Amboseli
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- Zebras (entire): 6
- hyena calls
- camp noises
- footsteps of Maasai camp guards
- seed pods from nearby tree bombing tent
- incredible lung-coating dust.
Zebras (partial): 1
Dust-inspired coughing fits: innumerable
Leopards: 0 (Are we quite sure they exist?)
I wake early after little sleep due to:
In spite of fatigue, our morning game drive was just wonderful. We spent quite a while parked next to two very tired lions (they must have camped near us). Once again we found ourselves in the midst of elephants. Pachyderms are very soothing. Fortunately neither lions nor elephants seem put off by the bandit-like appearance of our group. Bandannas suddenly seem both fashionable and more valuable than the softest cashmere. (Not at all sure that cashmere would hold up to clay.)
Later in the morning, we spy several hyena, including one determinedly munching on what turns out to be a zebra leg. Ouch. We are also treated to an enormous number of flamingos, and some of the world's largest herons. There is so little water in the area that a small river attracts all the avian life within miles. Somehow I picture flamingos in lusher settings, but they seem content. A less welcome form of airborne life was the large swarm of bees that we drove through on our way back to camp. Many were blown into the car, but the swift application of an Audobon Bird Guide solved that problem rather neatly. It really is an indispensible resource.
In the afternoon, we are offered the opportunity to tour a local Maasai manyata. Tired and coughing, I opt to stay in camp and nap a bit. Cow dung huts and charcoal smoke don't seem to be managable even through intense Claritin use. Must protest to Joan Lunden. The evening brings some of the younger warriors to the camp to dance. I find myself disturbed by the sheer bwana-Raj-white man's burden-ness of the scene: we sit in camp chairs drinking beer while the young men dance and jump by the fire for our entertainment. Fortunately the two men in our group are encouraged to join in the fun, which provides humor value. Several of the men stay to guard camp, enjoying flashlights and other curious Western "necessities".