First Camp

DAY 1
WOKE UP AT RIVERTREES.

Were taken to the Arusha airport by Artur.
Caught a small Cessna (seemed very small to me!) to Loniola. Passed the Mountain of the God (an active volcano spitting sodium bicarbonate) Too many clouds to really view the ground.
We're met by our guide Robert who had coffee and cookies.

We ate by the runway at the airport. He took us on a bumpy ride through the preserve. The roads are not paved. We had a Range Rover.Before we got to the camp we saw wildebeests, zebra, ostrich, Thomson gazelle, and many birds.  Real. Right there. Doing their animal thing.
Sorta blew our minds.

We got to our nyumba. It is very comfortable. We had an orientation and a half hour off before lunch- Lamb pattie, fresh bread, grilled vegetables, salad, pineapple for dessert. Later in the afternoon a Maasai boy named Willy came and talked about the people. We went over to a real Masai boma.

Thomson has a plan of taking turns for visitors to different bomas. The residents get paid a stipend but the experience is real. This is no tourist attraction. Willy took us in a hut and explained how it works, we saw the different "rooms". It was very dark and very hot inside. There was a room to the gods of goats and cows, a room for calves. On the way home we saw many birds and more warthogs, zebra, gazelles. When we got home there were giraffes in camp who watched us as we tried to take their picture. Vodka tonics on the veranda.....
Had a three course dinner. Slept fitfully. It was windy. The tent flapped. Lots of night critters....


May 29
Morning walk on the 1200 acres. 7:00 am. We headed out with Pelele and Robert as our guide. We looked at many flowers. I stabbed myself with acacia, right through my jeans. No worries.  We walked among the zebras and wildebeests, surprised a warthog out of his ant hole and saw others.

We were watched constantly. We saw giraffe prints and crossed a field with zebras and gazelles to sight 16 giraffes.

We stood quietly long enough for them to come out of the woods and look at us. The expanse of plains ad trees, with the animals, being themselves. It was all pretty remarkable. see photo Walking back RObert said we were going to say hello to some scientists studying grasses. It was our Nyumba crew with a lovely breakfast set up for us in the bush. Tables, chairs, linen to serve coffee, pancakes, fruit, eggs and cereal. Jeez we are being treated like queens. They gave us hot water for showers when we came back. Laze around for a while before and after lunch.
After dinner we went for a night drive. Pelele held the big red spotlight and we tried to find night critters. We saw bat eared foxes, spring hare (a cross between a gerbil and a kangaroo) and many night creatures and day creatures taking a snooze. Very nice. Lots lots of stars.