Mikumi Safari

First of all, let me say, as you can imagine, today was AWESOME!

Breakfast is always included in hotels, as far as I can tell. 

They served omelets cut into bite sized pieces as well as a very thinly sliced cold pork sausage. 

Last night I ate under gazebo this morning I ate in the main dining area. 

Johannes met me at 6:45 and he came in with our guide for the day, Abi. I almost felt numb as we got under way. 

Abi confirmed that Obama had been planning to come to Mikumi and as a result we benefited greatly. Roads were repaved and fresh paint was applied all because they were expecting Obama.

I thought it was funny that I could not pay in Tanzanian Shillings because I am not a resident. Even, Johannes had to pay in US dollars  Admission was $20. 

I was so glad that I borrowed Eric's video camera with a super zoom. Here's what we saw:

Maribu stork

Plover

A bunch of Warthog

Baobab trees

Giraffe

Jackal (Sounded like Abi was saying Jacko) 

Impala 

A place for a sign that was to say "Welcome Mr Obama"

A man-made watering hole with Crocodiles and

Hippos

Buffalo

Wildebeest

Baboons (Masharubu kept his promise!)

Zebras

The Mikumi Airstrip where Obama was supposed to land. 

Abi told me they had been having problems using the airstrip because buffalo had been sleeping on it.

Elephants so close that I could have counted his eyelashes

This is just about the time David would have said, "Enough, already!"

We went to a second man-made watering hole that Abi told us they used to have hippos there but recently Lions killed two hippos and the rest moved to other man made watering hole that we had seen already. 

Going on with the list:

Fiscal shrike

We began to be quite bothered by tse-tse (pronounced saysay) flies coming in the land rover and biting us. 

At this point I think Talia would have said, "Enough already!"

A rest area designed just for the Obama delegation

(The tables still smelled of fresh paint)

They also had these black and blue flags all around designed to kill tse tse fly

Ground horn bill carrion

And all of that was before lunch. 

Both of us had ordered lunch boxes. 

Lunch: chicken (from the farm not your Purdue)

Cheese with sauce on a roll

Hard boiled egg

Banana

Juice

Water

Mars bar

Then it Rained for 15 drops

Now we were really determined to see a lion. We had been looking all morning. 

Instead we saw:

Tawny eagle

Black headed heron

Many more giraffe, zebra, elephants, but we weren't finding lions. 

I made a few observations. When giraffes run it looks slow motion.

When warthogs run it look as though they're sped up.

Finally, I now know that Eric's battery lasts right up to, but not including, the main attraction. Just as we were making one last drive around the main area where the animals seemed to be hanging out, there she was. Sleeping on the side of the road. And Eric's camera chose that moment to die. Fortunately I did have my phone with me and we were able to get close enough for 

Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful experience!

I will make more photos and videos available when I can recharge Eric's camera and transfer things to the computer.