Tuesday 30th August
Our alarms were set to get up at 7am and have breakfast to be on the road by 8am. Sleeping in the tent surrounded by the noises of the national park was relaxing and meant for a very good night sleep. Trying to locate the toilet in the middle of the night with a torch was the hardest part.
The toilets were built into the ground which meant squatting and desperately trying to not pee on your shoes. There was a massive dung beetle in the sink outside and the showers were absolutely freezing, but despite all that it was strangely refreshing. It gets hot in the day and gets incredibly cold at night so we had packed for all eventualities. For breakfast today we had tea/coffee/hot chocolate or juice with toast, pancakes, eggs and fruit to eat. It was delicious and set us up for the day. Then we were off to Lake Manyaya.
We saw a baby heffalump!!! It was the cutest thing ever!! We were on a dirt track going through the national park enjoying all the sights around us. At this point we were elephant watching. Lake Manyara is situated at the bottom of the Great Rift Valley Escarpment, covers 330 square kilometres and is home to many game animals. It was surprisingly comfortable in the jeep. Steve was up front with Ibra, mum and Claire in the middle with Nathan and I bringing up the rear. The roof raised up so we were able to stand up to see the animals too.
Lunch was served in a little cabin overlooking the lake. From the cabin we were able to walk down to Majimoto Boardwalk Way where we were on the lookout for hippos. Sadly we didn’t see any this time. It was still beautiful and very, very windy.
Lunch today consisted of chicken, salad roll, cupcake, biscuits, fruit and tea or coffee. Satisfied we were full again, we were back in the jeep and on the look out for even more wildlife.
It seemed to be that once we’d had lunch we’d see a giraffe, or in this case a family of them. It was still surreal how close we could get to them and they didn’t have a care in the world about us being there. It was business as usual for them!
We were lucky to see so much on day 2, wildebeest, giraffe family, elephants, baby elephant, warthog, numerous birds and monkeys too. It was amazing. It seemed like we did a backwards loop through the park as we appeared to come out of the entrance.
Our destination for the evening was a public campsite just outside Lake Manyara. On our way to the campsite we passed an overlook into the Ngorongoro Crater. The temperature suddenly plummeted as we exited the jeep to look at what was below.
I still can’t believe how young we look haha!! This campsite had a bit more than the one in Tarangire National Park. It even had a swimming pool. We did decide to venture in for a dip but my god I think it was the coldest that I have ever been. It was like swimming in ice. Still, with it still being warm outside, (the temperatures here ranged more than it did back home in England), it was refreshing. Then it was time for dinner.
Tonight’s menu consisted of the most amazing pumpkin soup, popcorn, vegetables, beef stew and rice. My favourite meal so far. It was delicious. Aside from a swimming pool, there were also a few shops selling the most beautiful paintings and trinkets. And a bar of course where we could purchase fizzy drinks. Another amazing day in on safari.
Until next time…