All alone!!

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i know im confusing..but im writing this on the 12 march, i finished my last organised tour yesterday..so i am officially all alone!! was getting nervous, but its been ok so far..found my hostel, which is really nice, havent been hit by tsunami, have found food to eat, and havent had my bag snatched!! phew! 8) so...back to valentines day!!

14-2-11

i cant even believe what we saw over the 14-16th!! today we drove to the serengeti! i was expecting a vast expanse of flat greenish brown bush? we drove through the Olduvai Gorge with views of the Ngorongoro Crater dropping down to our side..so beautiful..full of lush greenery, with drops on both sides and opening up to the view of the plains! the 1st part isnt counted as national park as the masai and their cattle live there and could not if it was.. so called a conservation area! the masi arent allowed to hunt and kill any animals..although can kill their cattle. out safari guide..Jacob..was fantastic..told us loads of information, talked and smiled constantly, and very experienced. i was in a truck with 6 others..the best, luckiest and largest group !! (bias?!) 8) Jacob told us about the masi people..that the men can marry as many people as they can afford..unfortunatly not afford as is the sense of keeping them the the lifestyle they have become accustumed to..as in..to pay parents the dowry..so if the masai guy has 100 cattle and a dowry is 10 cattle, he can have 10 wives! does NOT sound ideal to me!! thats the reason that masai like having female children!! so the women do pretty much all the work..they build houses, cook, clean, make crafts....the guys just seem to wander about meeting up with others and counting the children in at the end of the day! aparently its tradition that the woment are not allowed to be jealous..and as they have so much work to do..they dont tend to get jealous as they appreciate more help for the day to day tasks!! also, when the men visit another masai village, they can choose a wife of the village head and sleep with her!! if she happens to fall pregnant, the child is still accepted as the village heads child, as he 'owns' his wife and therefore any children she bears! find it all very odd..am VERY grateful to be English!!

so..in we drive, seeing random masai people and cattle about!! some zebra and antelope etc about!! keeping watch for bigger animals, but im not sure well see any yet..then stop at the 'gates'..pass through to the view of thousands and thousands of zebra and wildebeest, dotted with girraffe, antelope and more! there are dots into the distance of herds..ive never seen so much wildlife, and although i was becoming complacent about seeing zebra..seeing so many in one place.. i could never have imagined!! so..its migration! we also saw Hyenas, elephants, baboons, vervet monkeys, warthog, herds of cape horn buffalo..! WOW!

aparently a group of hippo is called a raft, a group of zebra is a dazzle and a group of giraffe a kaleidescope!! 8) the herds disapated through the drive, but there was constant wildlife to see..cranes, vultures...we were driven to a spot where a number of trucks were pulled up..a pride of female lions lazing about by a river!! we stopped at one point for lunch and were advised to eat inside as the vultures dive on you and grab your food, so sat in the truck and watched other bewildered tourists get dived upon!! then got out to get some pics of them! huge birds!!

we were still camping..but with the luxury of our tents already up when we arrived and mattress made up with blankets and a pillow!! havent used a pillow when camping, so quite novel to be in a tent with one!! 8) ate our dinner in a gazebo in the middle of the wild, lit up with lanterns!!

not too much wildlife in the evening/night..although could hear hyenas (aparently) quite close in the night!

15-2-11

early morning game drive today!

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Comments

[jennie wymer]

amazing
thanks for letting us know your ok. It sounds amazing and wonderful and can't wait to see the photos. Good luck for the next bit i'm sure it will be just as special. Be safe and careful and enjoy every second. Lots of love and hugs love jennie xxxxx