TAN: Hallelujah, its Rain and Little Men

After a quick bite of breakfast we were out on a game drive with a third of the Voigt group. Our first stop was at the main gate where our park fees were paid. Chantal wanted to get more footage of safari vehicles entering the park. She jumped out and we went through the gate. The driver wasn’t quite sure what to make of the situation and crept along slowly. We kept telling him to go, but he eventually stopped. Chantal ran around the barrier and down the road after us. Our guide, Nicolas was none to pleased and we tried to wave at Chantal in an effort to get her to stop. Our efforts were in vain. As we drove back to the gate, the park manager approached the car. She had some words in swahili with Nicholas. She then switched to english to chew Chantal out. She wanted to know if we were professional photographers and to inform us that if we needed to get out of the vehicle in the park, a ranger could be arranged for $100 a day. We declined the offer and headed on our way.
We were taken along the highway for a long way, which we all began to wonder about. Our patience was rewarded by a pair of male lions just off the side of the road. We weren’t supposed to be off road in the park so we only spent a couple of minutes looking at them. One of the older ladies in the Voigt group picked the moment we were ascending the embankment to get back on the road to ask the guide a question. This distracted the driver from his task and we came to a halt halfway up tilting precariously to one side. This same lady kept up a banter of questions to our guide Nicolas. The biggest stumper was a question about why all of the elephants seemed so small compared to normal. Huh?

A pair of male lions resting by the roadside. Vultures and marabou storks working on the carcass of the lions kill.

There was very little water in the park so game was pretty scarce. Despite Metta telling us we would see nothing we were able to see quite a few elephants, giraffe, wildebeest, a couple of jackals and loads of long-tailed fiscals.

A large group of elephants.

We headed back for lunch at 1 p.m. The highlight of the meal were the banana filled crepes for dessert. I worked on the computer for a bit, swapping some more files with John. Chantal and Sandrine talked with Gordon about his work in Kosovo. We all enjoyed Evelyn recounting some of her experiences from her childhood here in Tanzania. We bid everyone goodbye and headed out to the Foxes Safari Camp.

Even in the bush you can still get a good crepe.

Despite Chantal’s objections that she was tired, we went through the park on the way to the Safari Camp. Not long after we had gotten underway, it started to rain heavily. The sides of the canvas canopy were lowered to ward off the water. This provided an interesting perspective on the world, akin to looking through a tube. The rain eventually stopped and we rolled the sides back up. Saw more elephant and giraffe. Everything in the park keeps a good distance so the photo-opts were not that good. We got into the Safari Camp a bit before sunset. We got set up with tents toward the bottom of the hill. I rested in an attempt to shake a splitting headache that had developed toward the end of the drive from through the park.

The first rain the park has seen in months.

I emerged just before dinner to find Tim wanting to see the DVD. I hiked back down to the tent to retrieve my computer and got him set up for a viewing before sitting down to dinner. He had lots of comments but liked the DVD overall. He sat down with us after he was finished and talked about the life of a camp host and how the Foxes are as employers. We had caught him at a low point, so he was very brutal and frank with his comments.