22.2. Morning walk around the lodge and afternoon´s thunderstorm.
Moved in with the Original Maasai Lodge and enjoying the day. I an wakened at 6 a.m. with a coffee and a scone, starting at 6:30 for a morning walk into the Maasai Steppe around the lodge. After yesterday´s rain, it is cloudy, with a slight drizzle at dawn, having stopped when we start our walk.
Panoramic picture of the Maasai in morning light. Click here or into te picture for a larger display.
Mount Longido im Morgenlicht.
Kilimandscharo.
View back to the Original Maasai Lodge. Mt. Meru behind still in clouds.
Clouds getting dissolved on Meru.
Termites in their burrow. My Maasai guide says, they are going to "immure" themselves - against the rain that will come in abundance soon.
A composite, related to the European horseweed - Microglossa pyrrhopappa.
Zebras can be met here frequently and nearly everywhere. Sometimes they even approach the lodge or the schools.
They are not very shy.
Mt. Longido in the background.
The ink flower (Cycnium tubulosum) vovers large areas here in places.
This lava bombe looks rather weathered with time.
Ipomoea longituba, called "Rope plant" by the local Maasai, because it grows long, rope-like shoots along the ground. A plant of the morning glory family, related to the European field bindweed.
Back to the lodge - Flat top acacia (Acacia abyssinica, Vachellia abyssinica) in flower, at the beginning rain season ...
... and with a visitor.
After a quiet and sunny morning, clouds are towering up in the afternoon.
Thunderclouds behind and above Mount Meru. Click here or into te picture for a larger display.
Cyper grass (Cyperus niveus) on the slopes of a hill.
Mount Longido in the gloomy light.
Showers are increasing in nuber now ...
... and approaching.
However, the locals say, that normally rain does not come down from Mt. Meru. And so it is. Rain comes in, but from the other side, from the Kilimandscharo.