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Out of Africa III
...my passage back into the land of the living
Julie Anne & Tatjana Rhodes -the lioness with her cub
Growing up I'd always considered myself a pacifist. That was until Tatjana was born. The moment I first set eyes on my baby girl, I was consciously aware that I would kill anyone that threatened her without a moments hesitation or a backward glance of guilt. I am a lioness with her cub when it comes to my daughter.
Arial view of the great migration from the hot air balloon
After Samburu we spent four fabulous days in the Masai Mara. We stayed at Cottar's Camp with it's breathtaking views of the Mara plus the Serengeti beyond, and the refined elegance of a 1920's safari. Calvin Cottar had been Peter Beard's friend and guide for many years, so we felt safe in his hands. The first morning we went hot air ballooning over the Masai Mara before breakfast in the bush, and still more animal tracking by foot and jeep. We silently crawled up behind some bushes on the river bank and sat for hours watching the hippos lazing in the water and crocodiles on the banks around them waiting for some hapless wildebeest or zebra to cross. The air is always pregnant with the possibility of impending drama in the bush. At night you could hear the lions calling out to each other, and the occasional yelp of a kill.
Hippo's lazing in the river
Lions resting up for the nighttime hunt
By the end of our stay, Calvin asked me to come back as head chef for six months. His chef quit the night before we arrived, and Peter and Nejma had told him about The Roving Stove. He would sort out a six month visa and I could name my price, if I would stay long enough to train a local Masai how to run the kitchen. By this point I was besotted with the bush, so I told him I would seriously consider his offer. Tatjana and I went on to Tanzania to see the Serengeti, and then onto Lake Manyara where our guide met us at the airport and we continued onto the game reserve.
At the entrance we stopped to take pictures of two baboons, then continued on down the hill. Tatjana and I sat next to each other in the open jeep talking while the guide went into an office to pay the park fees. I glanced off into the opposite direction taking in the beauty...Lake Manyara was much more lush and green ...more jungle like than any of our previous stops...
Baboon picking nits out of the other baboons' fur
... when I heard Tatjana say "Oh shit, oh shit!" I turned, expecting to see her sitting a foot away from me, but instead came face to face with a very large baboon sitting in the jeep between us. Reflex threw my body away from him and out of the jeep, but I realized Tatjana was frozen on the spot, so I caught the rail on the side of the jeep to stop myself...never losing eye contact with the baboon. In that split moment we carried on an entire nonverbal conversation. He undoubtedly knew I was the mama and would fight to death
