Zebras and Giraffes – Tuesday, 13 July

Our drive is scheduled to leave before sunrise in the hopes of seeing a lion – very exciting. So we are up at 5:30am, it looks to be a beautiful morning but is very cold so we are all wrapped up in fleece jackets and the blankets from the beds. We climb on to our jeeps and head down in to the plain. As the sun comes up the animals start to come out, slowly at first. We see a herd of buffalo drinking new the water followed by a herd of wildebeests, which always make me laugh as they look like they are all wearing funny wigs. As we drive through it is a quite morning, as it seems like the animals are slow to wake and to come out similar to how they were yesterday. Regardless the landscape is beautiful – bright, earthy and extremely calming. We come across a herd of elephants with their babies, with zebras alongside. In the distance are giraffes, two warthogs and two silver backed jackals. It really is amazing to see all of these animals amongst one another – it is like looking at a picture. As we get closer the animals turn take a look and decide to head off deeper in to the plain. At one point, we see one lone elephant running – very fast I will add – across the plain. Apparently he is in search of females as he is ready to mate, which we know because as the guide explains, he is secreting hormones form his eyes, making it look like he is crying. I have never seen an elephant run that fast but apparently they do. We do see a lot of birds, too many for me to remember. However, the most memorable are the guinea fowls who are beautiful with grey and white polka dotted bodies and bright turquoise heads. In addition, we see several eagles, who when they expand their wings to take off from the top of a tree are magnificent to watch. No lions but a good morning filled with lots of other animals. Personally I love the zebras and giraffes. As we drive back up to the lodge, two elephants run across the road and as we pass the water hole, there are 7 giraffes, all male (their skin is darker) drinking.

After breakfast we start our journey back to Dar. As we leave Mikuni National Park, a pack of baboons saunter down the road almost saying good bye to us. They are brought up by the father of the pack who is enormous and slowly walks past our bus. Our journey goes quick and we are back in Dar by late afternoon for a trip to the market. The market is filled with crafts – kangas, paintings, wooden statues, jewelry and many other African made treats. Negotiating is always part of the process and can be quite fun. Several people bought masks and shields – which I looked out but was too spooked to actually have one hanging on my wall at home. We are headed out of dinner this evening as guests of Wilburd, the gentlemen who is leading all of the construction at the Burguruni School.

We leave for Wilburd’s house, which I am quite excited to have dinner at someone’s home and enjoy homemade cooking. He lives not too far from the convent, however, traffic in Dar is a nightmare so it takes an hour and half for us to get there. He and his family live in a very pretty neighborhood, where the houses are quite large and protected by security and large gated fences. The gates swing open to a lovely house with an enormous backyard, where we will be eating. Wilbard has been great to work with and his family is even more lovely, his wife Rose and their two daughters. The evening is great and we are served a delicious traditional meal of plaintains with beef in a coconut curry sauce, spiced rice, byrani,spinach, BBQ chicken, peas in coconut sauce and BBQ goat. Everything is really delicious. I find out more about Wilburd who is an engineer by trade and who had lived in Germany for many years with this family. As his children got older, he felt they were losing touch with their Tanzanian roots and he decided to move back where they have been ever since. He has used his skills to build his construction company, who gives a tremendous amount to the school and in his free time is building a house in the country where he also has a vineyard. We were not able to try his wine but he does give us a bottle to take back. A truly lovely evening where we all feel overwhelmingly welcome by Wilbard and his family. His daughters are planning to come to New York where I want to make sure that they are my guests at least for a meal or two.