Safari Day Three

Well, the sounds of the bush that are so enchanting in daylight, are not so enchanting at night... Neither of is slept too well in our tented lodge. I think it was the man escorting us back with a gun and a torch, which he kept flashing all around in the pitch darkness which put the heeby-jeebies up us. That and the snarling/ growling/ barking/ howling in the middle of the night. And there are no dogs! Plenty of hyenas, though.

Today we went back into the Serengeti National Park and headed for the hippo pool. What a treat that was! We could get out of the jeep and go and look at them. What a sight! Maybe fifty or so, just wallowing. They are expert wallowers. They were snorting and submerging to blow bubbles. They browse all night, and keep cool in the water and snooze all day. I could have watched them for hours. Of course, I had to wait until I caught a yawn! I missed several, but eventually caught one.

Highlights today: hippos wallowing; gazelles a-leaping across the road right in front of us; a giraffe walking up the road towards us, looking in as it passed us by, inches away, with his nose in the air; a couple of tiny wee dik-diks - the smallest antelope; the cute little meerkat-like animals who hung around the picnic site and came looking for crumbs; two cheetahs lying on branches in classic poses of legs dangling; a small group (6) of elephants of all sizes, including a teeny tiny one, probably about a month old, crossing the road and walking off in line; seeing the group of Maribou Storks sitting by the river, hanging out their humungous wings in the breeze; the lone wildebeest who escaped from the lion yesterday lived to face another day. He's MILES from his friends, so I don't hold out much hope for him long term; pudding - banana tart, custard tart, and chocolate mousse - help yourself.

Marco told us about how the Masai deal with their dead, as we had been wondering... They kill a goat, and smear the dead body with the fat, then leave it out for the animals to deal with. He also told us about two Masai taking a very sick friend to hospital and blagged a lift from someone. They then asked the driver to stop, as they wanted to pick up something from a house. And they legged it and left the driver with a dead body!

We were back at our lodge about 4pm today - yesterday it was a nine hour day and we got in late. It was nice to have a beer and relax and go across to the bar area earlier to charge the batteries (literally). No wifi, no plugs, electricity off at midnight. They have a huge bank of different sockets in the restaurant for everybody's techie gear.

Had a nice chat with a chap I'd spotted earlier with a huge lens, taking a photo of an eagle perched on a tree stump (too far away for me). Told him about blip, of course.

Outside our tent is a big tree that four spectacular Maribou storks like to roost in. Amazing sillouette!