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The camp was set up in a circle of kopjes with each tent out of site of the others, giving a real sense of solitude. We were not supposed to be out of our tents after dark because animals of all sizes freely roamed through the camp. Each morning we were awakened before dawn by our porters and we had to be escorted to the mess tent for breakfast. In the evening we were escorted back to our tents after dinner. The camp was also guarded by Maasai sentries to keep the camp private.

On the first day we did a combination game drive/walking safari. After an early breakfast we set out in the safari vehicles and drove through the bush to the Alamana river. We then unloaded and led by our guide Noellie, carrying his rifle, we hiked along the river. Noellie had a wealth of information about the country side, the vegetation and the wildlife. We saw weaver birds nesting along the river and spotted a couple of hyena. After a small snack we met up with our vehicles and headed back to camp. On the way we spotted a female lion resting on a fallen tree. We were able to get pretty close and got some great photos. After a great dinner, we piled back into the safari vehicles and went out for a game drive in the dark. Using powerful search lights we could spot some of the nocturnal creatures such as a Genet, Bat-eared Foxes and and African Wild Cat.

The next day we explored the culture of the local Maasai people. We drove over to a remote boma that our tour company worked with, and were allowed to meet with the people and tour their village. It was a very interesting experience to see this traditional boma in which mud huts are clustered around a cattle coral that is fenced in by thorn bushes. We visited a mother in a one of the low huts in which the quarters are very tight. The Maasai spend most of their time outside and the hut is just for eating and sleeping. The kids were happy to see us and loved to see their pictures on the lcd screens of our digital cameras. Our visit was capped off with a shopping spree in which there was some lively bargaining going on via our guide's translations.

Our next stop was a more modern town where we visited a school. There were over one hundred kids at the school. The students board at the school because their homes are spread out in the bush. We met with the teachers first and then with a student senior class where we learned about the students and how classes were conducted. The kids were great and we all had a good time. When we returned to camp we were given the opportunity to provide financial support for a student through our tour leader, Mzee. Our support would allow a promising student to continue her studies at and advanced level.

The next morning we were treated to a feathery visitor at breakfast, an Eagle Owl that was perched on the kopje next to the mess tent. It was our last full day at the camp and we spent the morning on another game drive and hiking combination. We drove north to a flat plains area and observed a myriad of birds and mammals.  The hike was along a stream where there was a herd of zebra drinking at a waterhole, and a large herd of giraffe grazing. As we were returning to camp we flushed a large herd of Elands that stampeded away from us. Later in the afternoon we drove to small kopje with a cave at the bottom that was a Maasai initiation site. We all entered the cave and hear from some Maasai men about the initiation ceremony. We also tried some of the barbecued goat and some of the traditional soup that is prepared for the ceremony. We ended the day with a sundowner on a rocky ledge and watched the sunset beside a roaring camp fire.

The next morning after another great breakfast and a tour of the camp facilities by our stewards, we piled all our gear into the vehicles and set out for our next camp at Serengeti National Park. It was a long day of driving through kopjes, woodland and finally the plains. We made a stop at a secluded Hippo pond and watched and listened to a group of about twenty hippos cavorting inthe pool. We saw the rare Klipspringer antelope that makes the rocky kopjes its home and some Topi, another rare antelope. As we approached the plains area we sighted a herd of elephants and spent a while watching them graze on the bushes. As we drove across the roadless plains, we saw running Ostrich, Thompson's and Grant's gazelles, Zebra and Eland. We drove into our camp at Serengeti National park just as the sun was setting.

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