with words like pogonip and gamomania. and enjoyed our dinner and time together. There is a magnificent sunset and sunrise here on the central plain of the Serengeti.
