27/03/2019: Under the volcano

It was a 5.30 am get up for a 6.30 game drive.  Too early for breakfast, tea, coffee and cake was provided in the bar area which is covered but open on one side to the lodge’s well watered gardens.  The clouds were clear and there was a great view of Mt Kilimanjaro from our chalet.

George was waiting and slightly grumpy that we were not in the coffee bar when he arrived.  (We had gone back to our room to collect our cameras.)

Not long after departing it became clear that Kevin’s camera was flat.  This was a shame as his zoom is far superior to Joan’s little camera, but we didn't dare ask to go back!  As we left Ol Tukai Lodge, yellow baboons begrudgingly got out of our jeep's way.

The first thing we came to was a saltwater lake with lots of flamingos and other birds feeding.  There were hundreds of them. This is a watercourse fed by rainwater unlike the nearby marshes which are fed by underground springs draining off Kilimanjaro's shrinking glaciers.

Kilimanjaro looks barely a stone's throw away and not too high but at 5800 metres, looks can be deceiving.  A venticular cloud was beginning to form on its summit.

George had a walkie talkie and was sharing details of animals and their locations.  We came across several other vehicles and there was a lion and lioness courting in the grass.  The elephants were heading towards the swamp for the day and crossed nearby us with their young.  The elephants  were not keen on the lion couple close by and chased them of in a cloud of dust.  A bemused jackal watched on, unperturbed by us.

We saw in the far distance a pack of lions eyeing up a warthog but the hog raced merrily on its way.  We also saw waterbuck and water buffalo wallowing in the marsh.

Back on the water there was a plethora of wonderful birds including pelicans, spoonbills and yellow billed stock.

The sun rises fast here and by nine it was hot. We returned back to the Lodge for breakfast - a kind of English breakfast with a chef to cook eggs of your choice. No matter what you ordered, it came with chips.

We have taken far too many photos so we edited them down in our chalet.  Cheeky monkeys hung around, looking for mischief and across the lawns an electric fence separated us from the herds of zebra, elephants, hippos and wildebeest.  It is an amazing and stunning location.

The food on this holiday is full board which means a full English style breakfast, three course lunch and dinner as well as early morning tea, elevenses and afternoon tea.  The style is formal with waiters ready to pour your wine or clear away.  It's not what we're used to.

Lunch was taken outside and our waiter, Humphrey, told us he had worked in Jersey in a hotel chain before coming home to Kenya.  On the table next to us were two women from the US who were obsessed with our wine choices.  They said they would only drink what we drank.  Spooky.  They had both been to Arica before with their church mission and one spoke Swahili.

In the afternoon we explored the lodge before a late afternoon game drive. There are so many staff for the number of visitors -some in white coats and gas masks, most likely warding off the mozzies.  Again we saw elephants, a hippo school - eyes poking out of the water - and a lone male lion who roared.

We climbed a small volcanic cone where zebras grazed and had great views of the plain and swamps.

As it grew dark we headed back for dinner.  One of our American colleagues was talking loudly about taking a zebra skin rug back

to the States!

After a dinner of spiced paneer - the same as last night - we had a brandy and sat by the fire pit, enjoying the stars.  We then got swamped by a group of Germans who were friendly but kind of broke the bliss.