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Elephants
Everywhere!
 In
the water and in the road, huge herds and lone bulls, sparring teens
and teeny babies - the elephants
were out in full force today. Just beside our vehicle, two youngsters
wrestled their trunks in a play-fight. We drove leisurely out of the
park, spotting a pair of tiny dik-dik as we left. We headed northwards
onto a newly-paved highway, passing Mosquito River, a Maasai town. The
colors were intense and everywhere - on signs, on the cloth wraps of
the women balancing bags of grain on their heads, on the hills and flatlands.
Clusters of small round huts dotted the landscape, each belonging to
one family. One villager had a hillside full of huts for his 21 wives.
Coffee
Plantation
 We
arrived midday at Gibb's
Farm, a former coffee plantation converted to a lodge. It was an
oasis, a slice of paradise in a rural dry place. Vines climbed the walls
on the main house, now used as the reception and dining area. Our rooms
were small cabins set among  lush
greens and bright flowers. In the sloping hill below, the meticulously-tended
organic garden grew all the produce and herbs used to prepare the most
incredible meal of the trip. Spinach salads, vegetable quiches, rhubarb
cobbler, seasoned potatoes, pineapple upside-down cake, passion fruit
juice greeted us on the lunch buffet. Later I toured the garden and
saw everything I had eaten and more - celery, papaya, mango, squash,
potato, artichoke, avocado, carrot, beet, turnip, and on and on. Because
the farm borders the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a team of gardeners
not only tends the plants but must keep out intruders, like the elephant
that left a trail of footprints in the lettuce patch.
Elephant
Cave Walk
 In
the afternoon we took a guided walk into the Conservation Area to a
nearby waterfall and the elephant cave. The cave was carved by elephants
digging into the hillside to extract minerals from the soil. Once large
enough to hold several elephants, the cave was washed away by El Nino
rains. What remains resembles a mining pit, with a new small cave being
carved out at the top. Our guide Pascal was a remarkable young man who
worked as a porter at Gibb's and spent his free time volunteering for
an AIDS charity, caring for the sick and educating other young people
about prevention.
Relaxing
Evening
Before dinner I
had a chance to relax and make use of the lodge's internet connection
to send a quick message home. It was remarkable to be so far removed
from all that I knew yet able to share a brief bit of what I was experiencing.
In the highlands the air quickly grew cold after dark. Dinner was served
by candlelit, with a roaring fire by our table. Several of us stayed
late to plot a few surprises for Chuck's upcoming 60th birthday. It
was a wonderful night of wine and laughter. I returned to my room to
find a warm fire in the small fireplace, and soon after porter delivered
a basket of wood to keep the fire going. I feel asleep to the soft glow
and warm crackle, my head full of misty hills and elephants and thoughts
of home. >>
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