{"id":24185,"date":"2022-09-22T19:00:25","date_gmt":"2022-09-22T23:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=24185"},"modified":"2022-12-29T16:44:08","modified_gmt":"2022-12-29T21:44:08","slug":"tea-and-slippers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capitalcitiesusa.org\/?p=24185","title":{"rendered":"Tea And Slippers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Lou Burton posting from Mbuzi Mawe Serena Tented Camp, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania<\/em>\u2013 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 \u2013 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 \u201crugged safari camp\u201d 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.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.\u00a0 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\u2019s 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.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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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!<\/em><\/p>\n