Friday, October 5, 2018

Oct. 3

       Well, I'm getting used to waking up around 6 a.m. Same routine, a cup of really good brewed coffee on our "veranda" after staff wake us, then off to brekkie and into the safari truck.
It was quite pleasant this morning. The sun came out and there was little cloud cover. It's a tad chilly when we start out but it soon gets warm enough to take off the fleece.
Our mission today was to find cheetahs. We drove for about an hour and a half to get to cheetah land. There were several giraffes that greeted us as we left camp and a small herd of wildebeest that, apparently, ran right next to our tent last night. We didn't hear or see anything.
I did see a large bat circling the light outside our camp last night but when it gets dark, it's dark. We have a couple of guys with bows and arrows that patrol the camp at night. They don't speak much English. They also accompany us to supper and back to our tent afterward.
We stopped to take a few scenic photos then we got to the grassland area where the cheetahs hang out. But just before we got there, there were a couple of vehicles parked among the boulders so we went to check it out.
It was a mama leopard with three cubs so we watched them for a while and got some photos.
About a half hour later, we spotted three lionesses. It looked like they perhaps were positioned and poised for a hunt, and that's why everyone was hanging around watching them. They didn't hunt, though. They wandered back under a tree for a bit, then across a water hole up a hill where there was a pride. We could barely see them through the trees but one of the lionesses was full of milk so we speculated that there were some pretty young cubs in the location to which they went.
We didn't see any cheetahs. But we did see a monitor lizard, a push-up lizard, some mongoose and a secretary bird - something Beth wanted to see. I didn't get a good photo because it was too far away, and it was walking away from us.
       Maybe this afternoon we'll spot another one.
We did, however, go to the international boundary between Tanzania and Kenya. We illegally crossed into Kenya but we had our passports with us. Ha! It's nothing more than a marker on a hill. You look to the north to Masai Mara reserve in Kenya; the Serengeti is to the south.
       As I sit and type the blog, there is thunder in the area, and it's the hottest day so far here in the Serengeti. Not a breeze to be had and before the clouds rolled in, it was steamy and hot.
Anywho, we napped a bit after the morning drive, ate lunch and we're awaiting our 3:30 p.m. appointment with Severin.
Severin was a little late, only because the plane that was taking the Aussies away was about two and one-half hours late. It was supposed to take off at 1:15 p.m., although there was some disagreement between the Aussies and Severin. It apparently didn't take off until 3:30 p.m. or so.
He ate a quick lunch, and we visited with Clarion. He's a staff member, and he's from the Paro tribe near Kilimanjaro. We talked about the different reserves in northern Tanzania, and he explained where wildebeests give birth and how they migrate to different areas. It was very interesting.
Off we went with Severin, drove through the rocks and happened upon a male leopard sleeping on a rock. As we drove, you could see rain all around the horizon but we kept dry.
Well, we kept dry until it started raining. Severin insisted we stay with the leopard until he got up, and he eventually did get up when the rain become more persistent. He climbed down a crevice, walked behind the truck and tucked himself under a bush to keep dry.
We weren't so lucky. It rained pretty hard before we could get our warm, cozy ponchos on but it was no big deal. We actually thought it was fun. Severin was having to clean the window with a cloth.
On the way back to the camp, we had a déjà vu moment when Severin stopped the vehicle and jumped out. Mind you, it was still raining. He had a windshield wiper and a pliers, and he proceeded to put the windshield wiper on the truck. We had something very similar happen in Ukraine when our hosts stopped the vehicle, jumped out, pulled windshield wipers from the trunk and proceeded to put them on. They had them in the trunk to keep someone from stealing them. I think the one windshield wiper wasn't on Severin's truck because he usually has the windshield folded down and the wiper would be in the way.
It was still drizzling when we arrived at camp. We took showers, downloaded photos and finished this blog.
It's raining so there probably won't be a campfire tonight.
And we don't know the plan for tomorrow.
        I'm only posting a few photographs, as we're in Stone Town and the internet is not fast. Sorry.

This is what we thought was a quail, but it's not. I'll identify it later, as our bird list is elsewhere. :)

A ballito tree on the Serengeti with the Great Rift Valley escarpment in the distance.

A giraffe we encountered.

A mama leopard with her cub.

A leopard stretching during a nap.

The rain on the plains of the Serengeti.




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