Manyara National Park

Our final lodge is named Losirwa Camp (the first time we will be staying more than one night in one place), It has a pool overlooking a plain with Massai herds, but no Internet access (no surprise there). The only guests are us and another couple.

Like all other lodges, we were greeted with cool, wet towels to wash our hands and faces and a cool drink. It is amazing how much dust and dirt are on our hands and faces after driving all day on dirt roads. At one point we had looked at the back seats of the safari vehicle and it had about 1-2 mm of dust collected on it. One of our cameras is not functioning properly and we think it's due to the dust. We have developed (at times) what our CACHA team had dubbed "the Kilema cough" because of all the dust we have been breathing in. We've now determined that the cough is not just limited to Kilema!


Morning coffee waits on our porch

 Our night at the lodge was a restless one. This is the first time that we did not have a good sleep. Because of the low altitude (1,000 m), the heat is high and there is absolutely no (or very little ) breeze in the area. The tent was sweltering, even with all flaps open. The birds in the area were EXTREMELY noisy and woke us up way too early. As we lay in bed, we could hear the tinkling of the cow bells of a nearby Maasai herd, the lowing of the cattle and the faint sound of Maasai voices calling to each other.  Despite our lack of sleep we are enthralled with this surreal experience.

  Coffee was delivered to our porch at 7:15. A quick wash, breakfast, then on our way again.

KUDU!

Today our game drive is in Manyara National park. Not even a km out of the lodge area, Issa stopped the car stating "oh my god...its a kudu. He said this was a very rare animal to see and that this was the first time he had ever seen one. Since we were not inside a park, we were able to get out of the vehicle. Rick and him got out, both with cameras in hand, and started tracking it for a shot. It was definitely aware of us so we didn't get a very good shot.


emanyara


Back into the vehicle and we continued on to the park. We learned that the park name "Manyara" is derived from a Massai word (surprise, surprise) emanyara —a plant that grows plentiful in the area.  When you break off a piece of the plant, a white milky sap comes out. This sap can apparently cause blindness so we didn't bother.



Hippos at the hippo pool





In this park we encountered a lot of monkeys! This really was the first park where they were plentiful. Something else that we hadn't seen a lot of were hippos. There was a huge herd of hippos lazing around a big pool. We were able to get out of the vehicle to stretch our legs and get some shots. The hippo pool seemed to be a popular spot because a huge bus load of school kids arrived and a lesson in hippo behaviour began.



Mother and baby elephants

 Like in other parks, we saw lots of elephants yet this was the first time we actually felt in danger. We happened on a mother and her baby. Issa stopped (as usual) and we started taking pictures (as usual). The baby started walking, slowly towards us. We were so excited to get close up shots of the baby that we didn't notice the mother getting agitated because we were closer to her baby than she was. Issa firmly told us to "stop moving" and "don't make a sound". We didn't want to even breathe. The mother started "running" towards the baby and strategically placed herself between us and baby. She ended up being so close to us that we could have reached out of our window and touched her. It was so bizarre to be eye-to-eye with an elephant in the wild.



Small stream running out of the Hot Spring

 








Looking into the "hole" of the Hot Spring

 Another interesting feature at this park is a hot spring. Although it is a very small spring, the sulphur smell permates the air for quite a large area around the spring. Issa invited us to touch the water warning us to be careful—that it might be too hot. It was hot, but not that hot. We could see egg shells scattered around the area. Apparently people bring eggs to cook in the hot water (not sure if they eat them after that though —ewww).

On the way back to the camp we took the opportunity to stop at a few more curio shops along the way. Some of these shops are incredibly over-packed with goods. The shops can be dark, very dusty and cramped—generally you need to watch where you are walking because you could easily step on or knock something over. Regardless, shopping in these stores is fun and very interesting because you just don't know what you are going to find.

Enjoyed drinks, a swim and an amazing sunset by the pool. There is one other couple staying at the camp. and they were poolside with us enjoying the sunset. Turns out they are retired, living in Vancouver, but had lived most of their life in Stittsville, Ontario. WTH!!!! Small world indeed. Tomorrow will be our last day in Africa.