Waking up to the sounds of wild animals close by, is a bit surreal, but really rather nice.
I had another outside shower, but this time, the water was a bit on the chilly side. Unsurprisingly, solar water heaters don’t work so well when it’s dark, but at least it woke me up.
All packed and ready to go, I wasn’t looking forward to dragging my case all the way to the main lodge over the bumpy path, but just as I was moving my stuff outside, another young man, (no stick this time) appeared as if by magic, to take all my stuff. How on earth do they manage to show up at exactly the moment guests in the remote lodges are leaving. It’s a bit of a mystery!!
On the way out I snapped a pic of the warning sign, which just confirmed what I already knew from first hand experience, except my wild animal visitors were of the shy, stripey non guest munching kind.
Loaded up and ready to go, Deo told me it was about a two hour drive to Lake Manyara, but the route we were taking was almost entirely on unmade roads. The plus side of this was that we would get to see more of the countryside ( and not to have to wear seatbelts), the down side was that the journey was likely to be a bit of a bone shaker - especially as it had rained so heavily all the previous day and night.
I needn’t t have worried - the roads were positively flat compared with what we would experience in the days to come and the warm greetings we got from the people along the way made it a very special journey.
Every village or town we passed through, hoards of small children rushed out to wave and shout jambo ( Hello in Swahili). As it was a Sunday, large groups of people were on their way to and from church which seemed to put everyone in a festive mood.
We passed herds of farm animals, with sheep, cows, and goats all mixed in together, being tended by yet more small children and people working in the fields tending their crops and making their own bricks.
There were a lot of houses that we’re clearly still being built and Deo explained that it’s a gradual process for many people. They save some money, buy some land. Save some more, then start the build. Build until the money runs out and then start saving again, and carry on in this way until until finally their home is complete.
No millstone mortgages around peoples necks and a nice simple home perfect for the needs of the family. It’s a million miles away from the way things are done in much wealthier countries and in my humble opinion a far more sustainable and stress free way of living.
Deo confirmed that this wasn’t a route taken by the safari vehicles, which is probably why we attracted so much attention.
The roads may have been a bit rough and all the rain had swelled some of the rivers we had to drive through to much more than their usual trickle, but it was lovely and I enjoyed every minute of it.
We eventually arrived at the main gate to the Lake Manyara national park, which declares itself to be “Home of the tree climbing lions”. Deo confided that actually, all lions can climb trees, but they do it here much more frequently because the ground is softer and damper and not so good for their paws.
This area, was completely different from the previous day.
For a start, there was only one other vehicle there, but in fairness we had arrived much earlier in the morning and secondly, there were so many trees it was like a jungle ( well at least that’s what I think of as a jungle - maybe I’ve seen too many Tarzan movies).
The landscape in Tarangire consisted of open plains, quite a few stunning trees, rocky hills and some Tsetse fly attracting bushes towards the end. This part of Lake Manyara had trees as far as the eye could see and quite thick undergrowth blocking out the view of anything except the road. Or so I thought!!
Deo went off to do the whole paperwork, money changing hands thing, I went to the loo, said hi to the only other people there, had a cigarette and went back to the car to wait.
I didn’t have to wait long before Deo was back and we were on or way.
My worries about not seeing anything because of the density of the forest, were completely unfounded as some loud trumpeting and dramatic rustling of branches, preceded some very large elephants appearing on the road in front of us.
We’d seen a lot of elephants the day before, but to have them all to ourselves was wonderful. Well it was wonderful until we realised that one very large bull didn’t seem at
all pleased by our presence. He was literally right by the side of the Landcruiser ( I can’t call it a car, it’s definitely not a Jeep and “specially adapted safari vehicle" seems a bit long winded, so I’m going to call it was it is from here onwards) and he was not a happy elephant because he wanted to cross the road and we were in his way.
He snorted, flapped his enormous ears and waved his trunk up and down. To the uninitiated, it might have looked as if he was saying hello, but Deo hasn’t been a super guide for 20 years for nothing. He gently slipped the land cruiser into gear and we quietly moved further down the road. He later explained that although most of the animals we would encounter have no interest in or malice towards the many vehicles that frequent the parks, elephants are a whole different ball game. They can be very aggressive and if they take instant dislike to you - their actions are likely to be extremely memorable - and not in a good way
We saw loads of baboons and even more Black face monkeys on our way through and eventually the trees gave way to a breathtaking view of the beautiful Lake Manyara.
In all of the Tanzanian National parks, you have to stay on the roads ( actually they are all dirt tracks) and absolutely no off reading is allowed. So as we made our way towards the lake I had everything crossed that the “road” would take us right by the shore line.
I could see another Landcruiser driving right by the edge of the lake and there were some tiny blobs down there that looked like they were probably animals of some sort ( Deo was able to identify them even from several hundred meters away - I still have no clue how he does that) so I felt optimistic.
Sure enough we followed the road/track/path down the hill where it turned and took us right alongside the blobs. Just as Deo had predicted, they were a herd of Buffalo and they were hilarious. As we approached, they all turned to face us and gave us menacing stares, but as we got closer, in one fluid movement they all turned around and ran away. They would stop about 100 meters away and turn and stare again, only to high tail it out of there, the minute we got too close. This went on for ages and I could hardly hold the camera steady because I was laughing so much.
Eventually they either gave up or worked out that if they stopped running away, we would actually go past them.
We saw loads of flamingoes all doing that standing on one leg thing, mostly asleep. There have to be more comfortable ways to take a nap, but these rather beautiful birds don’t seem to care.
We also encountered another large troop of Baboons, later joined by the much smaller but very cute and highly exuberant Black faced monkeys.
I find them absolutely fascinating and as I’m the only person Deo has to consider on this Safari, we were able to spend quite a lot of time watching them.
Warning - I’m about to get on my soapbox……….
Nowadays, I would never dream of going to any facility (zoos or marine parks) that keeps animals locked up - regardless of the size of their cage or enclosure (even if they do so under the guise of conservation - because much of that is one huge con). However I have been to zoos in the past and all I can say, is that what you see in those places bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to the behaviours animals display in their natural habitat.
There are no stereotypical behaviours ( endless repetitions of the same thing), and they are relaxed, curious and mostly very active. They mate, have fights over things that matter to them, take care of their young and all know their place within their group. So the animals you might see in a zoo or marine park are just a shadow of what they should be and that’s almost worse than not being ale to see the animals at all.
I fully realise that I am in an extremely privileged position to be able to come on a wonderful trip like this and experience the wildlife in this way, but keeping animals locked up for human entertainment just isn’t the answer nor is it sustainable.
OK rant over… lets get back to the Baboons!!
As we will discover, Baboons are omnivores and eat anything, but on this day they were fully engaged in munching on bits of grass as they walked around. I know we humans sometimes eat on the go - but that’s usually by necessity not by choice. The Baboons ( and the little monkeys) do it all the time. If it’s time to walk - it’s time to eat. So it goes….. step, pick a bit of grass, step, pop it in the mouth, step, chew, step, pick and so on. It’s a wonder they don’t get indigestion.
One Baboon had his own interpretation of this multi tasking approach to mealtime. Sitting in a hole, which he probably had dug himself, he had a dig, pick, dig, eat, dig method and was so totally engrossed, he didn’t even realise he was the star of several photos.
Several mothers were busy breastfeeding their babies ( and no-one was giving them dirty looks or telling them to cover themselves) and when it was time to move, the babies would hop up on mum’s back and enjoy watching the world go by.
I had a moment of panic when one of the Black face monkeys grabbed a baby from another one’s back and ran off with it. Mum gave chase shrieking loudly and I was convinced I was witnessing a serious child abduction. Deo assured me they were only playing as it wouldn’t be acceptable to steal a baby from another mother within their group.
Phew that was a relief.
I honestly could have stayed in that spot all day watching them, but time was marching on and we had a whole lot more park to explore.
At this point we started to move away from the edge of the lake and began to climb a little.
We still had an amazing view and I could see yet more Black blobs, but this time they were actually in the water. I had already discovered that trying to use the binoculars or my long lens while the vehicle was moving was virtually impossible, so I had no chance of working out what the blobs might be and tried to guess. Elephants maybe?
Nope - but Deo knew what they were immediately - Hippos.
Well this was rather exciting and just a bit surprising. I sort of associated Hippos with rivers and mud holes, certainly not a enormous and rather beautiful lake.
I was keen to stop and take a picture, even though from this distance they would still look like blobs (even with the long lens) because I wanted to record my first sighting for posterity.
So Deo patiently stopped the land cruiser, even though he had explained there were much better viewing options coming up, including a viewing platform where I would actually be able to get out of the car.
This was very exciting news.
The guides take health and safety very seriously and not in the “fill in loads of paperwork and create endless rules for no reason” type of H&S you find in the UK for example.
Deo had explained it all to me at the beginning and getting out of the car anywhere except the designated picnic sites was an absolute no no.
We arrived at the viewing platform which was a long walk way that stretched right out into the lake. I got my permission slip from Deo which was just a smile, a nod and an “off you go - I’ll make you a coffee, when you come back” and set off with camera in hand.
I could see a whole group of hippos in the water and although they were still quite a long way off, I could make out some babies in the group.
Two of the hippos were displaying some rather strange behaviour. They were directly facing each other and would submerge a bit, then rise up with mouths wide open. There was also a lot of loud grunting and from that distance it looked like their enormous mouths were actually touching. I had no idea if this was some sort of mating ritual or whether they were having a fight, that question would have to wait - Deo was sure to know.
I took loads more photos and just hoped that when I cropped the shots down on the Mac, I would be to see the animals a bit better.
As I walked back along the platform, I heard a strange very loud noise coming from behind where all the land cruisers were parked and the guides were standing around chatting. I’d never heard anything like it and had no clue what kind of animal it might be, but no-one was running for the hills or jumping in their vehicles, so whatever this was, it clearly wasn’t dangerous.
As promised Deo had a nice hot coffee ( with milk) waiting for me. We discussed the Hippo behaviour and he confirmed that they must have been 2 males fighting, but although it was hard to see in detail, t don’t think any real damage was being done. I reckon it was just a case of “ my mouth and teeth are larger than yours, so sod off - the females are mine”.
As we were standing there drinking our coffee, I heard the strange loud noise again. “what on earth is that” I asked. “Oh that’s just the door in the toilet block”. So no panic needed - Hakuna Matata ( no worries in Swahili).
As we drove inland, away from the lake, the jungle like environment returned and there was a lot of excited chatter on the radio. This happens quite a lot, but as it’s all in Swahili, you never know what has been spotted until your guide translates.
Deo likes to surprise me and he’s also very good at managing my expectations. A lot of these “sightings” tend to be false alarms, because the animal has wandered off out of sight or taken to the undergrowth, so on balance I think his approach is the right one. He is already aware how ridiculously and overly excited I get at the thought of seeing something wonderful, so by not sharing until he is absolutely sure, I experience many moments of delight as opposed to constant disappointments.
Anyway, this alert proved to be a good one and you always know there’s something worth seeing if you come across a line of land cruisers parked up end to end.
In the days to come, I would come to realise that as well as his amazing eyesight and wealth of knowledge, Deo is astonishingly good at finding the perfect spot to stop for the best view - even if we are late to the party. Years of experience have taught him that a lot of guests have a short attention span - “ok we’ve seen it now lets move on”, so with a little patience and being in the right place at the right time, you can gradually move into the prime viewing position.
On this occasion it was invaluable, because there were 2 lions up in a tree and there were a lot of branches and foliage in the way.
Initially, I could only see a leg, but as we moved, more of this beautiful beast sleeping on a branch came into view. The second was even harder to see, as it was higher and almost totally obscured by the tree. Deo handed me the binoculars, gave me excellent directions and I finally spotted it’s face through the leaves.
I managed to get a few photos, but as I’m still a bit baffled by all the focal points and F-stops on my camera, sadly, most of them brought the leaves into lovely sharp focus, leaving the lions a bit blurry. Never mind, I had seen them, observed them for way longer than anyone else that day and was feeling elated.
After that we encountered another large group of baboons, some giraffes, a few more elephants and some very pretty birds on our way to our lunch stop.
Deo had chosen one that was quite high up because it offered a lovely view of the lake and surrounding forest and out came all the wonderful food.
Lake Manyara is a small park by Tanzanian standards, so as we had started very early and had a later lunch, we were almost done.
Deo had offered to take me to a wonderful centre that offers the most amazing range of souvenirs, ranging from a couple of dollars to many thousands. The items in the thousands category are the ones containing Tanzanite - Blue Diamonds. Very rare and only mined here.
The last thing I need in my life is an expensive piece of jewellery, but when has needing something ever had anything to do with shopping. Still I did quite well. I managed to escape with a few pretty souvenirs for the family and a momento of the trip for me. A pretty pendant in the shape of Africa containing a very small Tanzanite stone!!
My overnight stop was at Eileen’s tree Inn, which was lovely and as it was in town, no armed guards were needed to escort me to my room.
My room was another huge one with a little outside seating area, but as the wifi didn’t stretch that far and I needed to catch up with everyone and blog, I spent most of the evening sitting outside the main building, with a nice glass of wine.
Dinner was another buffet but with so much choice it was hard to know where to start. The chef was there to explain each dish and the poor bloke had to do it over and over again, because some guests either weren’t paying attention or being extremely, mind numbingly fussy. One woman was holding up the proceedings for everyone, as she had him list every single ingredient in every single dish. Then, as she was unfamiliar with some of them, he was trying to explain what they were. He even went back to the kitchen to bring out an aubergine to show her. I was getting irritated and despite smiling through the whole exchange it was clear that the chef’s patience was definitely wearing thin. Eventually she made her choice and walked away with a plate of plain boiled rice!
My philosophy, is that you if are visiting someone else country you should try everything so I took a bit from every dish except the meat ones. Mmmmm delicious.
Having finally got another blog post finished and all the photos loaded, I headed to bed ready for our early start.
Tomorrow we were going to the Serengeti.