Oh, my! We left the Dar es Salaam train station after a (hot) two-hour delay. First class coach meant our berth had a window (propped open with a stick) and seating/beds for four; coach car had seats for about 100. Our female berth buds were none too happy when Greg (and I) walked in. After the conductor punched tickets and they realized we would not be sleeping in the car and after Greg bought a round of Coca Colas they were much more pleasant. Not a word of English/Swahili was understood between us but after five hours I knew they were a mother and her 20-year-old daughter, had been to Dar to shop and visit, and were on their way home to Baer. I proudly shared pictures of my girls while Greg spent most of the trip hanging out the door between rail cars. Did I say it was hot?
The owners of the camp were also on the train so a vintage Land Rover was waiting for them in Kiaski. We loaded into it and headed down a single lane dirt path posing as a road to the camp, Sable Mountain Lodge. Meet and greet, dinner and off to bed in our tent/hut. Saturday we and a delightful young couple from England headed to the Selous. Sand, mud, rocks, ruts were the road norm rather than the exception but were nothing the Rover and our faithful driver, Stan, couldn’t handle. Let the animal spotting begin! Check out pictures and know that some animals we saw from a distance too great for camera but not the binoculars or they were just too dang quick. Not surprisingly, the hunters and large beasts lumbered; the hunted were skittish and fast. No pictures of mongoose, numerous birds, jackal, élan, bushbuck, common dik dik, hartebeest.
The scenery was spectacular and animals just as amazing as I have always imagined. Yes, I’ve seen many in zoos, but it is just not the same as seeing them in numbers run and play and eat and snooze in their own homes.
We took a picnic lunch on Lake Tagala tooling around in a boat spotting more birds, hundreds of crocodiles and 40-50 hippos. We decided the Egyptian geese—mostly mothers and babies—must be refugees, knocked into a croc with propeller of engine, and had staring contests with the hippos. More animal spotting on the way back.
Got back in time for sunset and dinner. Sunday we got up at 5:30 a.m. to do it all over again…this time for half a day instead of full. Returned to enjoy the amenities of the camp, which was intimate, totally solar powered, and spring fed—including the pool. They even arranged for a tour of an actual Maasai village. African safari off the beaten path, minimally commercialized—just what we were looking for.
A short Cessna hop back to Dar; more adventures in Africa to come…
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