Although the Christmas season continues, Christmas day is
over and a wonderful time it was. Three of us decided to go visit the animals
at Mikumi Game Park this year. From
Dodoma it’s about a five hour drive, not exactly around the corner, but the
closest game park to us. On Monday the
23rd we arrived a bit after noon and settled in, catching up with
each other since the last time we had met.
We stayed at a lodge just outside the park, small and cozy and
nice. One of the reasons we decided to
celebrate this way was so that no one had to cook, no one had to wash dishes -
we just enjoyed!
Hot it was, however.
Here in Dodoma we are at a higher altitude but Morogoro and Mikumi are
lower and it’s hotter and much more humid.
We were more than grateful for air conditioning in our room especially
before it rained Christmas night and cleared the heaviness a little. Actually, it’s really hot here in Dodoma now
also, although it doesn’t feel so humid.
As I write this nearing 5.00 in the afternoon, our thermometer shows
over 95° in the shade of our back porch.
Tuesday morning we didn’t manage to get up early so as to be
in the park during the optimum viewing time but did manage to arrive about 9.00
a.m. We hired a guide, several who are
there at the park entrance looking for work, in order to not get lost in the
park and to have him show us where to go to look for animals. Very shortly after entering the park we saw a
huge herd of elephants and stopped to watch them for a long time. They crossed the road right in front of us
and it was thrilling. The herd consisted
of a few huge ones, some medium sized ones, and even some babies.
Every time we stopped the car to look at animals we were
bothered by biting flies, some of them tetse, coming into the car. They must be really bothersome to the park
inhabitants, animals and those park employees who have quarters there.
We went to the hippo pool and watched the hippos do
nothing. During the day they just sleep
in the water so their backs sticking out of the water were all we saw. Without a guide we never would have noticed
that there were crocodiles along the edge of the pool – One of them poked the
top of his head out a little; another showed only his eye. We were told that sometimes they manage to
kill a baby hippo but otherwise they have to wait for other game to come to
drink.
We saw lots of impala (and other similar animals in their
same family), giraffe, zebra, baboons, many different kinds of birds, buffalo,
warthogs, and even a lion. We really didn’t expect to see a lion because
it was mid-day but maybe because it was overcast she was out scouting
around. She wasn’t very close, and was
actually walking away from us, but it was great to be able to see her.
The park is 450 sq. miles, so it’s a big one and we only
spent until noon there but managed to see lots of animals and enjoyed it very,
very much. How magnificent they are,
each kind in its own way, and it’s marvelous to be able to see them in their
homes. So all in all it was a very happy
Christmas and a blessing to be able to spend it so comfortably with friends and
some of nature’s glorious animals.
“Anyone who truly knows creatures may be excused from
listening to sermons for every creature is full of God, and is a book.” Meister Eckhart (1260-1327)
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