Oct. 1

What a lazy afternoon around the pool can do for you after having bumped and grinded along African safari roads for three days.
And we got some good sleep.
Had a leisurely morning - got up, showered, had a couple cups of coffee and headed to brekkie around 8:30 a.m.
       Alfred took us to the airstrip at 10 a.m. A half-hour drive on paved roads was exquisite. Our flight was delayed an hour so we didn't leave for the Serengeti until around 11:30 a.m.
       A few words about Tloma Mountain Lodge that has been our home the last three night and two days. It's a lovely space. Our cabin looks out over a beautiful flower garden with a manicured vegetable garden just beyond the trees. There's rows and rows of cabbage, spinach, beets and what we believe might be broccoli, except it is much taller stalks than our broccoli.
       There is a beautiful lodge at the top of the hill where we could use the internet, entertain ourselves at happy hour and eat. And the pool was wonderful.
       It was a good stay.
       The flight was spectacular. We took off and flew over the Great Rift Valley escarpment, Lake Manyaro and Ngorongoro Crater. It was beautiful. Then we flew over the southern portion of the Serengeti, which looked flat and dry and dusty. We landed at an airstrip to refuel then took off again over the northern part of the Serengeti, which is near Kenya. It is much greener.
       What we didn't expect when we got on the ground was the hilly landscape with large boulders and more trees than we expected. It took about 45 minutes to get to our camp.
       The camp is a mobile camp; it's a bush camp. We have a large tent but it has electricity (read: lights), a toilet and a bucket shower.
       We got settled, then we took off for an evening safari. Alfred had told us to ask to see Mama Julie, which is a mother rhino who has a baby, and apparently she's very calm and vehicles can approach her.
       Our guide, Severin, told us he had heard a rumor that Papa Julie had been spotted so off we took on a mission. And we saw him! He wasn't very close to the road but you could see him in the binoculars.
       Speaking of binoculars, we were accompanied by two sisters from Australia who did not have binoculars. A safari trip without binoculars? Go figure. But we shared ours with them.
Not only did we see the rhino, we also saw some other animals we haven't seen yet including mongoose and klipspringers (a small antelope).
       But even more exciting, we saw our first leopard! He was lying on a large rock and apparently had been injured, as we saw a flesh wound on his thigh. I got a couple good photos - one in which he is yawning.
       We headed back to camp, and the sunset was beautiful. I didn't get a photo because I didn't ask      
       Severin to stop because it was late, and we needed to get back to camp.
       A herd of wildebeest greeted us when we turned into camp. Apparently, they move through the camp area at night so we have a couple of guys with bows and arrows patrolling the perimeter of the camp at night.
       We took a shower - a brief shower. One of the guys filled the outside barrel with hot water so you turn it on to get wet, close it, soap and then you can rinse.
       Went up to the bar (yes, there is a bar in the bush), got a beer and sat down at the nice campfire to meet the other guests. Tonight, there are six women: the sisters from Australia, us and a mother/mom duo from New Zealand.
       We ate a sumptuous pumpkin soup and rosemary bread before proceeding to a delicious lamb stew, potatoes, vegetables and a salad. Yep, an awesome meal in the bush.
       It happened to be mom's birthday (from New Zealand), and the guys (yes, there's probably about 15 guys working here) sang and danced as they brought out a birthday cake. It was totally awesome!
We shared a bottle of champagne on the house and the birthday cake then bid adieu to our fellow travelers.
       The Kiwi women are leaving tomorrow, and we're going on an all-day safari with the Aussies. Odd thing about the Aussies: they pretty much just watched the road as we were on safari this afternoon instead of searching for animals (which we definitely did).
       We'll see how it goes tomorrow. We were supposed to have our own private guide so we can stop whenever and, well, regardless of whether we have the Aussie women or not - I'll make sure Severie stops when we want him to do so! Ha!
     

We saw this leopard on our first safari drive in the Serengeti. He/she has a would on her thigh, and she yawned - she was probably tired!

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