I fell asleep immediately but woke up and couldn't go back to sleep. Officially got out of bed at 640am. Bernadette was not snoring too bad, but I had my plugs in.
I headed to breakfast-had a fruit plate- banana, pineapple and watermelon. Then ordered veggie omelette, with a pancake (much like big pancakes but tasted more like potato-like, thicker. Also had juice-not sure the fruit, but good and sweet.
Talked to group a bit at breakfast, had a beautiful view of the lake, lots of people driving their motorcycles to go fishing this morning, carrying their buckets. Lots of animals grazing too. It was a wide-open plain.
Then it was off to the Masai community- they live in mud/cow dung huts. We got to see 2 stoves--the first was the old one---so smoky inside-I was inside for 2 seconds and my eyes were severely watering. Wow I could not imagine sitting let alone sleeping in there. Just awful.
Then we saw a modern stove- it had a chimney which removed about 90% of smoke left, and 10% stayed inside to keep the home warm and warn off mosquitoes. The installation is done by the women of the community. They learn by taking a seminar in the main village and then do it back in their community and teach other women in their community.
We got to see 3 women help install a new stove with bricks, mud and termite dung. They use this because its strong and a lot like concrete they said.
The women wear a lot of jewelry. The men have multiple wives and families. There are two beds in a home-one for the man and one for the woman and children. Something they shared with us- when the father comes to stay with one wife and children, the boys older than 8 years need to go live another hut-this is out of shame they man of the community here said.
The older girls take care of the little kids, the boys take care of the cows and goats, the women get milk from the cows, build stoves, do the cooking, the men I am not sure what they do to be honest.
It seems to be a very simple life-they focus on one specialty-maybe rice, bananas, milk, potatoes, and then trade for what they need like cows, chicken, eggs-whatever their needs are. They do not eat wild animals-they believe if they do they will get bad luck. So that includes fish, monkeys, elephants, giraffes, buffalo---this is why they say they can live with the animals and cause no issues among them.
We left this community and went on to a Tanzanite shop (its a beautiful blue-ish stone, very pretty) and also a bathroom stop. When we walked inside they gave us hand sanitizer on the way to bathroom. This corona virus is getting really serious---We have not had any tv or news broadcasting so we don't really know the details but know its getting bad in the U.S.
Then we got to Ngorongoro-this is conservation land- where Masai are allowed to live among the wild animals. Saw more zebras, griaffes, elephants, donkeys and goats of the Masai, wildebeast.
We all experienced the African massage---a very bumpy ride, a very strong shake and rattle.
We drove the a great lookout to see what they call the crater----a huge basin where there are a ton of animals--can see animals for miles and miles-it was so majestic and beautiful.
Then we went to a museum and ate our box lunch. The museum was about the generations of humans and a lot of bones of old humans and animals.
The box lunch was kinda a random group of food-a piece of chicken, bread with what looked like coleslaw, banana, pineapple juice, cookies-plain butter-like cookies, spaghetti, and hard boiled egg. It was a very interesting mix, even had ketchup.
Then it was more African massage!!
We saw lions!! Came up on a small pride of females---just lounging around! Saw giraffes, elephants, warthogs, buffalo, storks, hippos. It was very bumpy and then muddy once heading to the lodge.
We entered the Serengeti on the way to this lodge.
There was a lot water and mud made up the roads---it was also raining on and off now too.
Once arrived at the lodge they made us close all the windows and they sprayed for the tse-tse fly, apparently its pretty bad out there in the Serengeti. They welcomed us with juice and a wet towel which was nice. We were escorted to our tents (I saw that loosely because it was super nice) by their male employees. At this place we were not allowed to exit our place until we have radioed the staff and they send someone to escort us-the reason for this is because we are staying within the park and wild animals are out there.
Once we went into our tent we were positively surprised---this place was huge!! The entrance was double zippered--one of more fabric and heavy and one more screen-like.
The first room was a little living room space and then another double zipper to go to the bedrooms---the first bedroom had a huge bed---bigger than a california king, and then the second bedroom had a bunk and a single bed. There were not walls but the heavy fabric that's the outside of the tent. Then the third area was 2 showers, bathroom and sink.
We knew we couldn't drink the water, they left a few water bottles at the sink for us! They even asked when we wanted to shower and they would come and turn our water on for us. Wow this place was just amazing and outstanding for a camp accommodation.
I slept in the single bed and gave Bernadette the large bedroom. The bed was a bit hard, but good for me. We had to set our things down and get to dinner. At dinner, Phil told us the trip was cancelled and he would be dropping us to Arusha and then we were on our way. So we all pretty much lost our appetite and started to freak out a bit.
The meals was first fish cake as an appetizer, then soup, then I had pasta with a curry sauce and the others lamb, and then dessert was a vanilla and dark chocolate pudding-thing---was a weird texture, kinda like jello and pudding.
We were all very frustrated because we wanted to finish the tour and didn't know what was going to happen.
We then back to our rooms, Bernadette was a bit upset and I was started to freak out bc I only had wifi and WhatsApp.
I saw a flight to get while at dinner and then went got back to the room it disappeared. I called my parents for help. We talked for about 5-6 hours, they called my insurance company, travelocity-who I booked my flights thru, and tried to get thru to Ethiopian air---but got nowhere. Now I was getting scared and tried to lay down and catch some sleep but couldn't. Flights are getting outrageously expensive!
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