3/3/07 On the road to lake Victoria

We left our lodge soon after 8 AM this morning and within 1/2 mile noted many stopped vehicles. It turned out to be a pride of lions (6-8) had killed a buffalo last night. We could see six lying in the grass and under the trees. Two jackals came by and we saw one take a piece of intestine and run off with it and eat it. We had not seen any lions during our two days here but obviously, there were some around. We certainly were staying among the wildlife! We soon reached the road heading west that we had been on on our first afternoon game drive and we started out heading for Lake Victoria. This was a "detour" of about 150 miles round trip to visit the lake and bird watch there, but it was our choice and we liked the side trip. Of course, we watched for birds and game all along the road. At one point Eustace spotted a small Steinbok sitting in the tall grass facing us. Its head was barely visible through the grass. How Eustace had spotted it while driving and without binoculars was amazing. It took me quite a while to pick it out. We later saw several Topi that were new to us. As we drove west we passed many elephants, Zebra, Giraffes, Grant's Gazelles, Impala, and increasingly more Wildebeests, many with young. Our best bird today was a Blue-cheeked Bee-eater.

At the park gate we finally got a rest stop ( around 11:45) then it was through the gate and onto a paved road for our short drive to Speke Bay Lodge on the shores of Lake Victoria. I took several pictures of the town(Kalimera) we passed through by opening my window and guessing at the composition, not wanting to look like I was really taking any pictures.

We had a very nice cottage just up from the beach here (ala the Kaufer cottage on Lake Erie) We took a bird walk with one of the owners of this lodge. He is from the Netherlands, but has lived here for 11-12 years. We saw about 45 species in a two hour walk around the grounds. Afterwards I was feeling very weak, I had been having diarrhea so I took some medicine for it before and after dinner. We went to bed early, around 8:30 or so and I felt much better in the morning. The electricity here is only on from about 6:30 to 10:30 PM so we got up in the dark this morning and got around by candle light.

There is a Fish Eagle nest near the dining area close to the lake and we got good looks at one of them after breakfast. I went back to our room for my camera and returned to find the bird sitting on the nest, barely visible. But later I got a good shot of the mated pair on the nest. Eustace came for us around 9 AM to head back to the Serengeti.