the crater. 30,000 animals   Have now been to four reserves.  New animals today include a golden jackal, serval cat, lions, saddle stork, kites, African hoopoe (very cool bird with top notch), spur winged goose, and my favorite, the honey badger.  See details in the “valuable” post.   Every park is different in terrain, types   Read More …

  I spoke yesterday of how we locked our valuables in our tent with the room key for a normal hardwood door, only to discover that the sides could be easily unzipped by an intruder.  However there are Maasai tribesmen hired to stand outside all night long among the tents, the sky filled with mosquitoes   Read More …

    Simon says that the lion kills by strangulation, then dines, whereas the hyena eats piecemeal while the animal is alive. I mentioned the single dominant impala male that looks over all the females, while all the other males hang out together in the other herd. Turns out that the head buck is so   Read More …

  Gorgeous morning, checking out of Maramboi camp today.  Startled an antelope on footpath walking to coffee at 0615, dawn.  Almost alone, on deck, large herd of wildebeests headed my way.   Beverly joins for breakfast 0730.  Order 2 eggs with cheese scrambled at buffet from cook. Go to meat station and spy bacon, decide   Read More …

As we crossed the border to Tanzania from Kenya, the average weight of the citizen adult went up probably 20 lbs.  here there are ATMs, Internet cafes, banks, nice stores in moderate sized cities.  Went to a shop rite for six pack of beer and box of wine.  Put sic pack in rue fridge in   Read More …

  Simon, our guide, is thoughtful, smart, easy going, articulate, always early.  We listen carefully.  Simon says:   There is only one dominant male impala per herd.  The male has all the 30 or 40 females to himself, and all the other males have to stay together in their own herd with not one female!   Read More …

  If you believe as I do that it is an accident that we were even born, that who we think we are is a result of what we have experienced and been told, and it is a gigantic stroke of luck that we exist in America and have plenty of money by world standards,   Read More …

african fish eagle (immature) egyptian goose crowned crane   The crowned crane, secretary bird , American fish eagle, and Egyptian goose all mate for life here. We have seen them all and they are worth looking up.   Among mammals, Simon could only think of the black backed fox (seen yesterday) and the dikdik a   Read More …

barbecue at village James our Maasai friend spent four hours with us at his village yesterday. We were welcomed to the village with the customary dance.  We then learned the logic of the Maasai village design.  A circular outer wall of six foot high thorns. An inner circle of huts. Another inner circle of thorns   Read More …

  I told chief Patrick and James about what kind of work I do and showed them some of the dog bites Rachael sewed up recently.  Patrick said, “Why do the dogs bite the face?  Here they just bite the leg and the foot.”  We explained.  Bev asked why they have dogs.  It’s because they   Read More …