An entry in the TFS Travel Journal
Awoke at 6:30, ugh! (did I really used to do this?) We set off in the Land Rover with Jules and Marie from E. 72nd Street and John, today’s guide whose english was unfortunately not up to our other guides’ levels. Early on, right by the airstrip, we saw a few large giraffes, one of whom let us get up close and personal. (Marie is a professional photographer and is traveling with several cameras, so each photo stop tends to drag on and on) Then it was much driving to get back out into the unforgettable, endless plains, passing a few hyenas and jackals on the way. After some of the usual ostriches, a few more giraffes, bat-eared foxes, and some gazelles, we stopped for a light picnic breakfast under a large acacia tree.
We set off again, and shortly John spotted a pride of lions, which turned out to contain 12, with some cubs, young males, and large females. We got quite close to them, as they just sat and preened for our cameras (helped by Wendy’s inter-species conversational skills) before periodically edging the cubs away as we would inch closer. They were right in the middle of the vast herds of zebras and wildebeast, which continued their slow migration while giving the pride a wide berth, and always having a few zebras act as guards watching the lions from about 80 feet away. (the grass around was relatively short, so the lions couldn’t have stalked successfully, as the zebras and wildebeast could have outrun the lions with that head start)
We finally left them alone and drove through, around, in and out of the tens of thousands of slowly migrating animals. We saw more wildebeast and gazelle kills (which smelled pretty awful) being finished off by vultures as hyenas walked away sated, and once saw a pair of vultures carrying off a half-eaten bird of some sort in their claws. We also saw many adorable little baby zebras, whose stripes are a mocha-brown color and become black as they get older. The sky was clear, and though it was cool when we set off, it warmed up as the morning wore on. By 11:30 or so, we’d seen enough so we requested John to take us back to camp.
We got home, freshened up, then had lunch with the group in the mess tent, comparing stories of kills seen (hyenas attacking a freshly-newborn wildebeast, a cheetah kill of a baby gazelle which was then consumed by a dozen cheetahs) and animals spotted. Lunch was a good pasta with spinach. We then went back to the tent for a much appreciated several hours of lying on a not-moving, not-bumpy, not-buggy bed. Around 6, we took our first bucket showers: an attendant hoists up a large bucket of very hot water, and you turn on the shower in your tent. The pressure was fine (certainly as good as some hotels we’ve stayed in!), but the trick is waiting until the water has cooled to the temperature you would like. Around 7:45, we headed back to the mess tent for dinner.
We enjoyed a pureed vegetable soup and some delicious talapia - a regional fish - in a perfectly spiced coconut sauce, served with papadum and vegetables. After dinner, we went outside to watch the incredible panoramic lightning show that had begun. In a little while the rain started, so we all went to our tents for the night. The two of us stood out on our veranda for a bit watching the lightning, seeing the sky lit up like daytime, along with some huge bolts right in front of us which were blindingly bright. After one of these knocked out the power, we used our two flashlights and read for a while, listening to the thunder and the rainstorm on the tent and in the trees, and continuing to see lightning like big flashbulbs popping brightly outside our tent screens.