It was back to the dirt air strip and a short flight back to Nairobi.
We them boarded our 4 x 4 vehicles that would take us to Amboseli National Park and more animals to ogle…
Our accommodations have been lovely. The beds are comfortable, the bathrooms more than adequate and the food has been great. We have mostly buffets with multiple meat and vegetable selections. The desserts look good but they are not as liberal with sugar as we are in the States.
We had to get up early at 6 am to get a look at the famous Mt Kilimanjaro because during the day it is in a cloud. It is the highest single mountain at 15,000 in the world (that is not in a range). Because Kenya has had a three year drought the mount has lost 80% of the snow cap. Rock climbing is possible.
Ambroseli has all of the “Big Five” (lions, elephants, leopards, rhinoceros and Cape buffalos) but the elephant is king. They have been tracked since the 1980’s and have been able to escape the ravages of poaching.
This little guy was about two days old. He was still wobbly and has white feet.
Warthogs make the “Ugly Five” list but the piglets sure are cute.
Wilder-beasts usually travel in a large group, often in a straight line following a leader. Zebras join them because the are better protected from the cats who like to have them for dinner.
We also visited a Maasai village and learned about their daily activities. They lead a simple existence and live in small groups. The houses are made of mud and cow dung.
The Chief (of 2000 tribespeople) showed us how they start a fire with cedar and acacia sticks.
The most amazing thing I learned about this tribe is that all the children go to school from 5 years to 14 years. University is available to those that qualify. All the children speak their language but learn English.
Our next camp was in Tarangire National Park in Tanzania.
This was the view from the pool.
The Baobab trees are plentiful and grow darn big.
Over the next few days on our Safari rides we were treated to viewing magnificent wildlife.
And an incredible number of beautiful birds:
Vultures hang around and are good sanitation workers.
But the most phenomenal sight was a flock of about 200,000 flamingos—mind blowing! They feed in a salt water lake on shrimp. They get their pink from the shrimp. In the first picture there is a little fresh water stream and they go in that to take a bath.
We have enjoyed a number of “discovery and learning” experiences about the people who live in Africa. We had a wonderful home cooked lunch at Mt Wa Mbu.
A banana beer and wine tasting at a local “craft” shack. Beer made from bananas and mullet. It’s in the green cup. They pass it around. I guess it is an acquired test.
Hand prepared coffee—from growing to roasting and packaging. Coffee is arabica and harvested from May to November. It takes 40 minutes to roast the cleaned beans. This family can produce 22 lbs a day. They have a growers co op and sell locally and to Starbucks—who knew?
Our lasts visits before we move on was to the Bushmen and Blacksmith tribes.
The Bushman were given land by the government where they are permitted to hunt the native animals. This is me bonding with the women.
They live in thatched huts and move when the animals get scarce.
The children do not go to school. While most of the tribes in Africa practice polygamy they are monogamous except if the husband isn’t a good hunter……then the wife can “dump” him for a more prolific hunter.
They trade honey for marijuana and smoke freely. I didn’t inhale!
They cooked a tasty little mouse (they dug it out of it’s tunnel) for us to try. There wasn’t much to go around. I thought it tasted like chicken. Mine at 309 are much fatter.
The last stop today was to a Blacksmith tribe. This tribe scavenges for metal everywhere. They make very sharp arrows and jewelry. The bracelet I bought was made out of a brass faucet.
We are off on a BUMPY 5 hour ride to the Serengeti tomorrow. The Main Street is paved but the problem is that we can’t take those roads and the other roads are mud or “washboard” (hard packed mud and stone ridges).
The only animals we haven’t seen are the male lion and the leopard. May the animals gods be with us!
Barb Does The World 
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