I woke up with a splitting headache and I was SO thirsty. I felt that my whole face had lost all of its color. I got up and chugged a bunch of water, which made me feel nauseous. I thought to myself, this feels exactly like a hangover, except I hadn’t had any alcohol the day before. I realized that after I gave those boys my water yesterday, I had had nothing to drink until dinner time, which was probably too late. Rachel gave me some propel water with electrolytes and the headache almost instantly went away. Those electrolytes really helped. I got my appetite back and was able to drink a ton more water. Rachel just now started to get a headache too, which she thinks is also dehydration. It is just amazing to me how quickly we lose our body water out here. Even I, a girl from the desert who acclimates quickly to hot weather, have found it difficult to stay hydrated. I think the problem is not the heat. It’s not exactly sweltering here (the high is in the mid 80’s), but it is very dusty. Driving around in the vehicles, the passengers get covered in dust. It really just sucks all the water out of a person. The fact that we’ve had to guzzle water gives me more of an insight into how difficult the droughts have been for the people and animals of this region.
We have been able to spend some time out in the land rovers on game drives. After all, what is a trip to the Serengeti without a few wildlife sightings? Felix tells us that the trump of all sightings is an aarvark; second is the leopard. They say no one sees the armadillos, because they are nocturnal and very small shy animals. Apparently in only one of 12 or so trips out will anyone actually see leopard. I guess I’m a good luck charm because when we went out in the morning almost immediately we saw a leopard lounging with her kill in the trees! We watched her for about 20 minutes or so when she got up to go to her kill. She tugged at it a little and it fell out of the tree. She climbed down the tree and after her, to our surprise, followed a tiny 2 month old cub! It was amazingly cute. The cub followed its mother down the tree and they stayed at the base of it for a long while. We then continued on where we saw wildebeest, a giraffe, hippo, and lions. I got plenty of great pictures. Just before dusk we decided to go out one more time for the day. We sighted the leopard again, but this time in a tree about a kilometer away from the first sighting! I don’t know how we got so lucky. The second sighting produced even better pictures (thank you, LPZ department camera). She had a new kill, which surprised us until we remembered that her previous kill had fallen from the tree and lions were nearby. We suspected that she did not have the energy or time to drag the kill quickly back up the tree and for the safety of her cub thought it best to move on. Lions will kill any young that are not their own, including lions cubs from other male lions. Whatever her reasoning, she had fortunately kept herself and her cub safe and had found another source of food.
In between game drives, we were able to plan our schedule for discussions for the rest of the week and who needs to be present for them. Over the next week we’ll be meeting almost constantly, whether it is about grant opportunities or the necessary repairs for the Disease House.
We have been able to spend some time out in the land rovers on game drives. After all, what is a trip to the Serengeti without a few wildlife sightings? Felix tells us that the trump of all sightings is an aarvark; second is the leopard. They say no one sees the armadillos, because they are nocturnal and very small shy animals. Apparently in only one of 12 or so trips out will anyone actually see leopard. I guess I’m a good luck charm because when we went out in the morning almost immediately we saw a leopard lounging with her kill in the trees! We watched her for about 20 minutes or so when she got up to go to her kill. She tugged at it a little and it fell out of the tree. She climbed down the tree and after her, to our surprise, followed a tiny 2 month old cub! It was amazingly cute. The cub followed its mother down the tree and they stayed at the base of it for a long while. We then continued on where we saw wildebeest, a giraffe, hippo, and lions. I got plenty of great pictures. Just before dusk we decided to go out one more time for the day. We sighted the leopard again, but this time in a tree about a kilometer away from the first sighting! I don’t know how we got so lucky. The second sighting produced even better pictures (thank you, LPZ department camera). She had a new kill, which surprised us until we remembered that her previous kill had fallen from the tree and lions were nearby. We suspected that she did not have the energy or time to drag the kill quickly back up the tree and for the safety of her cub thought it best to move on. Lions will kill any young that are not their own, including lions cubs from other male lions. Whatever her reasoning, she had fortunately kept herself and her cub safe and had found another source of food.In between game drives, we were able to plan our schedule for discussions for the rest of the week and who needs to be present for them. Over the next week we’ll be meeting almost constantly, whether it is about grant opportunities or the necessary repairs for the Disease House.
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