Off to Mikumi National Park

It's been nearly 3 weeks since Jan and I left Mbeya after 7 wonderful weeks with Sharmala and her boys. We were sad to say good-bye to all our Mbeya friends but excited about heading down the road to Mikumi National Park.

We left Mbeya in the early hours of the morning, leaving aboard a busline whose reputation was as yet unknown. We were a bit sceptical when a man with a wrench scrunched under the front wheel to do who-knows-what before we took off. Our pathetically slow driver seemed most intent on taking his time, letting many other buses pass us by and taking longer than usual to reach various mileposts such as Iringa. Shortly before lunch, as we dropped down from the highlands, a second drive took over who speedily made up the time the first driver "lost". We careened down ravines and through stands of boabob trees as the climate got more and more tropical. After about 7.5 hours,we were safely deposited at the main gates of the Mikumi National Park where we eagerly looked for our driver - Philbert.

Although there was a bit of confusion (Philbert arrived but with other clients in his SUV), we meet our "new" driver - Kenneth - with whom we quickly planned our first safari drive around the park. Intermittent rain showers did not dampen our enthusiasm as we drove around for about 2.5 hours - herds of zebras, elephants, impalas (the male "bachelors" separate from the female harems of one or two alpha males), baboons, giraffes, buffalo, interspersed with the incredible looking Marabou stork! Not the kind of stork you want delivering your new-borns! By the time the sun set in a spectular halo of clouds, we had seen not only the above mentioned fauna but also hippos largely submerged in their mud pool, a large monitor lizard, and numerous birds including: shrikes, plover, ground hornbill, vultures, African fish eagles (like the one we saw at Matema), guinea fowl, the stunningly colorful lilac breasted roller, oxpeckers, southern red bishop bird, hammer coops, and a corey bustard . . . oh, yes, how can I forget the saddlebill stork. This fellow has an eye-popping yellow and red bill like nothing I've ever seen before!

We headed back to our bomba to cleanup and to go for an evening meal set in a lovely outdoor setting over looking a watering hole. With the park being powered with a generator, we were glad that the power went off by 11 giving us more excuses to hit the hay.

We were back on the trail again with Kenneth by 6:30 the next morning. In addition to the animals and birds already mentioned, we spotted silver back jackals, and warthogs but not the elusive lions! Our drive was just over 2 hours and we welcomed the chance to get out of the increasingly oppressive sun for a large breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs, toast, and bacon. Riding with your head and shoulders poking out of the roof is wonderful but we had to keep the sun exposure in mind.

While eating our brekkie, we chatted with a young couple from the UK who had also just come back in from a drive. They HAD seen a lion - in fact it was a lioness and her two cubs, feasting on the carcass of a wildebeest. Well, that was enough for us to hear and we quickly tracked down our driver (who had also heard of the sighting) who was agreeable to another drive out to the place where this mom was spotted. I'm happy to say we had our lion sighting.... pictures not very good due to quality of cameras and the cubs were no longer visible (we think they must have been resting in the tall grass near their mother) but the female was visible as she sat quietly in the shade of a tree not far from the track. We stayed to watch her for quite sometime; reluctant to leave this unforgettable tableau.