Tea And Slippers

Linda Lou Burton posting from Mbuzi Mawe Serena Tented Camp, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania– This time, a photo first! I stopped at the door (flap) of our tent for a picture before I even stepped inside. I wanted to remember what it looked like before we mucked it up with all our stuff. This was our third tent camp – remember Sweetwaters on the Ol Pejeta, overlooking the Water Hole? And Sarova in the Maasai Mara, with the monkey on the porch that overlooked a creek? I dearly loved both; for all the pretense of being a “rugged safari camp” while providing 24-hour room service, 24-hour hot water in a luxury shower, permanent rooftops and floors, they still managed to create a sense of wilderness privacy with a real-life soundtrack of the animal world. The tea and slippers? A touch of home.

It was 4 PM when we reached our tent; our day began before dawn. Packing, luggage out, breakfast, checking out. An hour for the traffic jam, an hour for the wildebeest watch. A few brief stops for quickie animal shots or random things such as paperwork at the airstrip, and helping someone with a flat tire. Two hours late for lunch, we were rushed into the dining room on arrival (they wheelchaired me in through the staff’s quarters where the only sidewalk exists). And so we ate, ordering from a menu no less, a menu encased in leather; courses served, slowly and politely. Finally, our tent! The rest of the gang was hurrying, yep, get back in the 4x4s for a game drive before dark! Basically everything I’d seen so far today was from third row back in a 4×4.  People! Crowded! Blocked views! Blurry photos! The rest of my day was an easy choice to make: tea and slippers, on my porch. See my unhindered view of the kopjes across my grassy yard? See the little hyrax, asleep on the other side of the rail? Now, there’s an idea, I’m thinking. I have a giant lounge chair to stretch out on for a nap of my own. Why would anyone be anywhere else in the world? Progressions of the day below.

The scoop on the rock hyrax, which lives on the rock outcroppings all around our camp. They resemble pikas, or marmots, but design-wise, are more closely related to elephants!

• They are furry and rotund, with short tails.
• They weigh 5-10 pounds and are 12-28 inches long.
• Their tusks develop from incisor teeth as do the tusks of elephants; most mammalian tusks develop from the canines.
• Their nails are flat, as they are on elephants, rather than curved and elongated as on most mammals.
• There are several complex body arrangements regarding reproduction that are similar in hyraxes, elephants, and manatees (sea cows).

We were advised to keep the tent flap zipped at all times, as the little fellows are very curious by nature!

Mbuzi Mawe Serena Tented Camp https://www.serenahotels.com/mbuzi-mawe

Serengeti National Park https://www.serengeti.com/

Next Post: There’s An Elephant In My Yard