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Sunday, August 13, 2017

A Walk In The Bush

Saturday.  Day off today.  With William home with family, our night watch-warrior took us on an amble in the bush.  We wanted to see the air strip close to the clinic since we had been hearing planes landing and taking off there during the week.  But, we saw much more and hiked much further.  First, with a machete on his hip, he stopped at the front of the clinic to remove a lion spear from the entrance.  We thought they were for decoration!  They aren’t.  Off we went.


We started at 9:30 and worked our way thru the bush to the runway.  Waiting there were 4 Maasai.  Once they saw us, they laid out their small blankets and promptly organized their trinkets for sale.  We thought they were preparing for a soon arriving flight with tourists, but no, it was for us.  We had to explain that we carried no money with us and could not buy what they were selling.  Indeed, the whole time we were out and about, no planes landed.  We wondered if they hang out there all day, hoping for a flight to come in.



We continued hiking thru the scrub.  Lots of elephant droppings, (dumps would be more accurate) as well as droppings from other animals, but no sightings.  Twice, in the distance, probably a mile away), we did see giraffes grazing.


Our leader did show us a leg from a bush buck.  Still had meat on it.  He poked around a bit and found the body under a tree.  Fairly fresh.  We asked him what he thought killed the bush buck.  He said ‘tree’.  We think he meant that the animal got tangled up in the low branches and couldn’t extricate himself.  The bush carnivores will continue to show their appreciation.
Front leg of Bushbuck

Easy evidence that an elephant was by.

Ditto.  These are the diameter of coffee cans.


These trees are everywhere.  One inch thorns.  If they are on the ground, don't step on them.  I did and the spike drove through my sole into my foot.  Our Maasai warrior was able to pull it out from the inside of my shoe!

Another reason we enjoyed the walk is in the National Parks, we cannot get out of the vehicles.  This is to protect the animals, and you.  No such rules where we were today.  Remember, our night watch-warrior had his lion spear……  We made it back safely.
Our view as we walked the bush.





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