January 19, 2015

January 19, 2015 It was a muddy trek across the flats as we left our lodge this morning! A night thunder storm cooled the air and left us with an extra adventure. As we arrived at Lake Manyara National Park (the smallest park in Tanzania) we were met with envious looks from all the men who were in their sparkling clean safari jeeps. Ours was covered in mud from the slippery slidey wild ride we'd had that morning. While our jeep was not clean - the park was amazingly clean. From the washrooms to the picnic area where we had our boxed lunch it was spotless. Lake Manyara Park has several mini climates within it (as do all the parks it seems). My favourite part was driving under the heavy jungle canopy along the red earth roadways. The trees were massive! Lots of yellow acacia in this park...it is a very common tree in Africa and so many varieties of it! I think I remember Victor saying something about there being 47 of them! As we drove through the jungle the song of the cicadas was soooo loud and strong that it was hard to believe that it was coming from such tiny creatures...there must have been millions of them hiding in the shadows. Muddy puddles dotted the red roads and the air was moist and almost sweet smelling. When the jungle canopy receded and sun filled the jeep again, the magical spell of the jungle canopy receded too. We stopped to watch blue monkeys play at the roadside. It was so nice to see them here in their natural habitat. They weren't interested in our vehicle at all and that was such a treat as it means that no one feeds them from the cars. The rules are very strict in support of animal and habitat conservation here and the guides all seem to take their role of policing that as seriously as they do their guiding work. Termite mounds, baboons, warthogs, zebras, buffalo, and gazelle were all aplenty! We also took some time at the hippo pool to watch those massive beasts laze in a muddy pit they've adopted as their own. Victor is also incredibly knowledgeable about birds too and so we were once again treated to a massive array of species as we made our way through the wetlands area of the park. At first I felt like we were in a Tarzan movie and then someone mentioned that they were reminded of the Avatar movie set and I think that was an even better description of much of what we were travelling through. All in all...it was another great park! From Lake Manyara Park we headed in the direction of Lake Eyasi. If Gilligan thought they had a rough 3 hour tour...ours wins that race hands down! We are nearing the end of the rainy season so all roads are in pretty bad shape but the one we travelled today was long and ROUGH! It's impossible to imagine living this far out from town but many people do. The region is filled with irrigated agricultural fields (red onions, beans, and maize). Lake Eyasi Lodge is just one year old and so is virtually new. Again, we are the only people in residence so are feeling like it is our own place. Edward, our local guide for the day tomorrow, briefed us on what we have to look forward to with the Bushmen and although I'm not sure just how it will all play out...I am very much looking forward to it. It will be a 5:00 a.m. start so it will be another early night tonight! Hakunamatada, Darlorlynga