Mount Kilimanjaro with Acacia TreesAmboseli National Park, Kenya. The road wasn’t as bad as yesterday’s, but it’s no picnic. Inside the park is even dustier than out, with huge clouds of dust, as well as towering dust devils. The place looks like the apocalypse, with a  brown haze of dust revealing a few trees here and there, and the remains of the grasses, now less than stubble.

My plan is to camp, but I checked out each of the 3 lodges to see about lunch possibilities and avoid the heat of the day. Each of these is a green oasis which is avoided by the dust clouds. I settled on the Serena. They, too, have a lunch buffet, but in addition, they have snacks available. I had a generous cheese plate, with more cheese than I eat in a week. For $3, it’s good value, plus I need the protein considering my diet for this safari.

I have an opportunity, as I sit here on the verandah overlooking the plains, to observe how the other half lives. (A single room with full board lists for $163 US, but I was offered $92--not bad for what you get, but still way out of my budget.) A variety of nationalities here, many looking like they stepped out of a Banana Republic catalog. Definitely not covered in dust the way I am, but probably spending as much money in a week or 2 as I have in 2 months.//

A pretty good drive this afternoon, not so much for game, as for bizarre scenery with all the blowing dust. Got some pix of a Maasai girl. Checked out Observation Hill, and then just before getting to camp, I found the acacia I was looking for--for my famous sunset silhouette. It wasn’t perfect, but close.

After setting up my tent, I had my cold, non-cook dinner of tomatoes, avocado, bread, and chocolate. I was observing the other campsite, and decided that their fire under the acacia tree with moonlight might make an interesting time exposure. Then I switched over to pix of Kilimanjaro. I’ll be interested to see if my exposure guesses were accurate.

To sleep with the sounds of the African night.