Dave Ford Does Earth

Posted by Dave Ford

The Serengeti National Park  is plain and simply breathtaking. Rolling plains of high grass surround us for what seems like eternity. This morning we awoke in our campsite, situated smack dab in the middle of the park with no fences, just before dawn. While I was brushing my teeth at the edge of the boundaries where we are allowed to go, I heard a snorting sound. I walked to check out what I thought would be an elephant and was surprised to see 3 male impala standing in the high grass. Just then, out of nowhere, I saw the silloute of a damn, dirty hyena jump and run through the grass less then 25 yards in front of me and less then 50 yards from where we were sleeping in our tents.

 I promptly let out a high pitched “oh shit” and ran in the other direction just like any normal 7 year old girl would have done.

Did I mention Hyenas really freak me out?

After this jarring incident, our group received a bit of a  sunrise surprise. In the first 20 minutes of our game ride we ran smack dab into a female leopard and her cub. Our guide Donald “aka Mack D” told us from the very beginning that it would be extremely tough to see a leopard. They are the “shyest’ animal of the Serengeti. The spotted cat was smooth, majestic, and nothing short of beautiful. Just being in its presence for this short time has been the highlight of the trip for me thus far.

Later that day our crew chanced upon a real life Masai village and got a quick glimpse of their way of life . Marvin, myself, and the Danish girls had a chance to dance with the tribe, tour one of their “stick and cow dung” huts, and had the opportunity to ask questions about their culture. We found out that the Masai are pretty hard core. Before the Tanzanian government put an end to the practice, the young male warriors used to have to kill a lion before they could get married. I guess $10,000 bucks for a wedding ring does not sound that bad after all.

 Sidenote: Do not tell Marvin but I am pretty sure all of our new Masai friends would agree that I completely and totally dominated him in the tribal dance department.

NOTES:

> I have lots of great pictures and video but no way to update them. NO BUENO! Or should I say in Swahili, “SIO NZURI”.

> Again… Satellite Internet is my nemisis. Hope this makes it through. And, again I had to pump this out really quick with no spell check.

> After the amount of beer we have been drinkin on this Safari, Marv and I are both wondering why we did not climb the mountain first. Finges are crossed that we are both going to summit Kilimanjaro.

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