I Taw a Putty Tat!

It's been a day that makes the heat, the dust, and the insects seem not that bad. As we were stepping in for breakfast, a balloon with some of our fellow travelers floated by. To go on the balloon ride, you needed to sign up 24 hours in advance, sign a waiver, get up very early, and pay 500 dollars. It was the 500 dollars that stopped me. I might have gone for 200, or maybe even 250, but 500 just seemed like gouging. When we caught up to our friends later in the day, they said it was a spectacular view. I have no doubt that it was a great ride. I just didn't think it was worth 500 dollars.

This morning's game drive was cool and not dusty until the end. That was good because we sat still in the direct sun for a couple hours when Simba was spotted.

The guides have been telling us that we were a lucky group. In a week, safaris will stop because the rain season will begin, and yet rain has not been a problem for us. Add to that, we've been seeing every possible animal at the locations we've gone to. Today, we found two prides of lion. When I said "we" I mean the guides found them. We were their good luck charms.

The first pride was very large. At first, the dominant female had been spotted laying on a dirt mound. After we parked, someone spotted a few larger cubs in the tall grass across the road. After a while, the dominant female decided to head away from the road, and went off across the plain to a shade tree. One of the cubs followed. Then, another head popped up, and another. The cats always waited for the last cat to get a head start before following. The lions wanted to stay low in the grass, and avoided bunching up when possible. We waited as the parade of over a dozen cats continued for many minutes.

There were gazelle and warthogs on the way to the lions' destination. The gazelle kept a good eye on the cats, but the warthogs were too short to see over the grass. One of the mature females had crouched down to stay hidden. Unaware of the danger, the warthogs stepped right in front of the female. A short chase ensued. The warthogs were lucky today.

Later, we came upon a smaller pride with two mature females, two mature males, and two cubs. One of the females was wearing a tracking collar. The cubs kept trying to play with mama's tail. All of the lions tolerated our presence very well. They've become accustom to seeing Land Cruisers with heads popping out of the top. A few of us discussed with Godliving what would happen if one of us were to step out of the Land Cruiser. It was Godliving's opinion that when we're in the Land Cruiser, the lions would think were were part of it, and they knew we were not a danger. But if we stepped out, suddenly we would be something else, the lions might feel threatened, and would probably attack.

We found a lone mature male sleeping on top of a large rock formation. One of my fellow tourists and I had speculated about these very large formations in the middle of the very flat plain. The rock appears to be a granite which makes sense because of all the volcanos to the east. Later, we found information at one of the park entrances that said the rock had seeped up from the ground a few million years ago, and later the eruption of Ngorongoro then filled in the spaces between the rock with a flat even layer of volcanic ash. My friend and I were right about the type of rock, but hadn't thought about the sequence of events that gave us today's landscape.

The most unusual sight of the day was discovered on the way back to camp. We found a mother leopard and her cub. What was so unusual about this sight was they were on the ground right next to the road. Our three Land Cruisers joined seven others. The guides from all the vehicles had to take turns getting their people near the leopards. As much as they were cooperating, there were a few tempers that flared.

I'm told, had this been the busy season there would have been a hundred vehicles trying to get close, rather than the ten. I'm guessing that if there had been a hundred Land Cruisers, the leopards would have left the area. I think it's very possible that the animals that have let us get so close have a tolerance, but if we're too many, they would start to feel stressed and move away. They have the advantage. As I've mentioned before, we have to stay on the road, they don't

The cub was playing with a dead monkey. The prevailing opinion is that the mother captured the monkey and gave it to the cub, and it was learning what to do with a fresh kill. Eventually, the cub started to pull the fur off the monkey. We didn't see the cub eat it, but I'm guessing it eventually figured out what monkeys are for.

At 4 PM we set out again. The eagle-eyed guides found a leopard tortoise, but the highlight of the afternoon drive was watching hippos mate in a pond. Through the long lenses, we could see very well, but the guides told us we would go to a much better hippo pool another day.

We also found a large troop of baboon on the move. All of the generations seemed to be represented. The babies would jump between the backs of the females. Scouts would climb trees to look over the landscape as the rest of the troop passed. The dominant male seemed to be keeping everyone moving. As the lion had in the morning, the baboon passed within inches of the Land Cruisers. They have absolutely no fear of us. It's very fortunate for these animals that they live in this century when they are protected.

When the sun goes down, the temperature drops quite a bit. The camp was 4,000 feet in altitude. I switched to my denim and wore a light jacket I brought. The weather was still dry which allowed us to have a meeting around a campfire. A basket of fresh popcorn was passed around while we talked about the day. Godliving was still telling us how lucky a group we were.

When not eating on the road, we took our meals in a large tent with a long dining table running its length. Although there is an electric generator in the camp, there is not an over-abundance of electricity. We ate by candle light when it was dark. Dinner began with a soup, and then several courses were brought around by the staff.

On the way to the tent after dinner, I was amazed by the stars. Since we were so close to the equator, we saw stars from both hemispheres. The constellation Orion was straight up on the ecliptic. It could only have been better if the Milky Way was visible, but we would need to be here in August to see it. I'm not sure why, but the stars seemed bigger on the Serengeti. I'm still scratching my head about that.

The discussion before dinner was about whether or not the guides would be able to top today. We tourists can't imagine how. But the guides were confident that tomorrow would be even better.