Saturday, July 26

Up early this morning to begin our Big Day. After boarding our rented bus, we headed toward Mikumi. Our rest stop was at a place with only "squatties"...no choice but to go native! 22 Ks out, we came to the small village of Pingo. Pastor William met us and directed us to his house. There we met his elders, 2 women, and several children. They all sang to welcome us. Pastor's home was constructed of vertical poles crisscrossed with horizontal sticks with mud as a filler. A goat shed was attached to the house, and a pig shed was out behind that. The roof was made of corrugated metal, but most of the village homes had thatched roofs. Pastor took us several yards beyond his home to a spot where the framework of the new church stood. It was surrounded by a good-sized plot of ground, all of which they purchased for 600,000 shillings (about $600). We formed a prayer circle and Angela, Rodney, Craig and I prayed for congregation. Before we left, Pastor prayed for us.
One of the women had a baby who was feverish and sick. She thought it was Malaria. Also, one of the young men had a severe head wound. We were able to transport them in our bus to the nearest medical clinic, and we took up an offering to pay for it. To be there at that exact time had to be a God thing.
We reached Mikumi Park mid-afternoon. Because the highway runs right through the park, we were afraid we wouldn't see many animals. Hakuna matata! We began spotting animals almost immediately. Before the day was over we had seen countless baboons, Impalas, giraffes, warthogs, elephants, cape buffalo, zebras, guinea fowl, wildebeests crocodiles, hippopotamus, and many species of birds (most we couldn't identify...but we did recognize Horn bills, Kingfishers, and storks.) We spent the night at the rustic TanSwiss Lodge.
Saturday morning we arose early in order to have time for viewing more animals. Craig wasn't feeling well and stayed at the lodge, meeting us later at the park entrance. We saw many more animals (as mentioned above), but no big cats. Rochelle said the lions are hard to see this time of year when the grass is high. Still, we were thrilled at all we were able to see.
The trip home seemed to take forever. Alice made a make-shift bed for Craig across the bus seats with suitcases filling the gap in the aisle. Little Joey was pretty unhappy with all the traveling. It was a lot for a 2-yr-old. (Both are feeling better now.)
I'm sorry we can't supply pictures due to technical difficulty. But, believe me, we have tons of them to bring home. I don't think Michelle has missed photographing an animal, tree or flower in all of Africa!