Blogs from Serengeti National Park, North, Tanzania, Africa

Up at 4:00 am and away at 4:45 on the usual bumpy roads for an hour and a quarter. Despite some lingering apprehension, I was committed to the hot air balloon ride. As we arrived at the Miracle Experience balloon site, the sky was deep pink, lightening to shades of blue. When the thirty-two customers and seemingly as many staff had gathered, we were introduced to our enthusiastic pilot, Rosa. (She was pleased to meet me, because she worked in Calgary for a year.) Her colleague, pilot for the other balloon, gave us a safety briefing – repeated in more detail beside the balloons. Initially the balloon was inflated by huge blowers. Our strange entry into the basket was required by the design: it was rectangular, on its side. Four compartments held four people each, plus ... read more

We got up before dawn to drive (no walking in the wild!) to a nearby hippo pool. Dozens of hippos were already in the cool water. For almost an hour, we watched as individual and pairs of hippos walked out of the terrain on the other side. The night is spent munching grass, and the day is spent chilling in pools in the slow-flowing rivers. The hippos congregated in extended family groups, thus, some small groups stayed away from the main group. Adults cozied up, making them look like slippery boulders. Only the ear twirling (insects) and occasional bobs (air) revealed their animal nature. Baby hippos were especially charming as they found moments to explore, and then they snuggled up to mom. Their silly-grin-shaped mouths gave them inexpressible cuteness. The biggest hippos pushed their way into ... read more

I woke just before 5:30 this morning to the faint smell of wood burning. They start the fire in the boiler each morning at 5:00 so there is hot water by 6:00 for guests. It would be good to have a more ecological way of heating water, because the boiler is fired up again 4:00 in the afternoon. Kenya is very ecologically minded, on the whole. The use of plastic grocery and zip bags is forbidden both here and in Tanzania. I had to think up several different ways of packing the items I customarily put in plastic bags, including buying reusable plastic shoe bags. Indeed, I have seen very little litter along the roads, except in some villages, and rarely is it plastic. In the hotel rooms, soap dispensers are used rather than little individual ... read more

My http://www.heygo.com live stream tour took me to Tanzania, an incredible insight into life in a Maasai village near the Serengeti with Mufasa our guide. Welcomed with song & dance we then ventured into the village where the gate is made out of a pile of Acacia sticks to keep them safe from wildlife. Cow dung & mud are daubed onto the houses by the womenfolk. The sun was setting as the cows returned from their grazing with one of the mothers immediately taking milk for the children which was served to them by the fathers. We listened to the children practice their counting skills and Mufasa sang them a song, much to their delight. As darkness fell it was time to eat, on the menu soup & goat. The younger men served the elders. A ... read more

Very early this morning two of us, Patsy and I, were woken at 4:30AM since we were the only two in our group to sign up for the optional tour "Sunrise Safari & Hot Air Balloon Ride Over the Serengeti." At first I hadn't signed on because of the expense, but I had never been up in a hot air balloon, plus when would I ever have the chance again to do it over the famous Serengeti? So I signed on. I was a bit afraid at first, not knowing what to expect, but once we all clambered into the basket it lifted off as gently and silently as a train leaving the station. Waking up early is no hardship for me; I've usually been up by 4AM every day so far and was lying there ... read more