Yesterday, I showed you around our tent in the Mungari camp, so now lets see the rest of it!!
There is an open-air pavilion that contains two seating areas…..
and the tables that we dined at…..
It was such fun to sit here with our camp-mates and hear about their days!!
The entire camp is run on solar power and the path lights wore “hats” to keep things from being too bright…..
These were woven from a palmetto leaf and were very creative!!! As time went on, they started to dry out and spaces formed between the woven leaves. I loved how they looked…..
….and, of course, saw a quilt design!!
There are two camp cats…..
Puddin’
Lucky
…but after I mentioned that I was allergic to cats, they mysteriously disappeared to the other camp. We were told that they often move between camps but I suspect that in this case, they were MOVED.
There was always something in camp to watch, including this Red Duiker…..
She is very pregnant and we are looking forward to seeing her sweet lamb (yes that is what they are called) when we return in a few weeks!!!
There were two guinea fowl that had the run of the camp….
and an amazing array of butterflies…..
They are in the process of building two concrete buildings that will house some of the camp employees and I found this interesting tree trunk that had been cut down…..
Isn’t the wood grain amazing!!! And this one too……
One of the nightly camp traditions is the fire-pit…..come back next week to hear more!!
There are two different camps in Coutada 11 and we were in the Mungari Camp. It is a beautiful area….
….that consists of a large gathering pavilion, kitchen and several office buildings. The guests stay in tents….if you call this palatial accommodation a tent…..
Inside there are two very comfortable beds……
….and a “closet” system…..
The bathroom is open air and attached to the tent…..
The shower….
…..featured boiling hot water from our own, individual, wood-fired water heater…..
The only problem with this was when it had rained for several days in a row and the worker’s couldn’t keep the fire going. The shower’s got cooler but still warm!!!
The paths around the camp were raked every few days, leaving a fun design in the sand…..
I found myself walking on the grass to avoid messing up the pretty design!!! Probably NOT what they had in mind!!!
The next morning we took the bus to the airport, making SURE that we had the carry-on bag in tow!!
Our flights were all great and, honestly, the time went quickly. I had one moment of “oh no” when I realized that we had only been in the air for 5 hours of our 13-hour leg!! But I pulled out my I-Pad and started playing with some drawings and the rest of the time passed by!
I loved both of these…..
We arrived in Addis Ababa with a short layover time and a lot to accomplish to get Michael’s firearms checked and approved for the next flight. But Ethiopian Airlines was ready for us (and all the others traveling with firearms), and we were quickly at our gate and waiting to board.
This second flight was on a smaller and older plane and we laughed at the recorded announcement that said, “since the pilot has turned off the seat belt sign, we are free to use our electronic devices such as calculators, CD-players, and personal computers!!” We figure that every 15-year-old turned to their parents and said, “what is a calculator?”.
Also, the safety video had a REALLY creepy guy on it…..
The video did not do much to encourage us of the safety of the flight!!
At one point the pilot announced that we could see Mount Kilimanjaro…..someplace new to add to my travel bucket list!!
We landed in Malawi but never deplaned. It was interesting to look at the landscape there since it was flat, dry, and mostly treeless. Except for the small, pyramid-shaped hills, it could have been Abilene, Texas!!
Our next landing was in Beira, Mozambique. The VISA process and firearm permitting seemed to go on interminably, but we finally walked out with a VISA secured in our passports.
We were greeted by Pete, our helicopter pilot for the final leg of the trip. He was urging us to “HURRY” because in 15 minutes it would be too late to start the trip and we would have to overnight in the city. We responded by quickening our steps and we left the ground with 5 minutes to spare!
The flight to camp was so interesting. It was especially nice to be in a helicopter (as opposed to a fixed-wing airplane) because we were closer to the ground and could see things easily.
As we left Beira, the landscape was more sparse with little pockets of green….
But as we traveled further in, great clumps of trees started appearing and soon we were flying over forested areas…..
We asked when we would start seeing animals, and Pete told us that we would make about half of the trip before we would meet anything wild. Our first sighting was a herd of antelope, but the highlight was a herd of Cape buffalo. Pete did a 360 around the grouping so that we could enjoy seeing them in their glory. The addition of the white Cattle Egrets shining brightly in the sinking sun made the scene perfect!!
I greatly enjoyed the first of my many African sunsets!!
We landed in camp with drum fanfare and greeted by the camp workers and Poppy, the woman that runs Mungari.
After she showed us our palatial tent home, she invited us to join the crew at the fire pit for drinks and appetizers.
The appetizer turned out to be Reedbuck LIVER!!
When I asked what we were eating, and she said “liver”, I pasted on my “oh that sounds wonderful” smile while inside I was thinking how glad I was that we had brought snacks!!
But the snacks were unneeded!! The meat was tasty and did not have that liver-tang!! It was served in a creamy sauce with thin-sliced toast to sop up the gravy. I went back for seconds!!
Soon the drums announced that dinner was served, and we trouped into the covered pavilion that serves as the meeting place. The main table holds twelve people and we were soon enjoying grilled chicken, fries, stir-fried vegetables, and coleslaw. As I was holding my stomach and thankful that dinner was over, the server brought cake and custard for dessert. How could I say NO!!
Because the camp runs on solar power, there is only one area to charge up electronics. Many of the other guests were part of a film crew and there was an IMPRESSIVE array of charging batteries!!
After dinner, Michael and I stumbled back to our tent and fell into bed to sleep the sleep of the jet lagged.
As often happens when we travel, I woke up sometime during the night, confused about where I was. But when I heard the night sounds of the frogs I realized that we had made it to Africa….a dream come true!!!
This is the first story from our recent trip to Mozambique. I plan to post one or two installments each week and then finish it out while we are back there in July. I hope that you enjoy your travels with me!!!
As I sat at the fire pit….
…..listening to the five conversations going on around me, I happened to glance up to see the moon’s glow filtering down thru the trees above, and I couldn’t help but thank God for allowing Michael and me to come on this trip!!
Mind you, it got off to a rocky start!! As we were driving to the Atlanta Airport on Thursday morning, a gentleman in a BIG truck pulled out in front of us as Michael was traveling 50+ miles per hour. Fortunately, there was no one in the oncoming lane, so Michael pulled one of his “Andretti” moves and managed to get around the truck before it hit us!! Okay, we thought that was THE trip problem!!
We arrived at Dulles airport and found the bus that would take us to the hotel where we were overnighting. After a 7 minute drive, we hopped out of the bus, gathered our suitcases and said with one voice, “where is the carry-on rolling bag”….the one that has ALL of our camera and video equipment totaling $5,000!! At the same time, we both realized that we had left it at the airport bus stop!!!’.
The bus driver noted the panic in our faces and said, “hop back on and we will go back there”. I stayed at the hotel and prayed mightily as Michael rode in the bus with the driver going as fast as he could go. There was a collective sigh of relief when the lone bag was sitting just where we left it!! OK….so THAT was our one thing to go wrong!!!
That Thursday was also Michael’s and my 44th wedding anniversary and, since we were in DC, we made reservations at our favorite restaurant….The Capital Grille on Pennsylvania Avenue. We asked at the hotel desk the best way to get there, and she said “UBER!!”
Now, I know that we are well-traveled but we had NEVER used UBER before. Fortunately, I had set up an account years ago but had never had a reason to use it.
Since we were still a bit shaken by the suitcase incident, we were leery to try something new, but finally, Michael said, “just book it”!! I hopped on the App and 5 minutes later we were winging our way into town. It was a great experience, and we had an interesting conversationalist for a driver.
Our dinner at CG was marvelous, starting with cocktails…..
…..and moving on to Caesar Salad, followed by Lamb chops, Parmesan fries and grilled asparagus….
When it came time to order dessert, our waiter brought out a sampler platter with small servings of two of their desserts served on a specially decorated plate.
He definitely increased HIS tip!!
We left the restaurant and walked down one block and strolled along the National Mall, stopping to take a few photos of the magnificent buildings…..
When we were tired and ready to head back to the hotel, we pulled out the App and our car arrived in just a few minutes. I may never drive anywhere again!!
We arrived back home on Friday about 4:00pm. Our travels started with a helicopter ride to Beira, Mozambique, followed with flights to Addis Ababa, Washington DC and finally to Atlanta, Georgia…..a total of 36 hours!!!
We are happy to be home but are enjoying remembering our time at Mungari camp!! The really fun thing is that we return there in only 4 weeks and 5 days!!!
I had virtually no internet while we were in camp but have been writing posts during the time. I will start to share those this next week….maybe 2 per week and then finish them out while we are back at Mungari again!!
I will leave you with one photo…..
….but I promise that there will be LOTS more to come!!!
