Safari - Day 2!

Monday May 31, 2010
Woke up abruptly at 6:00 a.m. (rooming with Jan is a whole other story!) Had the best shower ever in our huge showers with perfectly controlled temperature and pressure! After a sumptuous buffet breakfast, we tried to get on the road by 8:00, but everyone else was doing the same thing so we were a little delayed. Saw majestically graceful giraffes, some monkeys with either blue bums or blue other parts of their nether regions (apparently this encited much discussion in Jan's jeep as she had all the boys), and a crocodile back (maybe a log - we just took our guide's word for it). Driving through the Serengeti is very dusty - especially with the top up and standing up to catch everything. We all have a litany of bruises (badges of homour) from slamming into the doors, roof, etc of the jeeps as we bumped along. Came across absolutely gazillions of zebra. Zebra as far as the eye could see. And this is not apparently the high season. We laughed at how excited we were a few days ago when we glimpsed our first few zebra - who knew we soon be plowing through them on the road?
Had lunch at a small interpretive center (yay- western toilets!). Devin made friends with a pack of hyrax that roamed tamely through the trails. Saw hippos (barely), lions with cubs, and lions with a fresh kill (fairly gross - but interesting). Stopped for lunch at same place as yesterday and had box lunches (this is a big thing here - it comes in an actual box!) from the Sopa lodge.
Afternoon drive through Serengeti to Ngorongoro crater - saw more animals but a little sparser - many of us dozed in the warm, bumpy jeeps. Riley does a very entertaining head nod thing as she sleeps sitting up.
Decided to stop at a Masai village. They will welcome you in and tell you about their culture for a mere $20US each. We got it down to $10 each, thanks to Oswald - one of our drivers who knew them - but Peter's impressive negotiating skills somehow had the price back up an extra $20. (Side note - he is not allowed to negotiate any more - that's a job for Janice). The whole Masai experience seemed a little staged. The welcome song and dance was a ltlle half-hearted at first. Devin and Alyssa joined in the dancing. Part of the male dancing involved a high-jumping contest and Devin, our volleyball player, proved that white men can jump! He really held his own and managed to jump within about 4 inches of the Masai men. We were then separated into small groups and taken inside separate itty-bitty mud huts to see how they lived - very primitive indeed. Then shown the array of ubiquitous trinkets and jewellery and convinced to part with yet more of our shillings. The women all work hard making the jewellery and the beadwork on the crafts is beutiful. We were taken to a kindergarten class in a small hut that promptly sang us a song in Masai and showed us how well the tiny tots could count in English - a necessary skill for fleecing tourists.
After we left the village (I was offered 15 cows each for Bronwyn, Alanna, and Morgan - tempting) we had to push it to get to the Nogorongoro Sopa Lodge before dark. It is important to be off the roads before dark because the animals come out and don't like the lights so they attack the cars. We're talking about buffalo, elephants, and leopards - could do a bit of damage! Made it just in time to catch a spectacular sunset over the crater. This lodge is even nicer than the one at Serengeti! Temperature is very cold (maybe less than 10 degrees) - Peter refuses to wear long pants in Africa, but the rest of us bundle up. Have a marvelous dinner, complete with a birthday celebration for Jessica - song and dance and special cake all for her. It was a very unique 18th birthday! Everyone promptly crashed right after supper. This time, our beds had been turned down (no nets as it is too cold for mosquitoes) and a hot water bottle carefully placed inside each bed to make it nice and toasty. I could definitely get used to this!