kearneyjourney

Ray asked us to meet him at 08:00 the next morning, because we had a full and busy day ahead of us and some unpredictable traffic to face. We started heading west and passed through the southern part of Arusha city, which upon first glance looked like a collection of low-slung stores, shops and buildings interspersed with a few glitzy new hotels. As we proceeded west, the terrain became drier and less green and lush. Ray told us about the Maasai herdsmen that graze their livestock on the flat expanses between Arusha and the Great Rift Escarpment. Termite mounds dotted the landscape; and we saw the artificial pools that the Maasai created to collect rain water for their livestock during the dry season. At one juncture, we passed by a Maasai market where goods and produce were being sold; and we saw a couple of goats being slaughtered and skinned by the herdsmen.

Also, Ray was stopped twice by the police; and each time, the police were looking for some minor violation in the vehicle’s documents or Ray’s credentials, with the intent of getting a hand-out or bribe. They routinely stop the safari vehicles, knowing that the occupants are more likely to have cash and goodies to distribute. At the first police control, the officer found nothing wrong and actually appealed to Ray to be generous and give him a pen or something, but Ray refused. At the second control, the officer caught Ray without his seatbelt on; and the obligatory token fee (5 Tanzanian Schillings) was paid in lieu of the official fine for failure to wear a seat belt (35,000 Tanzanian Schillings).

When we passed the Tarangire/Manyara junction and began heading toward Mto Wa Mbu (which literally means “Mosquito River”), we spotted our first genuine African wildlife – a giraffe off in the acacia trees munching on the green foliage. Our first program point of the day was a bush walk to the east of Lake Manyara National Park.

In retrospect, this turned out to be a really nice way to start the safari portion of our trip, as we were able to get out of the vehicle and actually walk right up to the herds out on the savannah. We first went to the center of Mto Wa Mbu, where Ray contacted the organization that would be providing the guide (Freddy, another Chagga), and then were driven to a small village in the bush and got out to commence our walk. Again, the village children gathered around the white visitors and were curious to find out what we were doing. Freddy then led us into the bush and pointed out a troop of baboons in and around the trees. They were squabbling amongst themselves; and I was uncertain how close we should get to them; but Freddy calmly stated that they would run from us if we approached them.

We nonetheless veered to the left and headed out into the open grasslands, where we saw herds of wildebeest, zebra, Thomson gazelles and, of course, the Maasai cattle – all peacefully coexisting on that patch of earth.

There were also some buffalo in the distance, but they were very far off and thus did not really pose a threat. We first walked westward toward Lake Manyara National Park and could see a large population of hippos standing next to the hippo pool. When we actually entered the park and arrived at the hippo pool, they were all in the water and could scarcely be seen in the muddy brew.

The weather was warm, humid and sunny: the terrain had once again become more lush and green as we approached the Rift Valley escarpment, which rises immediately west of Lake Manyara. Wandering across the grasslands gave me a somewhat strange feeling, for I could scarcely take a step without my foot landing on some fragment of bone or lump of dung. In fact, the earth was littered with the detritus of myriad ungulates that had transformed the green grass into meat and bones, then perished in the jaws of predators or the infirmity of illness or old age. It was a true stage for birth, generation, survival and death, all somehow given plastic reality by the shards of ribs, skulls, femurs, horns and teeth slowly melting back into the earth’s crust. I found one full horn of a wildebeest and considered it a worthy souvenir from the walk and carried it with me back to Mto Wa Mbu, only to learn from Ray that the removal of any part of an animal from a natural area is forbidden – a law that was implemented to discourage poaching and any other wanton killing of wildlife. And how could I prove that I had not slaughtered the wildebeest for this trophy? So I dropped it back into the grass, where it will eventually find its way back into the cycle of vegetation and flesh. But I did keep a Marabu stork feather I had found during the walk and stuck it in my backpack as a trophy.

Ray had driven out to pick us up; and on the way back, we ended up in some pretty serious muck, which made our trip through the bush a bit of a wild ride worthy of an amusement park. But the Land Cruiser had no problems getting through the sodden terrain; and Ray proved to be an expert driver in such conditions.

We then dropped Freddy off in town and proceeded to Lake Manyara National Park. Lake Manyara is one of the many soda lakes in Tanzania, which makes it a perfect body of water for Flamingo populations, but useless as a source of fresh water for other wildlife and the resident human population. Still, the area has abundant fresh water flowing into the region through small underground rivers issuing from the Great Rift Escarpment.

We stopped to check in at the park and ate our box lunches in the shade, hoping no monkeys would spot us and have a go at our food. There was a considerable line at the park registration, and we had to wait quite some time for Ray. Finally, he was there and stated that he didn’t need to eat lunch and that we should get on with our tour. In Lake Manyara, we saw just about everything except wild cats, even though the park is famous for having a population of tree-climbing lions.

The usual suspects (giraffes, elephants, Thomson gazelles, zebra, wildebeest, baboons, vervet monkeys, buffalo) all made an appearance; and we also stopped at the hippo pool, which gave Ray a chance to eat his lunch while we watched the gray blobs of protoplasm roll in the brown soup.

The park is very green and lush, with small fresh-water rivers traversing its compact dimensions. Ray also took some time to explain the social structure of termites and their biological cycle. Since termite mounds are omnipresent in Tanzania, this is useful knowledge to have.

Afterwards, we drove westward up the Rift Valley Escarpment and toward the town of Karatu. From here, we drove slightly northward and onto the grounds of the Ngorongoro Farmhouse at the foot of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. This was a very picturesque accommodation with its own agricultural activities for fresh produce and coffee. The rooms were very spacious and nicely outfitted and decorated.

We regretted that we only had one night to spend there, as the place had a great deal of charm and was very comfortable. Gertrude and I went up to the main terrace outside the restaurant area and joined the other guests for an evening drink. Then a local musical group from the Iraqw tribe sang some songs using a folk instrument consisting of only a couple metal strings and a small leather drum. As usual in such situations, the musical group asked the gathered guests to get up and participate in the singing and dancing – first the children, then the mamas, and finally the babas. I was hoping to escape the draft, but was spotted at the last moment and dragged by the leader up to the front to participate in a rendition of the Jambo song. Good fun; but none of us really had the lyrics down at that point.

Dinner was again a buffet. The highlight for me was a red banana for desert – something I had never eaten before. Very fat and sweet. Too bad we don’t get this kind of fruit in Central Europe. The children opted for ice cream that evening; and in retrospect, this was probably not such a good idea, as the next few days would prove.

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.