February 1

So, I've finally caught up on my blog posts! If you'll notice below, all of January seems to have appeared overnight. That's because this lodge, the Ndutu Lodge in Tanzania, is the first place we've had internet access since the Mount Kenya Safari Lodge. Hope you enjoy reading, as I think I've written a novel down below!!!

Today we went for an early morning game drive. Somewhere on these plains are over 1 million wildebeest. Somewhere. We haven't found them yet - it's amazing how huge this place is! It was too cloudy to see the sunrise, but that didn't stop us from seeing some really great game and taking great photos. We saw a family of lion (3 females, 4 cubs) walking away from a kill. We photographed them for a while, then went to see their kill.

Their kill was a wildebeest and they certainly didn't leave very much of it for the scavengers!! I got some great pictures of a jackal and 4 types of vulture.

I think I'm going to go for a nap now, we have the afternoon to ourselves until 4pm when we head out again for another drive.

The FLIES here are driving everyone insane. My tsetse fly bite on my shoulder is still really annoying me, it's very itchy and red. But I only feel my normal travel exhaustion, not a sleeping sickness exhaustion, so I'm sure I'm ok :)

I'll write more tomorrow. I'm not sure if our last lodge will have internet access, so tomorrow might be the last posting before we head HOME!

January 31

Our last day in the Crater and we're shipping out. We have about 4 hours of travel from our lodge to the Ndutu Lodge on the Serengeti. We stopped at Oldupai Gorge ("The cradle of man") and Trent was frustrated when a guide wouldn't drive down into the gorge with him so he could get a rock for his zen garden. I don't see why not?

The talk given by the museum guy on the history of the gorge was very interesting. I watched Maasai with their cattle walk through the crater, we visited the museum there, and I bought a spear! Les said it was one of the best places to get it, and another person on the tour said she's been checking the price everywhere we went and this was the cheapest. So, I have a spear. Neat!

We also visited a traditional Maasai village. Now, it's not entirely traditional, because it was set up to have tourists visit it. They're not allowed to cultivate the land because they're living in the Ngorogoro Conservation Area, so they have to find other ways to make money. So they invite tourists into the village and give tours - and sell their wares. It was very interesting, and had many similarities and differences to the Samburu village we visited. The children were much more malnourished at this village, and everyone was asking for "tips". We got some great pictures, but didn't buy anything. I gtave their teacher the rest of our pens and crayond, and a couple of books - he was particularly excited about the one on the wildlife of eastern africa.

We watched the teacher with his kindergarten class, held under a tree - they sang us their ABCs! It was so great.

When I said thank you and goodbye in Maasai, the teacher offered 800 cows for me! He had a big smile on his face - he also asked to buy Emma, a 15 year old redhead in our group.

I had a little friend following me around for a while, he was so cute. About 2 years old with only a blanket on. I got some great pictures of him.

Just before we left, we also gave some of our medications to the group - medicated eye drops, creams, etc. Definitely not the most healthy group! What's weird is, we were told the Maasai hold great regard for "white man medicines", but they don't go to hospitals. Many don't even make use of the Flying Doctors who go to many of the villages weekly.

January 30

Today was the 2nd of 2 days we spend at the 8th wonder of the world, the Ngorogoro crater. It was amazing. We got up at 5:45 to start a 7:00 game drive. At lunch, some of our group decided to head back to the lodge (Trent included). The die-hards piled into 2 vans and spent the whole day in the crater. We didn't know what kind of wildlife we would see, because it had been raining all night. It cleared up just as we rolled through the gate! How wonderful for the weather to be so accommodating to us. How considerate!

It started raining again later in the afternoon as we were leaving, but we had a great day. I can't even count how many wildebeest, zebra, impala and gazelle we saw!! Les said he's been here 6 times and this is the wettest he's seen it. The rains are good, though, they will bring th e wildebeest.

WE SAW LION! My first lion this trip. Les put the count at 27, but not everybody saw all 27, and most were too far away to photograph. Today's pride was about 12 strong, and dozing by the side of the road without a care in the world. Their engorged bellies told us they ate well last night.

We also saw a lot of hyene, watrhog, and cape buffalo. One hyena was limping, and it looked as though one warthog had dislocated her hind-right leg. So, I've decided to be an optimist and think she will be able to hide from the carnivores until her leg is healed. Warthogs often take over old hyene dens, so... it's possible?!

We found out today why trees don't grow in the plains of the crater - because there is a thick layer of calcium carbonate close to the surface that tree/shrub roots can't penetrate. The only reason shrubs/trees can grow near the river bed is that over time, the water has permeated the calcium layer and weakened it. Neat!

I still have a stomach ache, so I'm on full-time cipro (antibiotics). I also have a headache today, but it's not like the migraines I get at home.

Trent is ready to go home. He's exhausted the supply of movies on my Ipod, and isn't interested in the book he bought. 2 weeks without a TV is a lot to ask for a man who lists it as a necessary technology! He's done so well to this point but his interest is quickly waning.

A few others in our group are growing tired of the game drives. My question is - what did they think they were going to do? The itinerary was available to all to read, our activities weren't a secret. Les is doing a fantastic job of making everyone happy. Though, a couple group members would have liked to have more cultural experiences. I say - bring on the elephants!