Day 8 Lake Natron Transit to Klein’s Gate

Last night we learned a little bit more about power consumption. Everything at Lake Natron Camp is run by solar power. Our first night here, being western world folks we just used power in our tent as we needed it. We turned the lights on as we needed them - one in the bathroom one in the main room. We had an oscillating fan running as soon as we got inside the tent. And at breakfast the next morning it sounds like all of us experienced the fan shutting on and off and cycling at some point in the night because most of the solar power stored was consumed. 

So last night we were miserly with our power consumption between dinner and bedtime.  We had the good fortune of being able to send our clothes away to get hand washed by Maasai women while at the camp - and the clothes needed it!  Those clothes were returned to our tents while we were at dinner, so before bed we needed to repack our bags and get organized.  A person doesn’t need to do much to break into a sweat. So we kept the fan off while doing that. So once we were tucked in our beds, Suzan had figured out the fan to stop it from oscillating and turn it to a lower power so the big win was that the fan ran all night!!  Of course it would take more energy to keep the fan oscillating with a higher power  - but we didn’t think of the finite amount of power on night one here!  All those science centre visits are starting to pay off with real world experience!!

This morning I recognized how good birders (and photographers) elevate their skill!  Trudy had photos of a number of birds that she would zoom in on and would show to Chris Fisher to help identify. Chris has extensive knowledge but would dutifully consult with his Birds of East Africa book to help identify!

Jenna summarized the landscape of Lake Natron as she associated them with movies. The camp is like Star Wars, the island is like James Bond, the Great Rift was like Jurassic Park and the flamingoes were like the opening scene in A Time to Kill!

After breakfast we said farewell to the stellar Lake Natron Camp and started driving about 9:30 AM. Today our mission was to drive from the Great Rift Valley to the edge of Serengeti National Park. The road can be pretty rough so progress can be slow. 

This map shows our whole trip - but today we started at the green circle and ended at the red. Let’s say our drive was off the beaten path. Some folks on safari don’t see the authentic Tanzania that we saw today because they fly to all their destinations. But I always felt safe and protected with the places we stopped to use the loo (today a squatty potty), to eat lunch or go to the bank. Our drivers Cornell and Tom from Wild Media Safaris, made sure of that. Neil Zeller has used Wild Media for his last three trips (having met Cornell as a driver in his first trip) and Wild Media Safaris is exceptional. 

After about 1 hour 45 minutes of driving we started to gain elevation and I noticed fencing of sort surrounding homes. Our driver Tom said we were now in a migration corridor and the fences were used to keep out elephants, hyenas and lions!  We were headed to the town of Wasso. The hills to our right about 12 km away demonstrated how close we were to Kenya. 

We also started to see Brahma cows that have floppy ears and a fat storage area on their back between their shoulders (if that is a thing on cows!)

We had the joy of entering a roundabout that took us on an ashphalt highway!  It had been built four years ago and saved about 2 hours of driving on very rough roads. So the new road can be driven at about 90 km per hour for 30 minutes!!

In the town of Wasso we appreciated a BBQ beef and French fries, bought locally, in addition to our bagged lunch from Lake Natron. 

We handed out grapes and grated carrot sandwiches to Maasai children as we drove on later, in the interest of keeping healthy digestive tracts! The Snickers chocolate bar included in our lunch HAD to have been stored in a fridge at Lake Natron because it wasn’t melted. It was very much a treat!!

As we left Wasso, Tom explained that all the new construction going on was moving executive buildings for the town to have better access to the newly paved road. 

A controversial story included hearing about a private reserve on land outside of Wasso. Some wealthy individuals from Abu Dhabi bought the land, befriended the right politicians and got a private airstrip built so they can bring in big game hunters. They hunt giraffes and buffalo. Elephants, rhinos and leopards are not allowed to be hunted. 

We had some pretty rough roads again in the afternoon as we drove to Boma Village Camp. It is magnificent. 

A light rain shower moved through shortly after I  spent the time poolside with Jeannette and Neil so I came back to my splendid room and view to write this blog. Suzan and I seem to get fabulous rooms because there are two of us bunking in together. Today’s room has two king beds and a single bed too!!

You may or may not get more of a post this evening!