Friday Nov 4. Morning viewing drive. Lots to see. The coffee break was at the Park’s center, with a short walking tour describing the Park’s layout, history and current issues. More viewing. Return to camp for a late lunch, free time (90 minutes) and a second viewing drive. I bailed on the drive. I could tell that it would reurn late and there would be a rush to dinner. I’m tired of rushing. I spent the time contemplating where I was. Also deleted 500+ photos out of 650. Took a leisurely shower and arrived on time for dinner, which was then delayed 30 minutes for others to get settled.

The camp is literally temporary, as are most camps. Per Park rules. The idea is that if everyone knows that they’ll have to tear it down annually (and go through an inspection), they won’t mess up the grounds. The camp is a wonder of simplicity and glamour camping. A bucket containing cold water for gravity toilet flushing and sinks, a raised bucket filled manually for hot showers, so hot water lines don’t have to be run. Solar power at each tent. A generator runs for five hours to let people charge things.

Thursday, Nov 3. The Ngorongoro Crater is a geographical wonder, which we will visit next week. For now we drove along the rim on our way to Serengeti National Park. Rough road, of course. This time on the rim of a crater. Saw a truck that had gone off the road. Lots of traffic with very little passageway. Climbed to 7,600 feet, into fog, making the scenic overlook useless. Emanuel says it’s always foggy in the morning. The downhill stretch reveal numerous Maasai homesteads, which the government is trying to take away.

Once we hit flat land, the road became rough and very dusty. Very fine dirt. I put on a face cover. The official entrance of the Serengeti had a surprisingly nice rest stop, complicated by the presence of a lion, forcing the closing of the lookout. I had prepared an alien PB&J sandwich in the morning by “stealing” the jelly from the breakfast section. It was a welcome rest.

The forecast called for rain in the afternoon, much needed. Just as we turned off the main road for a viewing drive, rain clouds appeared. Very shortly afterwards the rain fell. It wasn’t much but it totally messed up the roadbed. The water didn’t drain, and it made the road incredibly slippery. At one point the truck’s rear wheels lost all traction and we went into a sharp skid, nearly overturning. We ended up unable to regain the center roadway and spent about 30 minutes in the shoulder, often getting temporarily stuck. But it all worked out eventually, the rain stopped, and the viewing began.

Saw at least 8 lions. One couple had just killed a water buffalo, leaving it under a tree while they rested. Blood was still on their lips and paws. Viewed many other animals.

The camp is basic. More on it tomorrow.

Thursday-Monday, Nov 3-7. No Wifi.

Wednesday, Nov 2. Feeling better. Not nearly so hot.

Visited a village that feels and looks like a living museum. The chief is big and impressive. Everyone, including the children, are extremely well behaved. “Set up”, is all I could think. But even if it was mostly for show, it was done well. I used my balloons to charm the children.

A short drive to Ngorongoro. Sounds like its spelled. Higher elevation, with cooler temperatures and much greener pastures. Marvelous hotel with all the rooms facing out into a field. Great pool, though cold. Happy hour was free gin and tonic, due entirely to the fact that the gin is distilled in the country. It can stay in the country is my evaluation.

Tuesday, Nov 1. Very hot day. I’ve contracted an intestinal ailment. Limited sleep. Fortunately, we only spent the morning in the park. First we visited a dairyman with Dreams. Has a Brahman cow but wants to buy a different breed that provides more milk. Very focused.

The main draw of the day was discovery of a leopard up a tree. (I had to be woken up.) Got some great photos. Also saw a pride of lions. Nothing much else. Too hot to sleep, so I swam (to cool off), then napped. The leopard was terrific. The rest of the day can be forgotten.

Monday, Oct 31. Drove to Tarangire National Park. Along the way we stopped at two watering holes where we presented the filters we’d bought yesterday. Emanuel shown them how they worked. Several of us have doubts that they’ll be used properly. Hopeful. But their dire situation was so very sad. A person at the second hole said it was the first time they’d traveled to this one, and didn’t know where to find the next one when this one dried up.

See photos of the Park. It’s a lot hotter than I expected.

Checked into the lodge. Absolutely beautiful infinity pool, looking out over an open area that had vultures always and occasionally zebras, warthogs, mongooses, gazelles, and various birds. Idyllic. Pool was surprisingly clean. And Cool! Great way to relax. Dinner was outdoors, in the dark. Really, I couldn’t see the food.

Sunday, Oct 30. An easy day. First day of base tour. Briefing was delayed a little because one couple had set the wrong time.

The day was to hit some spotlights of Arusha life. First we visited a small factory that produces ceramic water filters, shaped like flower vases. Low tech solution to the problem of unclean water. Very innovative and simple process. The demonstration of turning very dirty water into clean water was impressive. Company is well named: ”Wine To Water”. The group collectively bought 15 filters ($750), which we’ll give away tomorrow somewhere along the way to our next stop.

Lunch included a variety of options, with the chef describing the recipes. Two main additives were curry and coconut, both on my “do not eat” list. But I found several choices that were very good. Serengeti beer.

Next was a visit to an Albino center. Albinos have a very rough time in Africa, both because they are viewed as evil, while their body parts are popular among witches. Sad and informative. They all had a positive attitude.

Returned to the hotel, where I spent some time in the pool. Cold and wonderful. Then I and two others join Emanuel, our Trip Leader, on a walkabout. Very poor neighborhood. We spent time with several people, having their life explained. Emanuel gave each one some money in thanks. I took some photos and blew up some balloons. Brought some smiles.

Hot water in my shower stopped working. Maintenance fixed it.

Saturday, Oct 29. No photos This was a long day of travel. “African Massage” (rough road) drive to small airplane. Flight to another airfield. Transfer to a (relatively) large airplane. Flight to Nairobi. Van to hotel to pick up left bags. Drive to border, eating (or not, in my case) a box lunch. A smooth road! Heaven. Except for lots of speed bumps. Got through customs to leave Kenya and enter Tanzania, fortunately both in a single building. Transfer to another van required wading through a crowds of women selling stuff. Neither van had AC worth mentioning.

Minor sand storms. Rain is desperately needed. Stopped at a typical weekly market. Depressing. Small boys tagging along trying to sell us sewing needles. All five of us are well-traveled OAT people, so foreign markets are nothing new. We could have skipped it.

The hotel/resort is okay. Nice bar. Has a Bar Beagle(?). Kilimanjaro beer. South African Footprint Pilotage Rose. Nice outdoor dinning venue.

Friday, Oct 28. Early departure to get to the balloon launch site, across the Preserve. Along the way, spotted a herd of cattle and its herdsman. Our pilot later explained that it’s illegal to bring cattle onto the Preserve, reason being that lions follow them out of the park, then townsfolk kill the lions. Ben, who today became very native, gave a slightly different version, essentially that yes, it might be wrong, but the land is the tribe’s.

Balloon pilot is a senior British fellow who arrived at ballooning via a serious accident while pursuing his hobby in paragliding. Voice was totally Michael Caine. We got our briefing (12 passengers) and away we went. Beautiful sunrise. There weren’t many animals, but enough to be satisfying. The vistas were unforgettable. See photos. We landed in the less preferable sideways position, but it was actually a lot of fun to be seated facing up, like an astronaut. Drove to a prepared site for breakfast and sparking wine. Discovered that my two companions in our corner of the basket were from San Diego! Too strange. Terrific experience.

On the way to join up with my OAT companions we encountered cheetah. Beautiful. We also learned that cheetahs do on the savanna what bears do in the woods. Next we spent time watching an elephant family. I could do that all day. Got up close to some giraffes.

After lunch and a siesta, we have a cultural briefing by Ben, who was fully clothed in traditional warrior garb. He described the disturbing (for me) traditions his tribe has for children transitioning into puberty. Etc. It was troubling that the discussion was all about continuing their traditions and nothing about the challenges facing his tribe (i.e., they are ranchers facing a permanent drought).

I was too tired for the evening viewing drive.

Thursday, Oct 27. A full day drive. Rough roads were even rougher. We drove west to the Mara River, which flows west to Lake Victoria. There were sleepy hippos in the river. We had a picnic at the turnaround point, consisting of rice, beef, chicken, etc. Flies were everywhere, so I finally put my head net to use. Eating was a bit difficult. During the drive in each direction we stopped for many birds, most of who never flew. I used a cool feature of my camera to capture the flights of some that did take to the air. Without the feature I’d have had no hope.

However, the day’s big story was sighting a leopard and several cheetahs. We were one of the first trucks at the leopard “viewing”, but were rapidly joined by a stampede of trucks from all corners, ignoring safety and “stick to the road” rules. The leopard soaked up the entertainment value, calmly walking through the fields, then walking through the parked trucks! Not a care in the world. Driver said this attitude was highly unusual. We also saw cheetahs before and after the leopard. In my opinion, the cheetah is prettier. Both species have respectable teeth.

We stumbled onto what appeared to be an hyena convention. If fact, we have now seen not only the Big 5 (the leopard being the fifth), but also the Ugly 5 (wildebeest, warthog, Hyena, and two birds). The lack of sharp focus in my photos has a lot to do with distance and waves of rising heat.

Learned about ant lions (which eats other ants), plus a variety of trees that protect agains malaria.

Tomorrow morning I take a $$$$ balloon ride. I had to sign a waiver that even included “operator error” in its list of things I must waive. Not too happen about that.