I nearly died at Lake Burunge

So many wild animals on the game drive. African buffalo are the most dangerous. ..territorial and aggressive.  More feared than lions and elephants.  But the drive was fabulous and did not include any close calls with cats, elephants,  buffalo, rhinos, baboons or any animals. 

 

Who would think dinner can be dangerous?  I got tomatoes and cucumbers as a first course. First bite- a small cucumber end shot to the back of my throat and slid down.   I tried to swallow and couldn't.  Tried to drink and water came out. Tried to make a sound and nothing.

 

Tom was seated to my right and I just remember hitting his arm, standing up, and doing some gesture by my throat,  then turning my back to him and hoping he would get the message. 

Tom gave me a good Heimlich squeeze and the cuke shot out and I was so happy!   He truly saved my life. There were a couple other people across from us yelling directions at him, I remember.  Luckily he is good at charades and got the hint immediately. 

 

It's good to be here for the rest of the trip. As Nina said right after, it would have been a real drag if someone died on the trip. 
Scary 20 seconds but now, hakuna matata.  Life is good.

 

With school kids we saw at a stop. They and others are on a field trip for a few days.
With my roommate,  Deb.
The scene of the save- dinner tent.

Baboons, moving to water, sunset

We saw baboons in the dirt road often, sometimes 40 of them. Sometimes we saw 30 to 50 in one tree. They are cute but mean.

At Tarangire National Park, thousands of animals started moving in lines, one by one, to get to the river. We parked at a lookout above the river and got out to watch thousands of animals coming. After a while they filed out, wildebeests and zebras travel together.  A monkey got in one of the jeeps while we were not in it.  One of the ladies yelled at it and it took off.

Beautiful sunset!

Dead elephant attracts scavengers

Sad but so interesting.  Elephant probably died from natural causes...tusks intact. Attracted hyenas running to the site in daylight,  maribu storks, vultures, and more.

See all the giraffes in back and lions sleeping under the tree in front. We think the giraffes didn't know and the lions weren't hungry,

Kilimanjaro from the Kenya side and our sitting platform at our tent camp. There was a watering hole nearby with zebras, donkeys, monkeys, gazelles, Maasi herder with goats and sheep, birds.

Thursday August 29th- animals

Some pictures from game drives in Tarangire National Park, Lake Manyara National park and more.

family of elephants grazing within 5 feet of our jeep.
Giraffe drinking
Hyena heading toward a dead animal. 

More pics from visit to Maasi village

Since the last photos posted successfully, I'm going to try to post more.

Me (in hat) and Carolyn learning to spread cow dung on the Maasi house, kids looking at their photo on an iPad ( notice the little girl on left with baby sibling on her back) , women sang and danced for us and with us .

Amazing animals, landscapes, views

In the Great Rift Valley in Tanzania and we have been in the Land Rovers a lot, but we have seen beautiful scenery in Tanzania so far. We came across the border from Kenya and visited Lake Naivasha,  Lake Nakuru (no flamingos there anymore and that was disappointing) , Lake Manyara, Lake Barunge. These are all national parks and beautiful,  but varied in landscapes and animals. 

 

We visited Tarangire National Park and saw thousands of wildebeests zebras, some monkeys and elephants migrating to the river for water then back out again. Just like national geographic! 

 

The food is always very delicious,  too much, and there are lots of desserts.  The lodges have been fabulous.  The night sky is also very clear because it is so dark in these places.

I do have a couple photos from one lodge to post here.  Masai gardener with me, visit to Masai village,  sweet Masai village kids. 

 

So happy to report that I have been warm and wearing shorts!

Wish I could get a good internet connection to post animal photos.  But at least we have internet here!  I have so many photos.  It is hard to stop taking them.

Hakuna matata (no worries) , as we hear often.

More pics.....

I have 10 minutes left on my internet connection so I'm going to post a few random photos.

Cafe on Amos's street - cooking on the grill.  Sausage, goat heart and goat something else.  Smelled good. 

Fruit stand in market just down the street from Amos's flat.

Masai men walking down the road in Tanzania. Common site. 

Adriel decided he liked me!  

Giant storks are in the trees in downtown Nairobi....so cool!