Gym's Ramblings: December 2023

The Lodge at Turner Springs was really fun. But lodge guests had to follow the rules:

1. Don’t step on fire ants;

2. Don’t think that you can pet the Elephants that graze in between the tents;

3. When emerging from your tent in the morning, check to see if their is something with sharp teeth laying on the deck;

4. Affix the padlock to the tent’s zippers when leaving the tent so monkeys and baboons can’t get at your lifesavers; and,

5. If you wake up and the tent is shaking, stay calm-it is just a Cape Buffalo scratching himself.

The Serengeti around the Lodge at Turner Springs is a wondrous place. The grasslands surrounding the camp sustain vast mixed herds of herbivores. These grazing herds have access to plenty of water in the vicinity, enough to support a significant population of hippos. As for predators, there is a large population of lions and in the more open grasslands, there are cheetahs. A healthy population of hyenas keeps the big cats honest and cleans up all the leftovers.

For Gym, the most unique and beautiful feature of the Serengeti is the Kopjes. Like islands rising from the sea, these piles of rocks rise above the desert grassland. A kopje is a pile of ancient metamorphic rocks that have been exposed by the erosion of the softer layers of volcanic ash that is the substrate for the grasses that grow on the plains. Gym loved these ‘rock islands’. Not only are they visually appealing but they confirmed for Gym, that Disney did their homework when they set the focal point of the Lion King on Pride Rock. The Disney artists had been to the Serengeti.

After a full-day game drive on November 22, 2023, the safari-goers gathered before dinner, at a big fire pit for sundowners. Kintai referred to this as watching Maasai TV. At night, after the herds were secured, this is what his Maasai villagers do. His family still lives a very traditional lifestyle. In fact, he is the only one in his village that has ever flown in an airplane. When he goes home everyone around the fire, wants to hear his stories about flying in bush planes, something that most of them will never experience.

After a second very comfortable night in the Turner Springs tents, the group checked out very early and made its way to a dirt landing strip nearby. There, everyone said goodbye to Emmanuel who had done such a great job driving and spotting game for five full days in Tanzania. The safari would now be crossing back into Kenya to continue the adventure in Maasai Mara National Reserve. It would start with a one-hour bush plane ride to a landing strip near the border where they boarded a van to cross back into Kenya They then boarded another Cessna Caravan that eventually dropped everyone on a dirt strip used by the Fairmont Maasai Mara Lodge.

Stay tuned.