Lake Manyara

I woke up early after a good night’s sleep and had a relaxing morning at the hotel. The large hornbill birds outside woke me up at dawn. It reminded me of when I worked a couple of projects in Hawaii and the birds announced the arrival of a new day. I looked forward to hearing them every morning.

The Serena Mountain Village Hotel has vast gardens with plenty of plenty of tropical fauna and wildlife to explore. I spent the morning sitting near the lodge looking at the various birds including the hornbill which looks like a black and white version of the toucan.

At different times, various members of the group joined me out front of the lodge where we began to get to know each other. There were six of us, four of us were in IT, there was a retired attorney and we all found the safari through “Living Social” – an internet deal.

After we met our ranger/driver Jabshir. We climbed into a jeep and headed out to Lake Manyara. Arusha was just a stopping point before heading deep into the Serengeti.

Driving through the actual city of Arusha, our driver pointed out the Arusha Hotel, made famous by John Wayne when he stayed there while filming “Hitari!” A film I just happened to watch the night before leaving for my trip at the recommendation of a friend. It was filmed in Tanzania and starred, John Wayne. A period piece (1962) where with a lot of smoking, drinking and silliness and a plotline about a group of people living in Africa catching animals for American Zoos. Interestingly enough, the movie had African Animals, and African Landscapes but didn’t star any Africans.

Arusha was clearly an international city but it is also a struggling city, part of a third world country. As we left the city into the countryside we began to see the Africa that has been portrayed and in so many Hollywood films with stunning landscapes. As we drove towards Lake Manyara we spotted giraffes, baboons and storks.

Jabshir, our guide, also talked about the Maasai people who live in familial villages made of mud huts with thatched roofs and herd sheep, goats and cows. The boys heard the animals while the women collect firewood and fetch the water. It was somewhat surreal seeing the traditionally dressed villages who typically carry spears.

The Massai men have different stages in life and each stage comes with a different set of rights. The men dress differently based on what stage they are in. Teenage boys earning their rite to be circumcised dress in all black. When they have been circumcised, they paint there face white and wear large black feathers. When I first saw a group of four boys dressed in this fashion walking along the road, I found myself feeling somewhat frightened.

I noticed that many people waived to our 4×4 Land Rover, the guide explained that many of the kids were asking for food or water and others just waiving to be friendly. As we continued to Lake Manyara we passed through coffee and banana plantations. We passed through areas that had plenty of baboons and passed a giraffe as well. As we passed the lake Manyara National park which we would be driving through the next day, you could see trees full of nesting storks. So many storks that the ground beneath it was covered with guano with a very distinct smell..

We checked into the Serena Lake Manyara hotel. I was exhausted and was still trying to take in everything that I had seen today along with adjusting to the time difference. As I suspected, Internet access was severely limited in the lobby and no-existent in the rooms. I could not publish a thing to the web. Just as well.

Along the way we did spot some wildlife including some Baboons and a Giraffe.