Giant Mushrooms and Muddy Hyenas

This picture was taken on the side of the road in Zambia. All along the way there are people selling a variety of things:large sacksof coal, hand woven baskets, tomatoes, mangos, onions (the fruits and vegs all stacked in nice little pyramids).

Here you have me with the biggest mushroom I've ever seen.

We purchased this from 2 little kids for about $.60 on New Year's Eve and brought it with us to The Old Farm House in Iringa, Tanzania.

The Old Farm House is honestly one of the best deals for your money in Tanzania and a lovely place to spend the night en route (so nice we stayed coming and going).

It looks more like it should be in the English Country side than in Africa. We rented Stable 1 - a converted horse stable for $22 and had a lovely New Year's Eve dinner for $15 - total!

We also cooked up our giant mushroom with butter and garlic and shared it with a couple of brothers from Germany who had been traveling for the last 11 years!!

This photo was taken in a rocky area of the Serengeti National Park. It's a lovely spotting of a leopard which doesn't happen too often (I've only seen 3 in the 2 years I've been coming to Africa). Notice her camouflage, you could drive right by and not see her. Of course, not this day, there were five other vehicles who had spotted her before we did. In any case, we were happy to see her, despite the crowd.

On this hot sunny day in the Ngorogoro crater, this poor guy (and his mate) were doing everything they could to stay cool. For Hyenas a little mudbath will have to do since there isn't much tree cover to find any shade. I've never actually seen a spotted hyena during the day tho' many times I've seen pairs of their yellow eyes at night (indicating they are carnivores)within close proximity to our campsites, but never in the light of day.

I'm not sure what makes them creepier - the way their front legs are slightly taller than their back, making them look like they are hunching or skulking around OR their dark, vacuous eyes which make them look soul-less. It's a tough call. You decide.