The Hamar Tribe

 

After spending the morning with the Suri face painting by the river we packed up camp and left for our next location - an arduous hot long 2-day drive south east of the Omo river. It had rained in the night and the forecast was for more rain so Fitsum wanted to get out of the mountain area since the trails become impassable in the mud. He mentioned having a vehicle stuck in the mud for three days with clients once. The drive started out on bumpy mountain dirt roads that included a fairly precarious river crossing. Our driver, Israel, was an absolute expert at navigating any difficult backcountry road or river and the scenery was beautiful.

We stopped for a late lunch in the tiny town of Tum - which consisted of one paved road for about a mile and dirt roads either side continuing on through the mountains. Fitsum said we would stay the night as there wasn't anywhere safe to camp between Tum and the next stop. We had a very basic hotel room with a bucket of water outside to wash in and some squat toilets at the end of the building. Sara was able to wash off her face paint, preventing further questions to Israel who had been asked if her face was actually that color.

October 26th is a religious holiday for the orthodox christian church and there was a big celebration in the afternoon finishing with a bonfire and fireworks. The Meskal celebration commemorates the discovery of the True Cross by the Roman Empress Helena (Saint Helena) in the fourth century after following smoke from a bonfire. We walked around in the late afternoon and were swamped by kids who were fascinated to see the strangers. Everyone was very friendly, and after the kids were reprimanded by Israel for pushing us we enjoyed talking to the adults about our trip and experiences in Ethiopia. It was definitely an interesting event.

Tuesday 27th was a long, hot demanding day. We started at 6am and after a quick breakfast were on the mountain roads again. The temperatures weren't bad initially since we climbed up to 7,000 feet, but then we dropped down to 1,500 feet and had to cross the long hot savannah of Omo National Park. The temperature was close to 100 degrees and the air-conditioner in the Toyota land cruiser didn't work. So for 6-7 hours we drove with the windows down in extreme heat that felt like a blow torch. Sara who does not tolerate heat well was suffering. A migraine headache usually follows extreme heat exposure and of course it did, so Sara who didn't feel well at the start of the day was suffering. We stopped in a small town mid afternoon for a quick break and someone after hearing we had come from the Suri asked "How was the crossing"? From that point on we nicknamed the drive the "death crossing". Turns out it is the second hottest place in Ethiopia and if you breakdown it can be weeks before someone else comes down the road. Later we found out Fitsum would call people he knew to let them know where we would be out of cell signal and they were to send a car to find us if he didn't call them back in a few hours.

We finally reached the town of Turmi and checked into the Buska lodge. Turmi is the central point to visit all the tribes on the east side of the river. We were happy to have a room with a shower and bathroom and electricity, even if it was only twice a day for a few hours.

Wednesday 26th was an early start for John, leaving at 5:30am to visit a Hamer village. The Hamer are the largest tribe n the Omo valley. They are known for their distinctive hair style where they curl and treat their hair with a mixture of butter and red Ochre clay. Sara was dealing with a nasty intestinal issue and decided to rest for a few hours. John returned for lunch and Fitsum said he had heard about a bull jumping ceremony we should attend in the afternoon. We set out in the full heat of the afternoon and started walking through the bush, up and down and along a dried river bed. What hadn't been mentioned was the village was quite a way from the road. After walking for about 40 minutes we asked again how far, and on receiving the same answer of 20 minutes stopped to reassess the situation. Given the vagueness of how long to the village, and the fact we would likely be there close to sunset and need to return stumbling in the dark without lights we turned around before becoming a cautionary story to travelers!

Thursday was similar to the previous day, John left early for photography and Sara rested still not feeling well. In the afternoon we were able to visit a Hamer village this time without the long hike. A number of the tribes have customs that introduce young men into adulthood. Bull jumping is one of these. The family of the bull jumper hosts the event, which is a big deal with relatives and friends from other villages walking up to 100 kilometers to attend.

Another custom that is very strange and repugnant is whipping of the women who are relatives. This is something they do to honor the young bull jumper and the family. They actually ask to be whipped and show no displeasure from it despite the long bloody gash it leaves on their back. Our guide took us to a large gathering of people where the whipping was taking place. We didn't know that was occurring until we got there. We immediately told our guide we did not want to be around this ceremony. He said it's part of the culture and we said we don't care we're moving on now. So we moved on to another area where there was a lot of people gathered. Mostly the women were dancing and they were serving everybody coffee. This went on all afternoon. One of the young men came up to Sara and asked if she wanted to be whipped. With help from our guide translating Sara suggested maybe he give her the stick and she whipped him, which resulted in the young man quickly disappearing.

Everything was delayed because they didn't have the sacred bull who had to be rounded up and joined up with the other six bulls. All this process took so long that when the young bull jumper got his chance it was dark. They lined up the bulls side to side and the jumper has to run across their backs two times each way. The goal of course is to not fall and face ridicule. Although it was dark and only lit by car lights and our cell phones the young man did very well. He did fall a few times but was given some extra tries since he was doing it in the dark. We're sure the young man was glad the whole event was over and he had successfully completed the challenge!

Click here to see the photos and videos! 

Suri Face Painting and Stick Fighting

Thursday September 22nd was a long day of travel. We left Arusha for the drive to Kilimanjaro airport for the flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. For many of the airports in Africa your luggage has to be put through the x-ray scanner before you can enter the terminal and check-in. This leads to a somewhat chaotic scene, with people throwing bags on the conveyer and then picking them off the floor on the other side as the bags get pushed through. Our flight and arrival in Addis was fairly uneventful until we tried to leave the airport. All luggage had to once again be scanned and Sara's carry-on caused some consternation with customs. Barry's binoculars were given a lot of scrutiny and we were informed they were not allowed in Ethiopia due to national security rules - likely related to the civil war that has been simmering off and on since November 2020. After passing over my passport to a number of people and getting a bunch of paperwork filled out we were allowed to enter, but with Barry's binoculars taken into custody!

Friday we were back at the airport at 7am for our domestic flight to Jimma - a small town in south western Ethiopia and the starting point for our cultural tour of the Omo valley tribes. We met Fitsum of Omo Valley Tours at the airport. Fitsum was born and raised in a small Omo valley tribe and has developed excellent relationships with local tribal leaders, critical to providing a tour in this remote and wild part of Africa. We met the rest of the team at the Jimma airport, Israel our driver and Tuko the cook. After loading everything and everyone into the Toyota 4x4 land cruiser we set off. The afternoon drive was on crazy roads, dodging potholes that looked like mortar strikes, cattle, people, donkeys and occasionally motorbikes and cars. There were also many police/army checkpoints, typically a rope across the road that required us to stop and Fitsum to produce the official forms preventing a full security search of the vehicle - important since we were fully loaded with 5 people, luggage, fuel, food, water and camping equipment. We stopped for an amazing lunch of Ethiopian food, a lentil stew eaten with a teff flour pancake using our hand, followed with some exceptionally good coffee. Ethiopia is the birthplace of both humanity and the coffee bean! 

The following morning (Saturday 24th) we left the hotel at 5:30am, it was dark and raining. After a few hours we stopped for coffee and breakfast of boiled eggs and bread.  By 9:30am we hit the end of the road and spent the rest of the day driving on hard packed dirt single track trails. The scenery was beautiful, we were in the heart of the Rift valley, surrounded by mountains, lush valleys and bird song. We were stopped in the middle of nowhere by a police group and the car was surrounded by eight men all carrying Kalashnikov rifles and very interested in the tourists in the back. A challenge of traveling and not understanding the language is you never know if you in danger or people are just curious. In reality it was a novelty to see white people in the area, and the fully loaded Toyota was also eye catching - so we were the entertainment most days. Fitsum got out and talked to the senior officer and after a lot of discussion we had an armed guard in the front of the car and Fitsum sitting in the back with us. Apparently it was Donga stick fighting month (more about that later) and the police chief was concerned it wasn't safe for us. There may also have been a bit of a need to provide employment for the local guards, we were not totally sure!

After a few more hours of driving on very rough up and down mountain trails we arrived at the Suri tribe where we would stay for the next three days. The Suri are an agro-pastoral ethnic group known for their decorative painting, natural foliage head dressings, scarifications and lip plates. We were lucky enough to camp right in their small village which provided unique access to the lovely people. 

After a late lunch Fitsum hurriedly told us to pack up and get back in the car. The Chief had told him there was a Donga stick fighting event happening very close. Donga is a yearly fighting tournament where each local village sends their top male fighters to fight each other for honor, showing their strength and masculinity. What followed was one of the craziest events we have ever witnessed. 

Each village also sends supporters for the fighters, and everyone forms a big circle and two or three groups of two men each will go to the center and try to beat the other guy into submission. It is considered a badge of honor for a man to have multiple scars on their head from stick fighting, and we saw a number of nasty injuries. The fighting goes on for about an hour and then they take a short break and do it again. Winners of each round are given a loop of beads, and the person with the most loops at the end are the overall winner. 

During the second half, all of the sudden everybody starting running away and getting down on the ground. This happened without any warning so we didn't have a clue why everybody was running away and were slowly trying to work out why we were the only ones still standing. With two knee and one hip replacements John doesn't run very well and finally was either run over or pulled down on the ground. Sara was also pulled down and was between two armed guards shielding her. Fitsum and the Chief hurried over and told us it was time to leave. Turns out there actually are some rules and a referee to keep some order. One of the fighters had broken the rules and tempers were getting hot. The men in the tribes no longer have spears for hunting or protection, about 10% of them are carrying AK 47s or SKS rifles. So the big stampede was because everyone feared there might be gunfire. Fortunately that didn't happen but apparently there have been cases in the past. In our evening discussion we decided our emergency response had been poor and resolved to do better in the future if needed - what an afternoon !!!

We had just crawled into our tent for the night (this was a backpacking tent, not the Tanzania glamping tents) when we heard some singing. We lay there for a while and then became so intrigued we crawled back out and in the pitch dark went to investigate. We found a group of young children dancing and singing and spent a delightful hour with them dancing and clapping. Sara's phone fell out of her pocket early on and some of the kids found it and started recording video, check out the album for the result.

Sunday 25th September was the start of the face painting photography. We were amazed how creative the young people were with their painting and head adornments of flowers. They had painted themselves that morning, and made the flower arrangements from what they found in the forest.  Everyone was keen to be photographed and they were natural models. John had many hours of work to ensure everyone had their picture taken. He also took time to show people the photos on his camera which everyone enjoyed. John spent some time afterwards playing with the children with some balsa wood airplanes he bought for them. 

Our last day we went down to the river which is close to the tribe village. They do a lot of the painting there because the paints are made with ground up rocks and minerals mixed with water. One of the young girls wanted to paint Sara's face which of course she was delighted to have done. We returned to the village to share our gifts with the Chief who would distribute them to the people who needed things the most. With advice from Fitsum before we left home we had purchased pain killers (ibuprofen), razor blades (for shaving and hair trimming), beads and coloring books/pencils for the children and small mirrors to be shared during face painting. We had a similar package for each of the tribes we visited. We said a few final goodbyes - and received a necklace gift for Sara before we headed out for the next location.

 What a memorable time we had with the Suri - We will never forget them.

Click here to see the photos & videos

Last Days in Serengeti & Ngorongoro Crater

Sunday September 18th started very early when Sara heard a strange munching noise outside at 4:30am. She very quietly unzipped the bottom of the tent flap and stuck her head outside to see a hippo peacefully grazing 30 feet away! Startled John a bit since it was dark and he didn't know if someone or something was unzipping the tent to come inside! 

We headed out after breakfast with a stop at a local creek to video the sounds of the frogs. Sara particularly enjoyed the sounds of Africa whether it was the very loud frogs, the very loud morning birds or the lions we heard roaring every night. If you see a video with no real movement make sure the audio is turned up as it will be a sound recording.  After the frog stop we found a pride of lions on the remains of a zebra meal, and right after that a herd of understandably very agitated zebras. Listen to their barking sounds which we often mistook for hyenas. We really enjoyed watching the zebra and managed to get some videos of their carousing! It was a busy morning for elephants, we found a herd with a number of small babies. We stopped to photograph a lion in a tree and noticed the same elephant herd gradually grazing toward the tree.  The lioness stayed very quiet and still and looked carefully down as the elephants walked slowly under the tree. Since we had seen elephants chase a lion in Tarangire we were interested to see what happened, but the lion managed to go unnoticed this time. 

We stopped at a park museum for our usual enjoyable lunch time picnic, the Kon Tiki staff had the best lunches with rice and a vegetable curry for Sara and chicken for John and Ben.  We browsed the interesting open exhibit, accompanied by a very informative young guide who explained the park history, animals, plants and local tribes. We were able to see a good graphic of the annual migration and understand how important Serengeti is to the wildlife population.

Sunday seemed to be meal day for the lions as we found another pride in the afternoon eating a buffalo. We were also delighted to see more lion cubs and spent a lovely hour watching them playing with each other and the lionesses.  We headed back to camp a bit earlier than usual and enjoyed a relaxing sunset around the camp fire. 

Monday we sadly left the Kon Tiki camp, it was our favorite in Tanzania and the staff were particularly lovely. There are many options for camps on safari, and our choice was to stay with local run businesses as much as possible. The staff really work hard, living in the camp away from their family often for months at a time. 

It was noticeably greener after the rain from the previous day, it was amazing how quickly the grass and the trees grew with just a bit of rain. We stopped to watch a lone cheetah sitting on a termite mound looking out for a potential meal. The termite mounds are warm and provide a good vantage point. Speaking of termite mounds they really were interesting, each with different formations of large towers that the termites build to help cool the hive below. As an extra gift after the cheetah we noticed a beautiful serval cat hunting in the long grass. 

We began the long bumpy dusty drive out of central Serengeti to the incredible Ngorongoro  crater. To give you an idea of how bumpy there were many days our Fitbit trackers logged 25,000 steps, and all we really did was walk around camp and to the safari vehicle! At least it was good for core strengthening!

After bumping through 60KM of roads we arrived at the crater rim and descended the 4.5Km to the floor. Ngorongoro Crater is the world's largest inactive and unfilled volcanic caldera and was formed two to three million years ago when a large volcano exploded and collapsed on itself. The crater is about 260 sq km and has different eco systems with forest, swamp and savannah all supporting a rich permanent wildlife population. We slowly drove to the main picnic area next to the fresh water lake and enjoyed another lovely hot picnic lunch. The local birds were very naughty and swopped on John several times to steal some of his food. 

After lunch we stopped to watch a large group of very stunning grey crowned cranes. Sara was excited to see one of the males performing a courtship dance, a beautiful choreography of head bobs and wing flapping with some twirls to fully show off to the female. Sorry no video of this lovely experience. Sara commented that the girls have it wrong all these years getting prettied up for the men, we should be following the bird kingdom where the men are the brightly colored ones dancing for the women!

We stopped to watch a male and female ostrich, mainly because we felt we hadn't paid the ostriches enough attention. We were rewarded to see the pair perform a complex courtship dance with a lot of wing fluttering and strutting around. The male was successful in his wooing, but we're not sharing the photos to protect the privacy of their savannah romance!

Tuesday 20th September was our last safari day. We made the most of it with a 6:30am departure so we could arrive at the crater descent gate when it opened. After the 20 minute drive down the winding road we reached the floor and immediately saw a group of sleeping lions very close to the road. We then drove into the forest and Ben's sharp eyes noticed two black rhinos in the long grass. We were very lucky to see the mother and young calf as they are quite elusive. We enjoyed this special treat for about 15 minutes before they moved into the longer grass and out of view. We spent the day driving slowly around the crater, stopping to watch the large herds of zebra who came much closer to the vehicle than in the Serengeti. We were starting to head back when we were delighted to see a serval cat relaxing in the sun, and two jackals playing with each other -  it was a perfect day.

The next day we headed back to Arusha. We stopped at one of the many shops to look at the amazing paintings and souvenirs. The local artists and wood carvers join together to sell their products at these community shops, they are all very talented and we had an enjoyable time choosing some mementos of our incredible time in Tanzania.

We very sadly said goodbye to Ben, he was an excellent guide and wonderful person and we became very close during our adventure. 

Our next update will describe the extraordinary time in Ethiopia. For now enjoy these photos and videos of our last four days on safari.

Click here for the photos and videos

(The videos have a small play arrow in the top right, make sure the sound is turned on!)

Wildlife seen: giraffe, zebra, lions on zebra kill, elephants, lion in tree, lions on buffalo kill, serval cat, hippo, cheetah, hyena, jackal (side striped), jackal (black backed), grey crowned crane, helmeted guinea fowl, arrow-marked babbler bird, ostrich, black rhino, flamingos, wildebeest, gazelles, buffalo

Serengeti Shall Never Die

Thursday 15th September we left at 8:30am for a long day of driving. We stopped for gas and had both tanks filled up. The Toyota land cruisers used for safari are amazing. They are a standard land cruiser that has been heavily modified by cutting and extending the chassis to add an extra row, a pop up top for the entire length and larger windows. The vehicle is very rugged and reliable which is good because as we learned the roads are very bumpy and dusty - we saw a lot of broken down vehicles and Ben stopped to help a few folks get up and running again.

To get to Serengeti National Park you first pass through the Ngorongoro conservation area that surrounds the actual crater. This area has less restrictions than a national park and the Maasai tribe are allowed to live and graze their cattle in the area, this was a compromise when the Serengeti park was created and the Maasai had to leave the area. There is a drought in the area and we drove through a lot of dry dusty bumpy roads seeing a lot of young children driving their cattle and sheep looking for grazing. We stopped briefly to see the monument for Olduvai Gorge which is famous for the discovery of evidence of early human species about 1.8 million years old. After the official stop at the conservation entrance for Ben to complete paper work and passes we were lucky to get a clear view of Ngorongoro crater as it is often covered by clouds. We would visit this park after the Serengeti.  

We continued on the long dusty bumpy road with other safari vehicles and a few large blue local busses. The busses use the park road to get to villages on the other side which is quicker than going around the park -  we saw a few of these buses broken down also. 

The park is 14,750 Sq KM, with about half set aside as a wilderness zone with no roads. The entire Serengeti eco system is twice the size of the park and supports the largest unaltered animal migration in the world. The term Serengeti shall never die is the name of a German documentary from 1959 that had a big part in securing the future of the park after the death of 80% of the hoofed animals due to a virus from cattle.  Over a million wildebeest, zebra,  and gazelle complete an annual 1,000KM migration circle following rain and fresh grazing. We learned the wildebeest can smell the rain, so know when to head north, with the zebra following. The wildebeest however do not remember the way back home south, but the zebra do, so in turn the wildebeest following on the way back. Most of the migrating herd were still around the Kenya border when we arrived, but we started to see more returning as there was rain a few times and the area became greener and greener each day. 

Once we entered the park it seemed like all the other vehicles disappeared and Ben showed yet again he is a fabulous guide. We left the main road and explored smaller 'game drive' paths. The vehicles all have radios and there is great community spirit with drivers announcing special sightings. The key is to find out exactly where they are in relation to your vehicle, and decide if you want leave your current treat for something that might have moved before you get there! The views of the Serengeti plains were incredible and we were lucky to find a group of 3 lionesses and 2 young males sleeping in the sun. We spent some time watching in the hope they would wake up, but other than a few head raises there was very little activity. Clearly they were not bothered by the group of vehicles and camera shutter sounds! We saw an older male lion sitting in the middle of a open area just dozing a bit, all waiting for the heat to subside and the evening hunting to begin!

We again had some trouble finding the camp, apparently the park administration didn't like the signs put up by the local camps and wanted to install more natural looking signs. In the meantime there was quite a bit of driving up and down roads and stopping to ask other drivers or rangers. Ben finally worked out we needed to turn down the path with the silver stone to find our home for the next 5 days - our favorite the Kon Tiki tented camp.  

Friday 16th was the start of many extraordinary days, so many the three of us had to work on new adjectives other than incredible and awesome! We started with a visit to the hippo pond and were enthralled to see the hippos bobbing in the water, with the occasional yawn and outbreak of  honking to we assume either greet a friend, or warn off an enemy. 

We spent some time quietly watching a leopard in a tree when Ben heard a report about a small group of cheetahs. (Our Swahili is limited to a few basic words, definitely not enough to understand a radio report). We arrived to see a mother cheetah and three almost fully grown cubs. The mother was walking alongside a group of antelope looking for a likely dinner choice. With the element of surprise gone the four cheetahs obligingly sat on a termite mound for us to view for a while. Suddenly the mother started walking again and Ben (who must be a mind reader of animals) moved the vehicle ahead of everyone else. Within the space of 15 minutes we saw a blur of action. The mother caught a large reedbuck, with a lot of jumping around the adolescent cheetahs killed the poor reedbuck and settled down for a meal while the mother watched and recovered from the run. Then out of nowhere a pack of hyena appeared, chased off the cheetahs and ate the whole reedbuck in about 5 minutes. We will spare you the photos of the horrific event, just know hyena would not make good dinner companions. Cheetahs lose their meals frequently to either hyena or lions.

Apparently it was dinner day on the Serengeti as we next saw a female lion trying to creep up on some zebra and a male lion fast asleep on his back with the remains of a zebra in the grass next to him. As with every day we saw many different birds, small and large and of course plenty of zebra, wildebeest, giraffe and antelope. At the end of the day on the way back to camp, after turning at the magic silver stone we saw a very large bull elephant very close to the road. While we were delighted to stop and watch he was quite irritated at our presence and gave us the warning shake of the head. Good thing Ben is a professional and knew this meant "be quiet and leave me alone otherwise I will crush your tiny vehicle!". 

After two very busy days we split Saturday the 17th into a dawn start, and a long lunch at camp instead of staying out all day. Nature gave us a real treat this day with a superb sunrise and an exceptional time watching a lioness and her six cubs. When you look at the album be sure to turn on the volume for the videos to listen to the delightful baby sounds! The adult lions are very comfortable walking past the vehicle, and actually use them as a shield when hunting zebra. The zebra know this so rarely come close to the vehicles.  

After a delightful lunch of fish masala (the food was amazing coming out of a bush kitchen) we headed out for a cooler late afternoon drive. We rarely left with expectations of seeing specific animals, apparently many people do which leads to disappointment. Instead we just drove around to see what was happening. We were lucky again to see a leopard in a tree and a rather cheerful looking hyena just passing by. We started to drive back to camp and were captivated by a magnificent sunset over the mountains. So captivating we stopped for photos and then had to drive quickly back to avoid the night curfew and a possible fine by the rangers. It really isn't safe to be out in the dark in case there is a vehicle issue - makes perfect sense, but hard for us as we didn't want the day to end!

Click here for the photos and videos

(The videos have a small play arrow in the top right, make sure the sound is turned on!)

Wildlife seen: male lion, 5 lions in group, secretary bird, grant gazelle, kori bustard, thompson gazelle, tawny eagle, saddle billed stork, zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, black headed heron, sacred ibis, hypo, egyptian goose, jackal, hyena, slender mongoose, hartebeest antelope, leopard, baboons, cheetah (mother and three adolescents), reedbuck, vultures, young male lion, lioness hunting, male lion sleeping, elephants, cape buffalo

Tarangire and Lake Manyara

Sunday September 11th we left Arusha and drove for about 3 hours to Tarangire National Park. We ate lunch at the park gate picnic area since once inside the park there are limited options for getting out of the vehicle - wild animals and picnicking tourists don't work well together.  

We immediately started seeing a lot of animals. Zebras, impalas and wart hogs grazing. Elephants digging for water in the dried river bed which was fascinating. There were some very large bulls and also tiny baby elephants. We saw a lot of brightly colored birds which were delightful. Around 5pm we started to head for the camp, which was a bit hard to find since the mobile tented camps move around. The tented camp was considered fairly basic, but was far above our normal camping experiences, with a king sized bed, a flush toilet and hot/cold shower! Since it had been a hot and dusty day we enjoyed a cold shower and then joined everyone in the main dining tent. We had an enjoyable meal and finished off with very memorable and moving singing and dancing with the six staff members who ran the camp. They even persuaded Sara to participate in the dancing!

Monday 12th we headed out for a day that ended up defying description it was so incredible. We drove to a different area of the park which had a swamp/lake area and was full of wildlife. There were an amazing number of elephant herds, many with tiny babies a few months old, all which came very close to the car as they grazed. We noticed the majority of animals were always moving as they continually searched for food or water. We saw a lion resting under a tree and were amused to see an elephant herd chase the lion off – all in a line with their ears flared and trunks and tails up, even the tiny baby following its mother at the head of the line.

At the end of the lake we saw a specular flock of pelicans fishing and flying. A great way to end the day before beginning the search for the next camp. We arrived a bit late after receiving bad directions from the rangers and driving up and down the bumpy roads. The camp was incredibly luxurious, a massive tent on a raised platform with a delightful dining area.

As we headed out of the park the next day we were treated to the view of a lioness sitting in a magnificent acacia tree. We spent plenty of time watching her, before moving on and then finding four lionesses in a tree, just taking it easy. We spent over an hour with both locations, it takes time for John taking often 100+ photos waiting for perfect shot. Sara enjoyed watching using great binoculars which used to belong to Barry, her sadly deceased brother-in-law. Barry’s binoculars really made the trip for Sara, which along with a bean bag support from John enabled many hours of delightful viewing. Tip for anyone going on Safari – invest in good binoculars!

We had a fast drive on the bumpy roads to the gate as we had to be out 48 hours after entry to avoid a fine. This became a common theme for all the parks as we kept seeing something interesting to stop and view. Good thing Ben was a fast driver on tough roads!  After an easy tarmac drive we arrived at Lake Manyara National Park. A very different eco system, with a large alkaline lake surrounded mostly by jungle. Enjoyable for Sara, less so for John who isn’t overly fond of jungles. We saw elephants up close again which never gets old. Some hippos in the distant lake and many many baboons. Sara was excited to see a horn bill bird feeding its chicks through a crack in a tree, they seal up the nest to protect from predators. 

After an evening drive through the rift valley mountains we arrived at the hotel happily exhausted, about normal for most of the trip. The following day we took it easy in the morning, to rest up for the Serengeti as Ben suggested. We returned to Lake Manyara in the afternoon to enjoy the cool temperatures under the magnificent acacia trees, listening to the noises of the jungle – lots of birds and insect sounds and the occasion young baboon shriek as it was disciplined for some naughty behavior.  John found a small pearl spotted owlet to photograph, which obligingly sat still. We thoroughly enjoyed watching the large baboon families as they went about their daily browsing. The babies were very entertaining playing with each other, and we saw a long line of baboons walking down the road with a baby riding on its mothers back like a rodeo rider. Amusingly when we stopped to watch the baboons they became interested in the truck and started climbing on the back, the driver behind knew Ben and sent him the photos.

Next up will be our time in the Serengeti, which deserves an entire post. For now enjoy these photos.

Click here to view the photos

Wildlife seen: Impala, baboon, zebra, wart hogs, elephants, ostrich, bare face go away bird, bee eater bird, superb starling, tree hyrax (in tree at camp), tawny eagle, lilac breasted roller bird, ground horn bill, lion, marabou stork, goliath stork, banded mongoose, fish eagle, steppe eagle, jackal, pelicans, blue monkey pearl spotted owlet