Ruaha and Mwagusi

2-12 to 14-2012

I asked her, “Does Mwagusi mean heaven?”  “Yes,” Connie the hostess answered without hesitation.  Can’t help but agree.  I think I would like to see how long I could stay at Mwagusi before I got tired of it.  I probably wouldn’t feel compelled to go on a game drive every day, but maybe.  I wonder if they need a camp doctor?  Bird, I think you have at least a dozen skills they could use.  Which ones should I check for on the “help wanted” board?

We had a wonderful buffet lunch with tasty salads and delicious small sandwiches.  I tried about half of the salads, all fresh vegetables.  There was also a nut-crusted veal that was equally tasty, then a small apple dessert.  That and a glass of wine topped it off.  The coffee was rich and flavorful too.

Peter did his stellar job of driving, as usual and had lunch with us.  It is 3:35 right now and we are going for our first game drive at 4.

Peter said the group two weeks ago saw a leopard.  I asked him if he knew what the word “fib” means.  Not that the big group was fibbing, of course.  Just saying….  We did see a few elephants, antelope, a giraffe and a zebra way off in the distance as we drove into the park.  The students eagerly got out their cameras.  I restrained myself from saying, “Don’t bother with those, cuz you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet!”  And we will probably see at least two leopards.  Regardless, I will be reporting our amazing animal sightings for the next two days.

We brought two kg of mushrooms from Amani Orphanage as a small gift for Chris Fox, the owner of Mwagusi.  They actually get the mushrooms they buy from the same place.

Well, if this were a plane flight it would be “wheels up” in ten minutes, so more later.

2-13-2012

We have now seen half a leopard.  Well, over half, I suppose, since half the group saw a full leopard.  Our half saw the kill and smelled it too, and when we returned it had been moved, presumably by the very same leopard.  And this does not include the woman from San Francisco who runs each morning in the leopard print tights.  We went back several times, but several other vehicles di also.  Only our other group got a glimpse of the leopard again.  And Carl got two spectacular photos.

We also heard that Ann and Phil saw fifty birds on their bird-walk.  Ha!  We saw a HUNDRED birds all at once AND they were all the same kind!  Seriously, we did see a lot of birds.  Got a couple great pictures and a new one for my “All-Time Favorites” group, a crown something, something crane.  Everyone has there fair share of great photos.

Well here we go again.  Our last drive in a few minutes, with mid-afternoon tea on the trail.  And yup, we had a great time.  The elusive leopard remained elusive, but we enjoyed the tea.  Both nights we had dinner dining on the riverbed.  You simply half to do this.  Lanterns and a bonfire, pre-dinner cocktails (with ice, if desired).  The cooking fire is built in a long, banked line of coals with the pots on the coals.  The staff stands behind and reports what each dish is.  Two words, duh-lishus!

2-14-2012

You would be bored if I listed all the animals we saw, so I will only name a few.  There was Hortense, Alvin, Edith, Bertha and a host of more African names that I cannot spell.  Elephants, lions (stalking, but not us), zebras, leopard, giraffes, warthogs, jackals, ostriches (I include it here because it is the TZ national bird and because it is big), water buck, Grant’s gazelle, impala, greater and lesser kudu (not kuru, that’s a prion disease, not big game), hippos, those monkeys with the red butts, oh yeah, baboons, water monitor (think 4 foot lizard, down-sized from my original estimate of six feet by Justen, our overly conservative guide, I’m sure), cape buffalo from a million miles away, rock hyrax (a relative of an elephant, by marriage, perhaps, because it is furry, climbs rocks and is the size of a punt pup), bands of banded mongoose, crocodiles, dikdik, and oh, so many more.  Many of the animals struck poses just like in pictures.  I think they have done this before.  A nice thing about Ruaha is the low number of vehicles you see.  At the Serengeti, there are lines of cars waiting in line to see the lion.  We saw two prides of lions and watching the one pride on the prowl was thrilling.  The lions wee down wind of the impala, but they did catch sight of the lions, did some sort of dance equivalent to nana nana boo boo and took off.  Lucky for them.  The lions looked hungry.  With the impala out of the picture, I started noticing what tender morsels we might be.  We left.  But not because I was crying or anything.

We left Ruaha by way of  another early morning game drive, but still didn’t catch sight of the leopard.  Another breakfast on the trail was scrumptious.  We ate late lunch at Neema and got to Ilula about six, all pretty bushed.  We invited a few guests including 7 from the Amani orphanage.  Anna made a great soup, enough for all and a heart-shaped cake, also enough to share.

2-15-2012

So here we are on the bus to Dar. Gifts we had brought.  We finished lunch at Tan-Swiss and have now passed through Mikumi.  Our good-bye this morning was like an Olson-family goodbye, delaying departure by a half-hour.  We gave away the many gifts the students had brought.  I gave all the crosses Bob had made to the chaplains at Ilula and gave a short closing speech. 

It was a great few weeks, by all accounts.