Trips

Fri., 8/18/2017 – Serengeti
       The rain stopped last night but there was heat lightning all around.  The parts of the park that had rain were washed clean of their dust and it was very pretty.
       Last night we heard the roar of lions and the voice of hyenas but Jason and Pat were the lucky ones.  They saw a serval cat on the deck of their tent in the morning.  We have not seen one.  The sunrise this morning was beautiful.
       We saw a dead zebra laying on its side on the way out and five-hours later there was nothing left of him but the bones and the head.
       We sat and watched a herd of elephants completely destroy several splendid acacia trees.  They tear and break off branches because there are nutrients in the bark that they need.
       There are estimated to be 6,000 lions in the Serengeti and we broke our drivers’ records by seeing a total of 114 of them.  Today we saw one pride of 19 and another of 14.  They were just laying in the shade at the base of trees.
       On the way back to our lodge (we were supposed to be back at 1:30 for a hot lunch) the other vehicle, driven by Leaky, broke a spring.  At the gate Witress made calls and another company jeep was able to pick up our five OAT travelers and bring them to our lodge.  We didn’t get back until 3 PM, but lunch was ready for us.  Leaky and Josef fixed the spring and got back in time for dinner.  It is great the way the drivers pitch in and help each other.

Dead Zebra	Acacia thorns
Acacia thorns	Acacia thorns
Local School	Local Village
Local Village	Wet, muddy road
Many of the roads we drove on today were a sticky muddy mess from the rain.  In one place two trucks had bogged down in the bypass of a bridge under construction in the park.  One was stuck axle deep and the other tried to drive around him and slid to a stop at an angle blocking all of the safari jeeps.  Witress got out and helped several other men push the truck out of our way and Josef used his super 4-wheel drive to narrowly miss the first truck but got across and up the opposite bank and back on the road.  It was a new experience!
Muddy road!	Muddy road!
Muddy road!	Muddy road!
Elephants destroying a tree	Elephants destroying a tree
Elephants destroying a tree	Poor tree!
Black-headed Heron	The land
Lions	Lions
Grading the road	Leaving the Serengeti
Sat., 8/19/2017 – Serengeti to Arusha, Tanzania to Johannesburg, South Africa        We left for the local airstrip at 9 AM for our 9:50 departure on an 18-passenger prop plane.  The plane was piloted by a white female - the first non-tourist white person we have seen on this trip.
Flying to Arusha	Flying to Arusha
Flying to Arusha	Flying to Arusha
Flying to Arusha	Arusha from the air
Arusha airport	Arusha street scenes
Arusha street scenes	Arusha street scenes
Arusha street scenes - Tanzanite is sold all over Alaska!	Arusha Clock tower - marks the halfway point when driving between Cairo, Egypt and Cape Town, South Africa

       We landed in Arusha, Tanzania, and parted ways with our group.  Marge and I flew on to Nairobi and then to Johannesburg, South Africa, on an old Kenya Airlines plane.  We arrived at midnight with only my suitcase.  We reported it and learned it was still in Nairobi and would come tomorrow on the 11 AM flight.  OAT had a rep and a driver to meet us and get us to the Protea Airport Hotel.  We arrived at 2 AM.  They tried to put us in a smoking room but we made them change us to a non-smoking room.  We probably got to sleep by 3 AM local time.

Sun., 8/20/17 – Johannesburg, South Africa – on our own
       We slept in, ate breakfast at the nice hotel buffet, rested, read, etc.  We ate sandwiches in our room and had pasta for dinner at the hotel restaurant.  Marge’s suitcase arrived in one piece about 3 PM.
       Johannesburg is not the safest city to wander around in and we were happy to rest and recover staying at the hotel.

Mon., 8/21/2017 - Johannesburg, South Africa – on our own
       Same activities as yesterday except that we took the hotel shuttle to the airport to use an ATM to get some SA rands (money).  Only rands are accepted in South Africa (or plastic) and it is the preferred currency in Namibia, which was once part of South Africa.  We walked around terminals A and B on the shops level and stopped in a Woolworth’s.  It sold clothes, groceries, and had a lunch counter. We bought peanut butter, TUC crackers, and dark chocolate for “meals” later on.
       Laundry done by the hotel was a reasonable cost so we splurged and sent the shirts and pants to be done by the hotel.
       We ate dinner at the hotel and got our laundry back with our T-shirts in a box and pants on hangers in a plastic bag – nice!

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