AFRICA: OUR SERENGETI HOBBIT LODGE (TANZANIA)

Our lodge in the Serengeti was another winner. In general, the Serena lodges we stayed in were all fantastic:

Main entry:

Beautiful Makonde carvings graced the lobby:

With their round shapes and thatched roofs, the rooms made me feel like a hobbit in the shire:

The units are built in the "rondavel" architectural style, a westernized version of traditional round African huts. The walls are brick topped with heavy thatched, domed roofs. The floor of a traditional rondavel is made of dung. Happily, ours were not. Each rondavel contained two units, one on the ground floor, and one above:

We had some interesting visitors. Some places might have bats in the belfry or rats in the attic, but in the Serengeti there are hyrax in the high places:

Streams winding through the property attract birds and provide the musical score for nature's cinema:

The mosquito netting was a welcome feature of our room as the Serengeti was the only place where we were really worried about insects.

One of the infamous denizens of some sections of the Serengeti is the dreaded tsetse fly, carrier of a protozoan that causes trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness. If untreated, this affliction almost always results in death.  We were told to wear yellow or red, colors that repel the tsetse flies.  (See Bob's brighter-than-desert-sunshine yellow shirt in the picture above.)

In contrast, blue and black attracts the flies, and our hotel had these flags, which had been treated with chemicals fatal to the flies, posted around the lodge:

The dining area had a buffet in an open central rotunda-like room decorated with more Makonde pillars:

Our room had a private balcony that offered a panoramic view of the Serengeti:

A few inhabitants dropped by for a visit:

And I'm supposed to go back home to making my own bed, cooking my own food, and cleaning bathrooms after this? Sigh.