Safari Report - Part 2

27 August 2004

 

After the excitement of the leopard sighting on our first day of safari, we headed for the lodge.  We were staying in the Tarangire Safari Lodge, which is perched on the top of a hill overlooking the Tarangire River valley.  The safari lodges are usually either one big building with no or only structural walls accompanied by stone bandas or tented rooms, or a sort of Motel like setting, with outdoor corridors to the rooms and a central building housing the restaurant and dining areas.  When I say tented rooms, don't think of the tent that your kids pitch in the backyard, think more permanent, with thatched roofs and bathrooms attached on the back.  The Tarangire Safari Lodge was of the first type, which was very different from the luxury of the Moivaru Coffee Plantation.  We had 2 family bandas and 2 tents assigned to us.  Although at first there was some skepticism about having to unzip a tent flap in the dark to get to the bathrooms, I think the group felt that the accommodations were fairly comfortable.   We had to ask for an extra mattress so we could fit all eleven in the right combinations, as one family banda only slept 3 and one single was in a tent with 2 beds.  Since we had 3 couples, one single, two 12 year old girls and two boys, we had to be creative with the sleeping combinations.  Tom and Alice and Karen were easy, they got the two tents.  The girls were assigned to Bill and Elissa, and Rob and I got the boys.  Once we got the sleeping assignments worked out, the kids had a swim in the pool and the adults headed to the veranda for some refreshments.  Dinner would be later, and the menu included grilled meats and vegetables and salads.   

 

We decided to start the next morning fairly early, but not so early that we had to get up in the dark.  On our way to the lodge, we had seen a large herd of zebra.  They were tightly packed together and we commented on how they settle in for the most dangerous part of their lives - the night.   The one thing we really wanted to do before starting out in the morning was to take a photo of the group.  We all managed to get to breakfast at the appointed time, except for Bill.  We thought he was stretching or packing and we went ahead without him.  As we were rushing back to pack up so we could do the photo and leave, we met Bill on the path leading to our Bandas.  He said he had been stuck in the banda on account of the lions, which we all laughed about.  Yea, sure! Ha, ha, ha!   Well, he wasn't kidding!  As he was leaving to meet us for breakfast, two lionesses were strolling by.   He thought it would be more prudent to just stay in his stone banda, so he did, but since he's a judge and appreciates the value of well collected evidence, he filmed them.  When we said that we thought he was "lyin" he whipped out his video camera and said, "I can prove it!"  Turns out that the lions had made a kill in the night near the lodge.  They had gotten one of the zebra from the herd we'd seen!  No wonder they were so tightly packed together!  Needless to say, the value of the stone walled bandas was well appreciated at that point, and the quaint "tented rooms" lost what little luster they had.  What a way to start the day!  Especially for Bill, who I think skipped the coffee.  Anyway, we regrouped, took our photos and were off.  This is the photo on the website.

 

We started with a closer look at the lions and their kill.  There wasn't much left of the kill, and I think we decided that there were 6 or so lions.  They were the same color as the tall grass, and as a lion eats until it is absolutely stuffed, they were lying down with their big, full bellies perfectly camouflaged.  They weren't going to be moving around much soon, so we snapped some photos and moved on.  Pretty good, second morning of the safari and we'd seen Elephant, Leopard, and now Lions.  This was looking like a great safari. 

 

We drove around in Tarangire for a while, looking for the elusive Kudu, which the park is known to contain.  Although we saw Eland, we never actually saw any Kudu.  We'll have to go back!  We did see some Cape Buffalo, though, so we had 4 out of 5 of the "Big Five" covered in 2 days.   Excellent! 

 

As we left Tarangire, we had our first tragedy of the trip.  In the hustle to get kids and things organized in the cars, and to take your pit stops when they present themselves, our beloved digital camera fell to the ground and was ruined!   Fortunately we were able to salvage the photos already on the card, but it would take no more.  This was a particularly difficult pill for Rob to swallow, as he is the main photographer.  He also had a rule about his beloved camera, that is that if you have it, you'd better have the string around your neck.  Well, he didn't.  Now we were going to have to fight over the video camera.  Rob had his work camera, also a digital, but with only the most rudimentary zoom - not nearly as powerful as our camera.  Oh well.

 

So the group was off to Lake Manyara.  Next on the agenda - Hippos!  Lake Manyara is a small park at the edge of the escarpment of the "Great Rift Valley."  We argued about whether we were on the eastern edge or on the western edge of the Rift Valley.  The Rift runs from the Dead Sea down to Mozambique, south of Tanzania.  It actually splits in Kenya, and then rejoins in Tanzania, at Lake Nyasa on the southern border.   I won't bore you with the geography, but we were lucky to find that depending on the source, everyone was correct - that is, nobody could prove that they were 100% correct and that the other side was 100% wrong.  Needless to say, the Crater Highlands in the Northwestern corner of Tanzania are the most visually impressive characteristic of the Rift system, and Lake Manyara lies on the edge of the escarpment of the crater highlands.  One guide even explained that the Ngorongoro Crater would actually be filled with water if it weren't for Lake Manyara.  Anyway, our hotel was perched at the edge of the escarpment overlooking Lake Manyara.

 

After checking in and working through the sleeping arrangements in our new configuration, we decided to have our boxed lunches at the hotel.  The view was fantastic and we all had our binoculars out.  The lake is usually filled with flamingoes, but this year there has been a problem with the fishermen at the other side.  There is some chemical which is being used to catch the fish (??? -  Doesn't sound like a good idea to me!!) which is killing off the flamingoes by the hundreds of thousands.  We could see a pinkish haze on the lake, which was actually the flamingoes, but you had to have really powerful binocs to see the individual birds.  The added benefit of having lunch at the hotel was the ability to get up close and personal with the troupe of Olive Baboons which live in the forest nearby.  There was one old male that was hanging around when we first came in, and as we ate, his family joined him.  There were baboons of all size, from very new and pink, to very old and shaggy.  Madie and Elissa went to get a closer look once they had finished their lunch.  I was calling to them to not get too close, as the baboons can be aggressive and have been known to attack and kill large dogs.  Elissa was photographing them when suddenly the old male charged!  Madie and Elissa haven't moved that fast for a long time.  Later on, we realized that Madie had a banana from her lunch in plastic bag behind her back, which she was saving for later.  She didn't even think about it when she went to see the baboons, but that old male was tuned in and looking for an easy snack.  I don't think that mistake will be made again by anyone in our party.  We also didn't have any problems keeping the group together, as nobody wanted to be alone with the baboons.

 

After that excitement, we got back into the cars and headed for the park.  In April we had seen some lovely baboons and the hippos in the hippo pool.  We'd seen enough of baboons for a while, though, so we headed for the hippos.    I remember when our babies were little that we used to try to think of as many animal sounds as we could.  We always ended up thinking that Hippos don't have any sound.  Well the truth is, Hippos laugh!  The say "HA, HA, HA" to each other in very deep voices.  Hippos also roll over in the water, and often you'll see a big belly and a foot, but no head.  The hippos at Lake Manyara are all packed together in a pool at the edge of the lake where a small stream flows.  The pool is so well populated that the safari cars park in a line like cars at the drive in movies.   You can even get out of the cars and walk around, with the other 300 tourists looking at the hippos.  There are also birds and the occasional zebra or gazelle, etc. coming down to drink from the stream.  We watched a couple of giraffes walk by, but the main attraction was the hippos.   Truth be known, hippos are disgusting!  They spend a lot of their time all bunched up together in the water, laughing and yawning and  - sorry to be so rude - pooping on each other.   When they do this, they spread it all around with their little tails, which swipe back and forth like little fans to spread out the poo.  In April our guide told us the story of why Hippos do this.  When the hippo first came to the pool, the fish said that he couldn't come in.  The fish was afraid that the hippo was going to eat her babies.  The hippo assured the fish that he wouldn't eat the baby fish, and to prove it, he'd spread out his poo so the fish could examine it for baby fish bones.  If the fish found any bones in the poo, the hippo would agree to move on.  At the end of the safari, we made up a song about the hippos.  It starts like this - Hippo, big fat Hippo, I won't swim with you, you big fat Hippo" .... and is sung to the tune of the Armour hot dog song (Hot dogs, Armour Hot Dogs.  What kind of kids eat Armour Hot Dogs? ...)

 

The other thing that Lake Manyara is known for is the tree climbing lions.  Lions generally keep all four on the ground.  In Lake Manyara, they climb trees.  A sighting had been made and the race was on.  The guides all knew where to go, but it was like a circus.  Apparently, there was a lion or two in a tree, but we never saw them.  The downside to having a safari in the cooler part of the year when it isn't raining is that everyone else wants to be on safari then too.  The parks are crowded.  This lion was the most exciting thing to see in Lake Manyara park that day, so it was mobbed.  I don't know if there actually was a lion at all, as it became something like a phantom traffic jam.  One guy hits the brakes at 1 in the afternoon, and as each driver behind reacts and also hits their brakes, the traffic eventually grinds to a halt by 5.  No accident or anything, but because that one guy hit the brakes, hours later there is a traffic jam.  I think this could have been true at the tree in Lake Manyara where there may or may not have been a lion.  Anyway, we'd already seen some lions, so we weren't bothered too much when this one became such a spectacle.

 

We finished our day chasing warthogs and some elephants and got a terrific photo op with a klipspringer and then found our way back to the hotel.  I think that the Tanzania Nooters have seen the last of Lake Manyara.   Although the flamingos are really most prominent here, they are way out into the lake, and you can't really get close enough to appreciate them.  Tarangire has won our hearts, maybe it was the baby elephant, or maybe it was the birds, or maybe it was the landscape.  We'll go back to Tarangire, but we'll probably skip Lake Manyara.

 

Rob didn't get a photo of the klipspringer so you'll just have to believe me, but we were very close to an elephant.  I'll post his photo to the web site along with a few others from Lake Manyara.

 

We had a lovely dinner at the hotel and then some of the party took in the local culture show which included African drummers, dancers, acrobats, and a dance-along.  We packed in early for an early start the next day.  We were heading for the Serengeti and the Olduvai Gorge.  I'll tell you about it in the next installment. 

 

In case you need the link to the photos, I'll put it at the bottom. 

 

Take care,

Barb

 

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