On the Serengeti - December 4
This will be a short note, given our schedule there really isn’t much time for more. In my next lull I’m planning to describe a day in a safari camp but this will have to suffice until then.
Our camp, Namiri Plains camp, is in a remote part of the eastern Serengeti, far from other camps and is in the middle of an open expanse of wide plains. It is a tented camp, although that’s slightly misleading , as the individual living units are square boxes of local sandstone covered by a huge fabric tent. The interior of the sandstone building is solid, well-appointed and spacious and proof against the winds that have periodically raged here since we arrived. So, we have all the conveniences of a robust, well-built cottage with all the fun of a tent which extends beyond the building on all sides and covers our veranda and an outdoor shower and tub.
We are about 150 metres away from the main building which houses an open-sided dining area and bar. Our closest neighbour is about 50 metres away and about 100 metres from the main building. All tents’ occupants are required to be accompanied by a staff person when we move back and forth from our unit to the dining area. We are in the middle of a vast plain full of animals who can wander freely through the property, and very often do. A couple of days prior to our arrival a large male lion and a lioness wandered by the tents and past the open dining area while everyone was having dinner, so caution is the watchword.
An ardwolf, hyena relative who lives entirely on two species of termite. A very rare sighting.
With all this mind, we left the dining room last night accompanied by a staff member with a flashlight to walk back to our tent. There is a very large acacia tree growing next to the path between our tent and our neighbours and you should know that the acacia is the primary food of giraffes. The acacia’s branches are covered by wicked 2 or 3 inch long thorns but they provide no protection against giraffes who seem not to be even slightly deterred by them. They use their agile prehensile lips and tongue to skilfully navigate the thorns and pluck the green shoots without harm, incredible to watch. Our safety walker normally leads us along the path and keeps his flashlight beam focused on the path behind him so that we can see our way. However he periodically sweeps the light around the area to make sure that there nothing lurking in the tall grasses. At one moment, as we approached the large acacia tree between our two units, he swung the flashlight beam around only to discover that we were about three metres away from walking into a giant male giraffe who was midnight-snacking on the acacia.
We have seen lots of giraffes over the years and thought that we had a sense of their size but it’s always been from the seat of a vehicle and not standing on two legs, mere feet away from one. He was massive and overwhelming, a male giraffe can reach heights in excess of 6-7 metres and weigh over 1000 kilos. His legs alone were taller than we were and his head was plucking leaves from the very top of our vary large tree 5 metres higher. I don’t know who was more surprised but he stepped back a pace or two to give us room to pass and watched us as we made our way to our tent. I know this because we never took the light away from him as we moved the last 50 metres to our tent. Truly a gentle giant.
Life is full of surprises, some good, some less so. This post is dedicated to my friend Randy who follows my posts, in hospital in Toronto. Stay strong
More to come.
