Entries about leopard

My granddaughter does not like getting up when it is cold, so she was slow this morning. We were to meet our guide at 9.

From the porch at Grumaldi

flowers

So I was pushed up the path for the last time (it is a steep path and it takes two of them always), to have breakfast.

Our cabin at Grumaldi

The breakfast was a buffet

breakfast buffet

and my granddaughter brought me bread and a pancake (cold as usual).

breakfast

She had watermelon and they gave her watermelon juice to drink.

breakfast

breakfast

There was a hornbill outside the window and she took some photos of it.

hornbill

bird outside the window

I had a bunch of $5 bills to give to those that I recognized. The manager came and wanted to know if I had change for a $100 bill, which I did because I had the cash to tip the guide etc. The restaurant manager said I owed $73 for water, a coke, tea etc. I was surprised to have to pay for tea and I don't know what we had that was so expensive. I didn't get a listing because I was distracted by paying for the morning walk and night drive. Then the manager said I could pay for them with a credit card, but the credit card was 'not authorized' -they said it was because it was a Signature card. So I paid in cash which was cheaper anyway. Then I handed out $5 bills to the two restaurant guys and to the wheelchair pushers. They were apparently thrilled with that. I didn't tip the manager separately because I thought that one didn't tip management.

We started off for Olduvai camp. My granddaughter has photos of some giraffes

giraffe

giraffe

Giraffe

and some impala

impala

impala

impala

impala

impala

impala

and then we came to a hippo pool (the sign warned not to get out of the car).

hippo

Hippo

Jeremiah explained about how mold in the hippo poop feeds the catfish and the insects and then the birds eat the insects. So a whole eco-system. Then we saw a hippo poop. Jeremiah said that they "wiped" with their tails. But I didn't think he did such a good job of wiping.

Hippo who has just pooped

We stopped to take photos of 3 lions in a tree,

lion

lions

lions

buffalo

and then I had to use the bathroom and so we went back to the visitor's center for that.

Back at the Visitor's Center

road

Truck to be push started

Butterflies

My granddaughter found and played with a butterfly for a bit. I gave her a magnifying glass so she co ld see the wings better.

butterfly

granddaughter with butterfly

holding on

After that we saw a leopard climbing around on the rocks and my granddaughter got some really GOOD photos of her.

Leopard

Leopard

Leopard

leopard

Leopard

Leopard

Leopard

Leopard

Leopard

leopard

leopard

Leopard

Then we went back for lunch.

hyrax

Rules of the park

After lunch we drove to the Masai village where they danced for us

maasai

Maasai women

Maasai men

Maasai jumping

Maasai shoes - he's the best jumper

and showed my granddaughter the inside of one of the huts (2 bedroom). (She said it was too dark for a photo) Each wife has her own hut, but men can have more than one wife. The women wanted to know how many children I had.

Maasai village

Granddaughter with Maasai woman

Granddaughter looking at souvenirs

Leaving the Maasai village

It was very close after that to get to Olduvai. We are in the closest tent to the main tent where there is internet but it is up a steep rocky path. My grandaughter got a shower and went down to do internet.

Near Olduvai

Olduvai

Path at Olduvai

Granddaughter reading the rules

There were quite a few people there and she said I should not go down to do the internet so I asked them to bring dinner up to me and then I got a shower (they put a little table into the shower for me to sit on). Dinner started with cucumber slices and some little packets with eggplant (or as they call it -aubergine) and I knew my granddaughter wouldn't care for the eggplant. She got a mild reaction from licking the vinegar off the cucumber.

appetizer

Then they gave us vegetable soup, and then chicken, rice and maybe a salad. Neither of us can remember for sure and I didn't take a photo.

I knew that Olduvai Gorge was where the Leakeys discovered very early hominin fossils, and that there was a museum there. But my granddaughter said that she was definitely NOT interested in visiting it. So I did not make an effort to go.