Window on Cherry Pie Lane

This Cokes Hartebeest was pretty cooperative with having his portrait taken. Not sure where that mud on his left horn came from. They really are elegant beasts, aren’t they?

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This group of Masai teenage boys were along the highway dressed in their finery hoping to get a handout of some kind; money or candy preferred. They wanted us to think they were involved in the Masai circumcision ritual. The boys dress like this and head out in the desert to survive on their own for awhile as men. This was all fake though, but they looked pretty spectacular. If you click on the picture to enlarge you will notice that one of the boys who is showing his bottom teeth is missing a tooth. That is another ritual that is preformed on the children, boys and girls, when they are 7. An elder lady of the village ritualistically pulls out that bottom tooth. It used to be considered a necessary thing for the children to get nourishment through that gap when they were sick, often with malaria and TB.  It has continued on as a ritual now. Our guide told us that they used a grass straw to pour nourishment into the sick one’s mouth. I guess I understand how that would work, actually. Our guide was a Masai and sure enough, he had his bottom tooth missing.

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I am not sure if this would be a nightmare or heaven to some of the chefs that I know. I believe Nick would think this was awesome and love every minute of cooking here. I got to know this chef quite well and he welcomed me into his kitchen. The food that came out of this little corner of the tent was nothing short of spectacular. He was trained at a culinary school in Arusha and spoke English very well. All his helpers, as well as all workers at the tent camp, were men. We had a Masai guard who was up all night guarding against wild animals. You could hear lions roar often in the night.

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Here is a mother Cokes Hartebeest with her baby. I always thought that the Hartebeest was named for the the shape of their horns.

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This is a Topi. They are dark in color and have those distinctive dark patches on their flanks and forelegs and down the face. Their horns slope straight backward and both sexes have horns. They are often seen hanging out with the Cokes Hartebeest, as you can see in the bottom photo. The Coke has horns that curve inward and are lighter in color with no dark patches.

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Here is that Leopard again, with it’s kill, resting in the tree after the morning hunt.

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Here is a group of Wildebeest crossing the Simba river that flows into Lake Manyara. Sadly, the lake is drying up due to drought and rice farming and the animals are migrating away from the area. There are dead Wildebeest for miles surrounding the area, as the animals get water in their lungs and end up with pneumonia. That is according to our guides.

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This Grant’s Gazelle acts like someone is following him. See the difference between the two gazelle’s? The Thompason’s has that black stripe on the side. This guy has quite the horns, doesn’t he?

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Isn’t this Thompson’s Gazelle pretty? Finally caught some of that golden light.

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I was so lucky to have seen so many of the big cats during my trip. This one was being bothered by a hyaena under the tree. Make sure to take a closer look by clicking on the pics. Leopards hide very well and lighting was not the greatest for pictures. It is quite the challenge to see them.

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