We slept in today and had breakfast at 745am. Yes, that was sleeping in for us. We were all packed up and ready to ship out by 830. The staff took our heavy crew bags out to the safari truck by tossing them up on their heads. Fun fact: Our bags are repeatedly sprayed with some sort of disinfectant anytime they are handled.
When we talked to Salvatori yesterday evening, we told him that he didn’t need to worry about driving out of the way for us the next morning; we were more than happy with what we’d been able to see. We agreed to do a sort of abbreviated game drive with a focus on heading toward the main road and the park exit.
Shortly after leaving camp, we saw several hundred zebra migrating. Here’s a photo of a little guy posing for us as we passed. The tsetse flies weren’t as bad this morning, which is good because I was wearing blue — one of their more preferred colors.
We were casually watching a group of elephants grazing on the land when our driver caught wind of a leopard nearby. We raced toward it and arrived just a couple minutes later. It was hanging around in a tree, eyes open, awake.
No more than thirty seconds after we arrived, the leopard got up and climbed gracefully down the tree. I was recording video at the time, so below are a couple photos Nicole took of this very rare sighting. The leopard turned around a few times to look back at us before walking across a field toward another tree, away from all of these annoying humans. In the tall grass, all we could see was a tail waving in the distance. Between its camouflage and its low profile, it’s easy to see why leopard sightings are some of the rarest.
From there, we continued on the main road toward the exit, though we saw another pack of elephants which we stopped to observe for some time. There were a few rambunctious youths rolling around on the ground while being shaded by the adults to protect them from the sun. Our guide told us that elephants need to eat so much per day (200 kg to give you an idea), they also eat while they sleep. And they sleep standing up. Did you know that? Did you Emily, did you? (Emily is my animal expert niece. If I said I saw a crocodile, she will want to know the origin and subspecies. I actually went back and edited one of my blog posts to say “spotted hyena” instead of just “hyena.”) These kinds of details are important I’ve been told.
Baboons were some of the last animals we saw on our way toward the park gate. We saw one sitting up in a tree. We still had the top open, and I was a little concerned that it might jump into the truck and rip our faces off for sport, then give us Covid. I honestly think the baboon is the scariest animal in the Serengeti. When we were just a couple feet from the lions the other day, I wasn’t too scared because they didn’t seem threatened by our presence whereas there are numerous reports of baboons sneaking into cars and causing a ruckus.
We then left the Serengeti and entered back into the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. The Maasai people are able to live, herd cattle, and farm within the NCA, whereas in the Serengeti they cannot. Periodically we would see a village. They often have a wooden perimeter as protection from wild animals.
Elephants have often caused issues because they have a taste for certain crops such as soybeans and watermelons and can detect them from a distance. Question: how does an elephant eat a watermelon? Like is it like popping an Advil? Or does it first crush it, then use its trunk to awkwardly try and pick up the mush? So many questions. Elephants are not the only issue for the villages, however. Baboons, as expected, have been problematic. Not only are they bringers of chaos and mayhem, they apparently really like coffee beans. And if there’s anything a baboon doesn’t need, it’s coffee. They are unhinged as it is. See picture below.
We arrived back at the retreat by the crater around 2pm, covered head to toe in dust. It is also fenced in due to the animals. The retreat, after all, does grow all of its own food (including watermelons and coffee), so this is a legitimate concern, and the reason why we have to get an escort to dinner at night. How much the escort would actually be able to do with just a wooden stick and a flashlight is unknown, but I guess the thought is there. Speaking of farm-to-table, NeverGrowUp tees (one of Nicole’s numerous side projects) produced this fine, soft polyester/cotton blend t-shirt you see here. It is well-fitted, tagless, and will make all of your friends jealous. Available now in multiple colors and sizes for $22 at https://www.etsy.com/shop/NeverGrowUpSlacker. You’re welcome. Or as they say in Swahili, “Karibu.”
Oh wow, you’re still here. No doubt, you got sidetracked looking at all those great t-shirt designs. But since you’re still here, I’ll leave you with a few non-wild animal pictures of the town of Karatu, which is the closest town to where we are staying. It is always lively and I tried to capture a bit of that as we drove through.
Tomorrow we simply drive from Karatu back to Arusha to catch a very late flight out of Tanzania. Due to flight cancelations and covid restrictions, our only option is to fly Qatar Airways on a redeye to Doha, change planes, and then continue on to Istanbul. So with that being said, I don’t think tomorrow will yield any exciting pictures or blog posts, so prepare yourselves accordingly. Best case scenario, I will be able to report back to you about doing laundry. Everything is covered in dust.
passports & pepto bismol 