3/4/07 On to Mbuzi Mawe

We got up early this morning around 6:30 when it got light enough to see. As mentioned, there is no electricity here until the evening. We lit a candle and got dressed, went to breakfast about 8 AM. Just outside the dining area there is a Fish Eagle nest. I got several pictures, the last one shows both eagles on the nest. My malady of yesterday evening seems to have abated, thank goodness.

Eustace picked us up at 9AM and we headed through town back toward the western entrance to Serengeti N.P. It is Sunday and many people are walking to church all dressed up. I tried to snap a few discreet pics from the open car window. The tribe in this area is Tanzania's largest with around 100,000 members. They are raising corn and rice here.

Last evening we watched several boats fishing with nets (which one of the owners said is illegal here). There were three persons in the double pointed boat. Two to fish and the boy in the middle to bail water from the obviously very leaky boat. We were surprised to see several hippos in the lake in front of the lodge. The owner said the first one arrived several years ago and then brought its baby back the next year.

Entering the park we again saw large numbers of Wildebeests at the west end. The grass was shorter here and that is what these animals prefer. I has our driver stop to get good looks at a Black-headed Heron near the road. This bird looks a lot like our Great Blue Heron. We also saw several groups of Ostrich and I got a good picture of a Yellow-billed Oxpecker on the back of a giraffe which was very near the road. We had to slow down or stop several times for giraffe to get off the road ahead of us.

We arrived at our lodge around 4:30. This place is called the Mbuzi Mawe tent Camp. Our tent is set on a tiled cement base with permanent pipe supports and a cemented toilet, double vanity and a shower. The tent to about 40' X 60' and has two queen sized beds. It is larger than any of the other rooms we have had so far. We arrived at the dining tent early and while we were waiting in the bar area a couple from Sydney, Australia joined us for conversation and we continued talking over dinner and Tea and Coffee afterwards until 9:30. They have traveled all over the world(including Pittsburgh) and were very enjoyable to talk to.

One disadvantage of traveling with just the two of us was that we missed the camaraderie that goes with joining a group trip.

We have to get up early tomorrow (7:30 departure) as we have a long drive ahead of us. The camp here is located in the northern part of the Serengeti National Park and is set up high amongst large rocks and the adorable hyrax were all around our tents. There is also a large lizard here that is pink and blue and unless you see the pictures you would think we made it up, it's called an Agama Lizard.