The Road to Tsavo

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Well it has been quite the day.  We left Ngorogoro early this morning.  Met up with Alex in Arusha and
gave him all our gifts.  We were told it would be a couple of more hours to the border an then maybe an hour and a half to our lodging in Tsavo Kenya.  Took some stupid tourist pics from the car along the way.

Border crossing was a breeze.  Said goodbye to Gila and Juma was there to welcome us.  We ate our box lunch in the car and then we were off.  The roads were paved, until Juma took a left and we were back on the Kenya highway - bump, bump, bump.  We were driving for miles with nothing to see.  The landscape looked dry and desolate.  After a couple of hours, I kept thinking that we had been hijcacked!  Then Juma aske if we wante to do a hippo trail.  Everyone said no except J. so we decided to go and see what this hippo thing was all about.  Turns out the we were at Mzimo Springs  which comes down from the mountain and feeds the water supply all the way to Mombasa.  There was one lonely hippo, but they did have a cool observatory that looked at the fish underwater,  Another cool thing was learning about the yellow acacia tree.  The elephants use the base to scratch their back which is why the bark is all gone.

We were back in the jeep and driving and driving until finally Juma pulls into this hotel which is not the hotel we are supposed to be at.  Well, that didnt' sit well with either me or Paula.  We had been driving for 10 hours only to wind up at the wrong hotel.  There wasn't much to do about it - it was already five in the evening.  Paula and I walked into the reception area in a real huff and then I tapped her on the shoulder and said "Look".  There were elephants right by the hotel at a watering hole. We ordered beers, talked with Alex, got everything settled with Juma and now we are here and have to more again tomorrow.  We were planning on staying two nights in one place.  

Ok so now we are here and we see the elephants and cape buffalo but wait there's more.  The string a slab of beef to entice the leopard to come feast for the tourists.  This is all a bit too bizarre - not to mention I think it is a bit illegal.  However, J found out that this place is owned by the government -- so I guess they can do whatever the hell they want.  It is all pretty strange.  It is now 10pm and the meat is still out there.  The elephants are getting feisty though.

That's it.  I don't have a clue about tomorrow.  I'll let you know if the leopard shows up or not.

Next time....???