Travel Blog: And So it Begins! Jan 27

The “official” beginning of the safari was Sunday morning. After breakfast we all met on the lawn in front of the lodge for our welcome briefing and group photo, of which we will receive a copy at the end of the trip. After a brief description from Rachel of what to expect, we split into two groups, loaded into the safari trucks and set off promptly at 8:30. Each truck sits six in relative comfort, plus the driver and the Tour Director, who migrates between the two as the day progresses.

In the garden before our meeting

After driving through Arusha, a much simpler prospect on a Sunday morning, we drove for about two hours before reaching the Lake Manyara Conservation area, and our first game drive. Here are some of the sights along the way:

Mount Meru, just a bit outside of Arusha

Maasai homes. Many of the Maasai are cattle or
goat herders

Now these guys are not called donkeys in Tanzania. Nope, that’s not respectful enough for all the work they do. Around here these most useful animals are known alternately as “Tanzanian four-by-fours” or “Maasai pickups”.

Paintings for sale in Mtowambu. Since there's only one road into Lake Manyara and farther on to Ngorongoro, native artists in the small towns along the way have opened up art galleries. Some of the stuff certainly looks nice!

Lake Manyara sits in the Great Rift Valley, a natural geological formation that starts in the northern part of South Africa and runs all the way up the continent, ending at the Mediterranean Sea in Jordan. To put that in some perspective, Petra, which we visited in 2010, sits in the northern end of the Great Rift Valley.

After a brief description of the geology, and what to expect in the way of wildlife, we loaded up and entered the park. And promptly stopped dead, in the middle of a large colony of Silver Baboons!! As you can see from the pictures, our first wildlife encounter was up the “up close and personal” variety. Severin, our driver/guide, told this was likely a single colony made up of family groups of all ages, from adults right down to babies.

OK, Dad - I'm listening!

Severin also told us it was mating/birthing season, explaining all the babies. And also explaining the male and female who proceeded to “get it on” in the middle of the road, in front of our truck!!! For some reason no one got a picture of that!!

Continuing on, we stopped at the “Hippo Pool”, where we did, in fact, see a hippo. The only part of him showing is the top half of his head; and we were lucky to get that!

From this same point we also caught our first glimpse of Cape Buffalo.

Bet you didn’t think elephants could hide, did you? If it weren’t for the eagle eyes of Cory and Monica we might not have seen them at all in amongst the trees and leaves.

Our last surprise sighting was of a Blue Monkey. They aren’t as plentiful as the others, so it was again very lucky that we managed to see him.

After driving in and around the Lake area, we left the park and headed up the escarpment that forms the edge of the Valley for lunch at the Serena Lake Manyara Lodge. Serena is an African chain of luxury lodges designed and built to serve the safari trade in Africa. They are built long and low so that they become a part of the landscape.

What a view from the Infinity Pool!

After lunch we headed for our final destination of the day, the Ngorongoro Crater Conservation area and the Serena Lodge of the same name, where we spend two nights.

Just to help you along as you continue to read, you pronounce Ngorongoro like this: short ‘n’-goro-goro. The Crater is actually the caldera of a collapsed volcano several thousand years old. The base of the Crater is an area of some 125 square miles, and home to some 25,000 to 30,000 animals.

After a drive of about two hours over roads that would give a goat track a run for its money, we arrived at the lodge and were greeted by members of the local Maasai community. The Maasai are the local indigenous people who live and farm in the conservation area. They are known for their colourful native dress. Any time we see a bright shock of red in the middle of nowhere as we drive from place to place, we know there’s a Maasai out there.

After the welcome ceremony we were shown to our rooms, which all face the crater floor. Here’s the view from our terrace;

And here is our room;

Take a look along the rocks and you'll see all the hotel rooms
facing the crater.

After showering to literally “wash off the dust” from the game drive, we enjoyed the official welcome cocktail party, followed by a great show by the local Maasai acrobat troupe. Think “break dancers on speed” and you get some idea!!!