Bush-Camping Birthday

Monday, August 29, 2006

We reach our campsite just before dusk and set up our camp.

Our tents form a semi-circle around the campfire, all doors facing in for safety. We are camped on a large flat grassy area. Just over the rise of a low hill, a few hundred yards away, a herd of buffalo are grazing.

We are bordered with a lightly forested area on two sides. A baboon troop soon emerges from the undergrowth and sits near the forested edge, grunting and scratching their behinds as they watch us set up.

Across the field another overland group is also camping and there is a little shack with squat toilets there too.

Somewhere nearby we can hear the noise of a waterfall, but it is too dark to explore.

Today it is Jen's 26th birthday, and I think she is truly surprised tonight when presented with a birthday cake that Pete has somehow managed to bake over charcoal. How does one bake such a yummy cake over charcoal?! I have trouble myself in a kitchen with modern appliances...

Wayne and Anne-Dorte also gift her with a yellow Masai shawl and a card that we have all secretly signed on board the truck today.

The air is chilly tonight and we all bring the camp-stools close to our fire. The people in our group are getting to know one another and there is lots of interesting conversation until quite late.

Somebody pulls out an astronomy guide and we try to recognize constellations. The Milky Way is vast tonight.

Brushing our teeth tonight (using water from the truck tanks), we remember to spit the tooth-paste far from the tents. Animals will be attracted by anything remotely edible or scented, including shampoo and cosmetics. We lock up anything remotely suspect in the truck.

I fall asleep in our tent later listening to the sounds of hippos down-river and wondering if the buffalo will wander into our camp.