Manana Manyara

We use our spare day to catch up on all the things we just never get time for, like writing this blog. Believe it or not it took over 5 hours to post the previous 3 blogs. Uli and I went to 'town' to track down a battery, as with all purchases in Africa, especially one of this magnitude, the negotiations are a slow drawn out affair between the buyers, the seller and the entire village. We finally bought the 'As used in Germany', made in Thailand battery and headed back to camp for lunch. This time we had found a good campsite attached to a lodge a couple of kilometers outside the park, giving our wallets a bit of relief. The camp is situated in a grove of Fever trees, at night the Giant Eagle owl's calls for a mate. This large owl has eyelids that are a beautiful light pink in colour.

We awoke before dawn, broke camp and headed for Manyara National Park, famous for its tree climbing lions. The theory goes that the lions spend the majority of the day resting in trees, up to 5m off the ground to escape the biting flies. Talking about biting flies, Tarangire and Manyara have a number of flies that bite, but the Tsetse Fly is by far the worst. The Tseste is the reason vast areas of Africa cannot be used for cattle. Not only is their bite very sore but it soon starts to itch and can be inflamed and itchy for days. They are also carriers of sleeping sickness.

We entered Manyara National Park in the north, which is adjacent to Ngorongoro. It was wonderful being the first cars to travel through the lush green forest. Huge Sycamore Fig trees with buttressed trunks grow to amazing proportions, in an effort to reach the sunlight. The forest gives way to dense thorn thickets of various Acacia species and then finally opens up into Acacia savanna. Once again the birding is excellent raking up a number of lifers in quick succession.

The road finally starts heading down to the edge of the Manyara Lake and we catch our first glimpse of the flocks of pink flamingos.

Unfortunately the lake has receded dramatically, but with binoculars the wheeling flocks feed frenetically in the shallow waters, which never exceed 500mm in depth. We continue further , here water hot enough to boil an egg bubbles out of the ground. Large numbers of game gather to drink this mineral rich water.

We saw a troop of Olive Baboons that numbered in excees of 100, Warthog, Zebra & Buffalo, all spent a long while before slowly moving away. In the distance the wind created dust devils, resembling mini tornados, sucking the white dessicated sand that lines the edge of the lake high into the sky. Manyara is a different park experience where huge numbers of game are not found, but its varied habitats make it a very special and unique place. As birders we loved it.

Fresh fish ala Tanzania