Day 9: Meat, Blood and Milk

Saturday: A rough nights sleep last night. The lions(s?) stuck around camp from 3AM until around 5AM. They were near my tent maybe about 5 minutes making noises. I could hear him walking around behind me. While it was only a brief period of time, it seemed to last an eternity.

Nickson and I went out for a short drive this morning. Only about an hour or so. We came across a large pride of lions. I counted 9 adult females and 2 cubs. I finally got some nice clean shots of lion cubs which was great.

-Camp is packed, Nickson and Swalehh are rigging the trailer so it will close. Nickson was pretty ticked last night. The other group that was going to meet up with us in Serengeti's tents didn't make it with them. They were going to be taking the trailer with them so Nickson spent a couple of hours yesterday removing the hitch for their vehicle. Now that they aren't going to make it here he had to put the hitch back on. Quite a lot of work.

-An opening did become available for this morning on the hot air balloon. Time is short today and $500 is a lot of money. I think that is something that I would rather experience with Lea and the girls than alone.

-I'm on the drive towards Ngorongoro. We are stopped because of troubles with the trailer again. The road between Serengeti and Ngorongor as mentioned on the way out here is quite simply..a brutal road. Massive holes, huge clouds of dust, penetrating sun and not much else. The gate at Serengeti requires everyone to stop for a long period of time. Being there is like sitting in a giant, hot bowl of dirt.

-We are stopped again to fix the trailer. It is what it is.

-Yet again! This time for about 45 minutes.

-10 minutes on the road..you guessed it. Stopped because of the friggin trailer. We've still got 2 hours driving time to the lodge. I do not want to be late again like we were for Ndutu.

-5 minutes after we were back on the road again it broke for good. The shaft connecting it to the Land Cruise broke in half so we are finally leaving it. Everything is getting loaded on top of the Land Cruiser. What a pain in the ass. A young Maasai boy came by to watch. I gave him some money to take his picture.

-We detached the trailer and the three of us pushed it up the road to a Maasai village to leave until someone could pick it up. When we arrived all the children in the village came out to see us. I said "Jambo!" and some said it back, others shyly waved. We walked back to the car and I told Nickson I wanted to go back to give them the pencils, paper and crayons I had brought. We we did I was invited into the village (for a fee) to see how they lived. It was an incredible experience! They started hooting and yelling loudly. Everyone came out to welcome me with song and dance. I was invited to join them and was sadly reminded of how lacking I am regarding any sense of rythm whatsoever. Politely, they did not snicker where I could see them :)

We then walked inside the village where they demonstrated their hunting ceremony. They jump high in the air singing and chanting. Again I was invited to jump. I think I held my own on that one :) My host Oberlo (?) invited me into his Mother's tiny hut with a roof made of cow dung. 6 children and 2 adults live inside. He told me Maasai men have many wives. Some in his village have 10! The women marry at age 16. The men at age 20. The men's father's pick their wives for them. My host is 32. His father died when he was 7 so he could not marry. Instead, he is required to buy a wife for the price of 10 cows. He only has 4 cows saved up. Cows cost $300. We went back outside and looked at their jewelry and items for sale. I couldn't resist and bought several items including a necklace with the tooth of a lion, a decorative shield made from the hide of a Cape Buffalo as well as some beaded necklaces for the girls. He told me they are building a school for the children and asked me to donate which I did. We then walked into the small school hut where all the children immediately began singing a wonderful song that brought tears to my eyes. A young boy walked to a chalkboard and started to recite the English Alphabet. The other children repeated after him loudly and proudly. It was incredible! I snapped a few photo's but it was very dark inside and I had underexposed by a bit unintentionally so we'll see how they come out. I don't care though. The experience was something I don't need a photograph to remind me. I don't expect to forget it.

My host confirmed the Maasai diet consists entirely of Meat, Blood and Milk. They cut into the main vein on a cows neck and drain 3 liters of blood 2 times per year from each cow. They mix the blood with the milk and drink it. They eat the cows milk also. They hunt Cape Buffalo (with spears) but only use the hide to make shields. They hunt Lions (also with spears) but only for their teeth. The leave the meat for other animals and don't eat it.

I gave him some school supplies that I had brought from home for the kids. I am glad I brought them now that I've seen the school.

We hauled ass the rest of the drive since we were no longer burdened with the trailer. It took about 2 hours to get to the camp on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater. We dropped Swalehh and our gear off there and then drove another hour or so out of Ngorongor through a small town and down a small dirt road where on the side, people were farming in the beatiful red dirt. We pulled into the Bougainvillea Safari Lodge and I was thrilled! It is very charming. A small army of teenaged boys and girls stood by impeccably dressed waiting for me to exit the car so they could take my bags. I was greeted inside with a cold glass of fresh Watermelon juice and it hit the spot! The crew with my bags escorted me to my awesome room with a huge bed and an immaculate bathroom! It's incredible how much I have grown to appreciate privage, clean bathrooms with flushing toilets :)

I walked back to the lobby and ordered a bottle of Sharye Red Wine from the Dodoma Region of Tanzania. It tastes like heaven. I'm enjoying a glass on my patio while writing this entry and watching dozens of Lovebirds fly around me. They are so pretty and so colorful. The main event is coming up! A HOT SHOWER!

FYI: My shins are killing me right now from the Maasai jumping.

-I don't think I have ever experienced such perfect service. I walked into the lobby and started looking for a seat. A young man asked "Would you like to sit by the fire?" I said "yes" and instantly him and another guy that appeared out of nowhere grabbed a chair and a table and set me up right next to the blazing fire. I read more of Catch 22 by Joseph Heller and the Chef/Manager Reggie came by to see how I was doing. We chatted for a bit and he invited me into the dining room for dinner. Everyone else followed. The moment I sat, a woman served me an avocado sliced in half, perfectly ripe with an incredible salsa over the top. Next, a young man came by holding a hot bowl of soup in his hands while I ladled it into my bowl. The main course was beef stroganoff, carrots, pototoes and rice. Again, the server held the (what must have been incredibly hot) dishes while I served myself as much as I thought I could eat. I overrate. It was so incredibly good! Reggie came back and we chatted about the Seattle area for a while. It turned out he had cooked in Bellingham for 6 weeks. I had 30 minutes internet time. With a dial up connection that wasn't enough. I saw tons of subscription sales on Fotolia. Don't know if that's good or bad.

I am wiped out...going to bed.


The Moon Was still out when we spotted a Heron next to this serene scene.
The sun was just coming up and we found this pride of lions with cubs.
It was early at this time.
Very Early


What a cute cub eh?
A Lion Pride is filled with affection.

This road is brutal!
Maasai Boy watching us work on the trailer.
Maasai Welcoming Ceremony in front of their village.


Maasai
Maasai Hunting Ceremony.
White Men can Jump.
This is Oberlo inside his Mother's hut where 8 people live. He needs 6 more cows to buy a wife.
A Maasai Woman just inside the wall of the village.
A young boy reciting the English Alphabet to the class.
Visiting this school was a highlight of the trip.
This little guy was very curious about my camera.

The kids were so happy.

Two Maasai Men.
We stopped to take in the magnificent view of Ngorongoro Crater.
This wine was so good!

A Pause in the Action

First, I want to thank everyone for your awesome feedback over the past couple of weeks. I've received many emails, phone calls as well as comments here on the blog and in several forums I belong to online and I have been overwhelmed by your kindness. Thank you so much!

I know I promised to post the entire trip day by day every other day. I have to pause for a couple of extra days before I can post the final two. My schedule has been a little goofy and I've got back to back weddings this weekend. I love to be so busy but am sad to break my word on consistent postings for the Africa trip. The next installment should be up by Monday night.

Until then, I will leave you with this image of yours truly jumping with Maasai warriors in their village during a hunting ceremony which took place on Day 9. Whoever says white men can't jump is...well, they're right I'm afraid :) More to come on Monday..thanks again everyone!

Mat



Hi everyone,

Day 8: Sex in the Serengeti

A funny thing just happened...while uploading these images and recalling the Lions next to my tent in the middle of the night a family of Raccoons has entered my backyard. They started to fight and growl a bit and I opened the door and went out back to scare them away when Lea grabbed me with a very serious look of worry and tried to stop me. I was insensitive to laugh, but the timing was pretty funny.

For those of you with small children there is a photo that may require some explaining you aren't prepared to offer at this point in time so you may ask them to turn away while you scroll down to preview and make sure you are OK with them seeing it.



Early morning under the ominous light of the full moon we spotted hyenas running from us down the road. Photo's were tough. Maybe one will come out.

Pretty sunrise though no animals in sight. Finally found a tree filled with babboons and another with a Lapet faced vulture to show the color. We soon found a mating pair of lions. Talk about gettin busy! 3 times in 30 minutes...impressive! It only lasts about 5 seconds and she seems to be a bit bitter about that. They growl and snarl, very cool. Got some awesome photo's though I feel like a bit of a voyeur :) Apparently, these two will go at it every 10 minutes or so for approximately 7 days! Wow!

Next we found two gorgeous cheetahs. They were brothers and hung out near a tree that was fairly close to the road. They were being observed by a woman from the Serengeti Cheetah Conservation Program. Soon they crossed the road and walked into a large field. Almost immediately they started to run. I was in the middle of changing some settings on my camera when they did but I still managed to grab a couple of cool shots. A herd of Gazelles started to walk towards them. One got within about 15 yards or so of them. The cheetah's would appear ready to strike one moment, the next they acted completely disinterested. Eventually the herd spotted them and ran away. So the Cheetahs sat and waited....so we sat and waited. About and hour went by and they got up and started walking away from us. They were already at quite a distance and there were no access roads to get us closer. The Cheetah Conservation Woman was allowed to go cross country for a good look but we were not unfortunately. The Cheetah's started to run. They went behind some trees completely out of sight and apparently made their kill. It was heartbreaking not to get to see it. Wayyyy out in the distance we could see their heads pop up intermittently but even at 800mm with a 1.3 crop factor I couldn't get close enough for a shot.

So away we went. Another driver/guide informed Nickson (everbody knows Nickson) that a Jaguar had been spotted! These cats are extremely elusive and good sightings are apparently very rare. Nickson punched the gas and we were off. I had changed sides in the car and found the opposite seat to be a thousand times more comfortable..what took me so long to figure that out? Soon we found the Jaguar. There were many cars already there so we had to wait in line to see her. The Serengeti Park Rangers were there to ensure no one lingered too long. She was a beautiful cat. She was sleeping on a rock and only once lifted her head and opened her eyes. Right then the Rangers made us leave. We made the loop around the rock three times to see her. Awesome cat!

One the way back we passed the lion love fest. Still going at it! There was a group watching and as we drove past I said in jest "jeez, give them some privacy would ya?" The turned and glared at me. Nasty looks. Others at camp don't respond when I say hello or wave either. Very unfriendly people (the tourists, not the locals). I mentioned this to Nickson and he told me where they were from and informed me that's pretty much how they treat people all the time unless you are from the same country. Oh well, their problem, not mine.

I'm very low on available memory. We've got a Safari tonight and tomorrow morning then it's off to the Bougainvillea Safari Lodge where I can dump some cards on my Wolverine portable hard drive and prepare for Ngorongoro.

-Karibu Twiga! While sitting in my tent enjoying "Kili time" and reading Catch 22, two beautiful Giraffes walked behind my tent munching on tree tops. What a great surprise!

-The evening drive began with us finding a family of hyenas playing near their den in a burned field.

-SPF 85 coated an inch thick under a wide brimmed Tilly Hat and I still get a sunburn! Sheesh. I just looked in the mirror and noticed my cheecks are burned. I'm looking pretty rugged :)

-I just had one of those incredible God influenced events happen. There are a couple of other moments in my life that stand out like tonights sunset but not many. It truly was indescribable so I don't know why I'm even trying to describe it but I will anyway...The sun sets at 6:30 on the dot. At 6:00 it wasn't looking too good. There was a herd of elephants off in the distance we tried to track down but with no luck. Earlier we had seen some giraffes. I suggested to Nickson we go back the way we came and try to find them. We did! There were 3, but one was separated by a good distance from the other two. As the color of the sky began to change, they were eating with their heads in the trees..not good. I silently thanked God for this incredible experience and asked if he wouldn't mind nudging the Giraffe's my way. As the giant orb of the sun appeared wouldn't you know it? God nudged them in the right direction! The two began walking. I got out of the car and layed on my stomach over something prickly to enhance their sillhouette. I was switching back and forth between the 70-200 and the 400mm. I should have remembered to grab my monopod, as I mentioned in earlier posts, it is not easy to handhold steadily the 400mm but I did and it worked great. I captured the photo I had dreamed of shooting before my arrival here. "Thank you God!" I shouted with raised arms...awesome awesome awesome!

-3:00AM Holy Shit! THERE IS A LION IN CAMP! In my dream I thought I heard a man in the tent nearby snoring. As I awoke from the noise I realized it was a lion! It's roaring/grunting is very loud. When I woke up at first it was directly behind my tent. So close I could hear his footsteps crunching on the dry ground. When he stopped walking right behind my tent and started to vocalize I was literally paralyzed with fear unable to even scratch an itch that was torturing me. As I am writing this he is further away on the other side of the camp but still too close for comfort. I am under my blanket writing this so my flashlight doesn't attract any attention.

A lot of good that did! As I came out of the covers, my other piece of crap flashlight that had been shorting out chose that moment to start to work while on the floor pointing light out of the tent! Brilliant! He sounds further away now.


I forgot to put this picture of Swalehh on the blog last night. He is such a nice guy.
The dancers mentioned in Day 7...the way the girl was shaking her booty made Beyonce look like she learned to dance from me!
I will never forget the sunrises in Serengeti.
The epitomy of peace.
A male gazelle thinks he's got what it takes to rule the harem now.
This Lion was incredible.
She seems so unimpressed doesn't she?
I love this photo.
Now you see why she was unimpressed..you know in Lion talk she is saying "What? Was that it?"
Sorry for the Lion Porn everyone.
I was so happy to find another Secretary Bird. I really think they are great.
A Male Cheetah sharpening his claws before the hunt.
It almost looks like he's laughing here.
Such a pretty cat.

I blinked my eyes and he was running...fast!
Like Lions, you can barely see them when they're in the grass...look at the top right of the pic and you'll see the potential prey..why he didn't take him down I'll never know.
Ugh, I was so frustrated that they were letting Gazelles walk so close to them but not giving chase.
OK, so the Topi in front of them here may have been a bit too ambitious a goal.
Zebras? Maybe.
Many Tembo walking single file.
The ever elusive leopard.
I'm afraid my leopard shot isn't going to be exactly a one of a kind.
Such a great surprise to find Giraffe's behind my tent!
The spelling might be off a bit, but the message sure got across..especially when the Lions were next to my tent at 3:00AM!
A Lioness reenacting a scene for the Lion King.
Hartebeest
This is a good shot to see the color on the face of the Lappet Faced Vulture (it's White-backed vulture on the right).

I really liked these birds. Nickson would be so proud because I didn't have to look up the name...it's a Lilac Breasted Roller.
The most incredible Sunset I have ever seen in my life.
Seriously...what a sunset.
I've entered this image in a couple of competitions at local fairs..wish me luck!
On the way back to camp we spotted this owl in a tree. Editing the image a moment ago I saw there is blood on his beak.