10-3 Crossing a border

I had a pretty rough night and early morning in terms of my cough. With no energy left, I was moving pretty slowly. Our lovely room attendant, Liao, came by at around 6:45 to pick up our luggage. We begged for 15 minutes more. Got everything packed, I think, checked out and met Lemaron for breakfast. This was to be a transit day. Four to five hours drive in Kenya, switch to our new Tanzanian guide, then buy a visa at the Tanzanian border and drive another 4 hours to our lodge in the Serengeti. All of this, by the way, is done on those same rutted roads, with an occasional stretch of tarmac.

As we were crossing the mara, Lemaron veered off the road toward a place where eight or ten vehicles were parked.

He turned to us and said, ”Leopard.” (In Africa they pronounce the first syllable "Leo" like the man’s name. If you ask someone about leopards using the English pronunciation, they look at you as though they haven’t the slightest idea what you’re saying.) Anyway, we watched as the LEOpard walked majestically out of the bush and strode toward the river. He was glorious! I

understand why women in the 1920’s all wanted to own a leopard skin coat. I find the idea abhorrent, but at least now I understand the attraction to the glorious pattern. We moved on a couple of times to watch his progress, then he disappeared into the bush again. A few minutes later I spotted him on the other side of the river, so he must have crossed at a shallow point. Lemaron was so happy that we were able to check off “the big five.”

We continued on, sad to say goodbye to the Masai Mara, but happy that we’d see Lemaron after the Tanzanian leg. I had contacted Sylvester as did Lemaron, requesting we be reunited after the Tanzanian leg. Along the way I captured a little bit of video of the sort of "roads" we crossed in the Mara well as photos of life along the road.

After a bit more than 4 hours, we made it to the Kenya/Tanzania border. Lemaron introduced us to our Tanzanian guide, Cosmos. After saying our goodbyes, Cosmos took our luggage and escorted us to customs and immigration. We cleared in short order, got into the Land Cruiser and headed south toward the Serengeti. Right around the corner from the border crossing was an ATM. We had bought Kenyan shillings in the US before we left but couldn’t get Tanzanian shillings. The exchange rate is ridiculous, something like 2500 Tanzanian shillings to the dollar. We drove for about 20 minutes then stopped at a hotel that let us use their courtyard to eat the box lunch that the Maisha Mara had packed for us. Bruce ordered his first Tanzanian beer, a Kilimanjaro. Back in the cruiser, Cosmos said, “I hope you’re not counting on tarmac. But don’t worry, you’ll get an African massage from the bumpy roads and African make-up from the dust.” He kept his word, damn it.

He also pointed out the tools in the back seat that we could use to keep the flies off of us.

After about four hours, we were on tarmac at last and Cosmos said “Look over there.” In the field there were thousands of Wildebeest. In the distance, thousands more were crossing a field. Suddenly, the ones near us started to move. They moved across the field, crossed a little stream, then crossed the road in front of us. It was like watching the great migration! We’re in Africa a bit late for the migration this year. It started in June and ended in September. It can be affected by weather, but Lemaron had told us a disturbing story about how the powers that be in Tanzania want to cash in on the tourist dollars, so they burn the fields in order to get the new grass to grow. That attracts the wildebeest and they make their crossing early. Apparently in answer to that, some Kenyans are starting to do the same. The two countries have a fairly tense relationship. A few years ago, Tanzania passed a law saying that Kenyan guides were no longer allowed to operate in Tanzania, because it was stealing revenue from the Tanzanian guides. So, of course, the Kenyan government passed a law saying that Tanzanian guides could no longer operate in Kenya. Now they use whatever tricks they can to lure the tourists.

We finally reached the Simba Lodge, located in the Serengeti Reserve and were welcomed with a lovely glass of mango juice. We filled out the registration form and got the orientation talk. One thing we found interesting was the instruction for going to or coming up to the lodge from our tent at night. “When you want to leave your room, take the flashlight in your room and wave it along the pathway. A security person will come and escort you. There are animals in the park and we want you to be safe.” Yikes!

room is a tent, similar to the one at Maisha Mara, if a bit less glamorous. The coolest part of the place is the outdoor shower. We were advised that the water is solar heated, so if we want a warm shower, better have it in the evening because there’s not enough sun in the morning to heat the water. Okay, so after getting my African tan, I headed for the shower. Bruce went to the bar for a beer and the pool for a swim.

We moseyed up to the lodge for a cocktail before dinner and discovered that it’s quite a continental clientele here. One table was speaking French, another German, another was speaking a language we couldn’t identify, maybe Danish? The food was a bit disappointing but, honestly, we’re not here for the food. We were escorted back to our room by the security person who carries a billy club. Guess they’re not expecting lions.