July 24
This morning when I woke
up, I tried to unzip the comforter. No
joke. I couldn’t figure out how to get
out of bed since there was no zipper!!
That is one sound I will not miss – ziiiip, ziiip…everyone getting out
of their tents at night to go to the bathroom.
Stanley was our driver and
he picked the three of us up at 8:30 after we’d had a relatively good
breakfast. Tarangire National Park was
about 2.5 hours away and the roads were AWFUL.
The detours (they were paving the main road) ran like frontage roads
along the sides, but they were dirt, in terrible shape, and had speed
bumps. It was crazy. We chatted the whole time about the mountain.
On the way, Marc became
fascinated with termite mounds until he finally asked Stanley to stop so he
could take a picture. Brian told me to
get out and stand by the mound for perspective and that became a joke for the
whole safari “Steph, go lay down by the elephant poop so we can have
perspective!” “Steph, go sit on that
lion for perspective!”
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| For perspective! |
At the gate of Tarangire,
there were a lot of vervet monkeys around, leaping on cars, climbing the
trees…they really wanted tourists to feed them, but the signs warned us against
it. Marc thought they were very funny
because the males have very large blue testicles.
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| Vervet monkey |
Once inside, on more dirt
roads, we saw impala, zebra, and wildebeest right away, with the zebras
crossing the road right in front of the car.
It was incredible. We saw a
secretary bird, a few giraffes at a distance, and then…elephants. I cried.
I cried like four times that day.
Elephants are completely amazing.
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| Wildebeest. |
At lunch we were beset by
starlings, who obviously wanted crumbs, and the view from our lunch spot was
gorgeous. Stanley told us to be careful
with our food since there were black kites (birds) flying around and they could
be very aggressive for food. He’d even
seen one break a guy’s nose while stealing his sandwich. I kept a close eye on those darn things while
I ate. First ravens wanting underwear,
then kites wanting food…crazy African birds.
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| Mommy and baby elephant - this was without a zoom! |
After lunch we saw dwarf
mongoose and giraffes again, really close up this time!! Someone spotted a leopard farther into the
park and though we drove there as fast as we could, we didn’t spot him. We did, however, get very close to baby and
mommy elephants (I cried…again), ostriches, and a few waterbuck. It was a most amazing day.
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| Giraffes |
At one point, the whole
road was covered in baboons – must have been almost 100 of them. As we drove, we could see a bunch climbing
down from a tree and they kept coming and coming, like a clown car! How many baboons fit in an acacia tree? The world may never know. Once they had stopped climbing down, they paused
a moment, then all started climbing back up!!
We just watched and laughed.
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| A road more traveled - by baboons!! |
On our way out, we stopped
at a Masai women’s cooperative so I could buy a bracelet for myself. I didn’t haggle – they need the money and I
had it, so I paid what they asked. We
had a two hour drive to the Ngorongoro Farm House ahead of us.
I think all three of us
snoozed in the car, though I tried to read my book. I was determined to finish it before we left
on the plane so I could only pack one book for the plane ride. The views out the window were great, though,
so I was frequently distracted.
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| The grounds of the farmhouse - the smell was divine! |
The Ngorongoro Farm House
was incredible. The grounds were
amazingly fantastic, covered in coffee plants, banana trees, and all sorts of
flowers. The smell in the air was
redolent with natural perfume and I was in heaven. My mother would have LOVED that place. Our room was called Tumbili (named after
those blue-balled monkeys…how fitting!!) and had two double beds, both hung
with netting. Double beds just aren’t
big enough, so we knew we’d be sleeping separately. We also had a big mud fireplace and a
bathroom! The windows were all screened
and open, so there was plenty of fresh air.
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| Our room - two smaller double beds meant we had to sleep separately, which was the only bummer. |
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| The Ngorongoro Farm House main building |
Since it was almost time
for dinner, we headed back to the main house for a display of Masai dancing
before the feast. I felt so rich here, I
swear – Marc had a cup of coffee that smelled like God made it himself and I
had a Fanta (I know, I’m obsessed) and we had small snacks before the
restaurant opened. Dinner was buffet and
they had lamb chops, lentils, stewed mushrooms, chicken soup, fresh vegetables,
rice, goat cheese pasta, oh my god….and the dessert table had chocolate bread
pudding, pineapple cheesecake, and a cheese tray…heaven. Again.
I found heaven a LOT in Africa.
And the food was fresh, made with ingredients frown on the farm itself.
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| Masai Dancing before dinner |
After dinner, we sat on
the back deck to chat. Since Brian’s
room was right next to ours, our decks were attached. He had a cigar while we chatted and there was
a bat that was very grateful we had the light on for the bugs. He kept flying by happily munching and when
he wasn’t flying over us, we could hear him in the tree talking to
himself. The moon tonight was a smoky
orange and absolutely beautiful.
That night I slept in my
bed with the netting down, even though I didn’t really need it. We hadn’t seen any bugs the entire time we’d
been on the mountain, nor had we seen any at the farm house, but it seemed
wrong not to use it. I did put mosquito
repellent on the next day, though, just in case.
The Farm House was laid
out with duplexes of rooms scattered over the grounds. All the walkways were through jungle with the
smell of the fields of flowers lingering in the air. The lodge itself was amazing, and I am so
glad we got to stay there. And it was a
fluke! We were supposed to stay at the
Ngorongoro Wildlife Lodge, but they booted us because we were such a small
group. YAY for US!!
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| Stephanie, Brian, and Marc under a banana tree! |
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