Day 12: Safari Day 1
Safari Day 1
Following our arrival back from the mountain, we enjoyed a full day of rest and much needed recovery. This included a long night sleep in real beds, but we reminisced about not needing to leave out shoes and warm attire for night time potty visits. Part of the day of rest included a visit to 2 markets, one of which we ran into our old friend Guapo. We were happy to learn that he successfully sumitted, likely with a porter and a chair at the ready. Many of our group enjoyed Swedish Massages at the hotel, and experience that was paradoxically both painful and relaxing.
Today, we finished packing our things and headed to a small airfield for our trip to the Serengeti. After a couple of minor snafoo’s through security we made our way to a 12 seater propeller plane, deftly operated by our pilot Denise who pointed out herds of migrating animals across the plains as we descended into a dirt runway.
My expectation that we would drive for miles looking for animals was quickly quashed as we encountered herds after barely leaving the airport. On the drive to Nyikani Camps & Lodges we encountered thousands of wildebeest and zebras who live closely together enjoying a symbiotic relationship, warning each other of approaching predators. We also encountered a majestic elephant solely grazing the plains, undisturbed by our presence and the shuttering of our lenses.
Our long quest to see monkeys has finally come to an end. We found an old and sickly looking baboon sitting by a tree close to the road. It wasn’t very active and paid no attention to us. Thankfully, a short time later we saw a large tree with a healthy group of baboons climbing throughout.
We also encountered several giraffe, as tall as expected. How wonderful!
When we finally arrived at the Nyikani Camp & Lodge we were warmly welcomed and shown to our comfortable and spacious tents. The food is good and the staff are friendly and attentive. I am confident that our time here will be enjoyable and memorable.
- John Manchester