Safari Day Two

Where to begin? What about with the Viewpoint to End All Viewpoints- the Ngorongoro Crater! What an awe-inspiring sight.

We saw just about everything today, including a leopard, hippos, vultures, giraffes, elephants, wildebeest. We even happened upon a hunt! We saw a lioness stalking a lone wildebeest. The wildebeest, we assumed, was sick. It was walking along, parallel to the road, a hundred yards or so away, and would stop now and then to look around. The lioness would freeze. We drove along a bit and watched, in mounting horror, as the hunter was getting nearer... Then we cheered as the wildebeest suddenly realised what was happening and made a run for it! And what a speed they can go at!

We crossed the Serengeti Plains. It was spectacular. Vast grasslands as far as the eye could see, teeming with several hundred thousand wildebeest, zebras - every animal you'd expect. With few surprises, like a pregnant female hyena sniffing the air (for carcasses) right by the road. And we saw the heaviest flying bird in the world, the Kori Bustard, and Secretary birds - they're amazing. Mind you, the starlings are spectacular. I still say that even though I was sh*t on twice by them at lunch.

At one point, we stopped right by a small herd of elephants around acacia trees - a classic African scene. One elephant was only a few feet away from us. We could hear him breathing and munching. Magic!

It was a long (bone rattling) drive. Even my cheeks (the facial ones) were vibrating. The jeep's battery connection came loose! Actually, we do see quite a few broken down vehicles, but all the drivers seem to know each other and stop to check if they need help. They all seem to be mechanics, fortunately.

I had my shoes off to climb on the seats to look out of the open roof every so often. I suddenly felt a wee tickle on my toes. I looked down, and there was a whopping big dung beetle!! I squealed and opened the door to flick it out, but Marco thought I was going to jump out.

'Don't open the door! You're afraid of a dung beetle in the van, but open the door so that a lion can come in instead?'

But the highlight of the day was the visit to the Masai. We had a welcome, which was spine tingling - the women stood apart and sang, and the men did their jumping dance and singing.

The chief's son, who had been sent to learn English, showed us around. We sat inside a hut while he talked about their life. A Masai man can have up to ten wives. Each wife will have a minimum of seven children and possibly up to ten. Seventy children!! Mind you, many of the kids die of malaria.

He took us to the 'kindergarten'. Inside the wee hut were about twenty little tots, sitting up on rows of benches. There was a blackboard with chalked numbers to 100 and words in Swahili. But the toddlers were ready for us- they immediately stood up and sang a wee clapping song. It was soooo sweet. I took photos and showed each of them their picture, causing much laughter. What a delight that was.

BUT... The adventure really began when we got to our lodge for two nights! The accommodation is in 'tented lodges', each one spaced out far from the neighbour. There are 35 tents, and we were number 34 - ie miles from anywhere!! We were handed our room key, with a whistle attached.

'The whistle is for security' she chirruped and went on to tell us there were no plugs, no wifi, no electricity after midnight.

'Sorry... Security?'

'Yes. Blow it and a security man will come.'

I did not ask, 'How quickly will he come?'

We're just out of the Serengeti National Park. But the hyenas and lions don't know that, apparently...

We've just been for a very nice meal. We were escorted to the restaurant by a man with a bow and arrow.

We were escorted back after dinner by a security man with a torch and a gun!!!

This is a real adventure!