On Tuesday, September 21, Don and I drove to Mwagusi Camp for our safari. This camp is in the Ruaha National Park. The park is 100 km west of Iringa and the camp is 25 km inside the park. Mwagusi Camp can be checked out at www.mwagusicamp.com. The camp holds 26 people at maximum capacity and has 35 full time staff along with 12 trainees. That means you have almost 2 staff per guest. If you want to sit at a table, there is always someone to pull your chair out and help you sit.
We stayed in a banda which is a tent with a thatched roof, a porch overlooking the river and a full bathroom. Thatched roof structures make up the office, dining room and every other structure in camp. We had a large, male elephant in residence in the camp. He was standing outside the banda of one couple who were to join us for the afternoon game drive yesterday. They couldn’t leave until MR. ELEPHANT left. So, we waited for them.
Going on a safari has been a lifelong dream for me. This was better than I expected. Ruaha Park is unusual because there are very few tourists at any one time. In the Serengeti if one group finds a pride of lions, they will be quickly joined by 10 other groups. It has become very commercialized. On 3 occasions we sat along with groups of lions. We were so close to a giraffe that I needed to use the wide angle setting on my camera to get all of the creature in the picture frame.
The food in camp was beyond wonderful. Last night we had dinner under a full moon at a table sitting on the dry bed of the Great Ruaha River. This was not the trip for weight reduction. I guess I’ll work on that next week. For brunch today, we sat overlooking the Great Ruaha River and watched herds of 100s of impala coming for a morning drink of cool water. I have more pictures than I know what to do with.
We are off to a meeting tomorrow to see a group of pastors. I wonder if they will be as exciting as the Ruaha animals.
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| Greater Kudu |
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| Zebra Brothers |
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| Nap Time |
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| Good Ears |
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