We bless the rains down in Africa, gunna take some time...

[bPeteb]

picnic lunch at a very busy picnic area, including a coffee truck!



We chuckled at some people sitting at a picnic table laid with a tablecloth and getting served a three course meal, including wine. The wind was howling and that tablecloth so wanted to fly off into the hippo populated swamp. The over the top lunches were to become an ongoing sight


bAlt had became fixated on baby zebras quite early on in the trip and this manifested itself here. I post just one image of the 6,329,309 pictures that he took of them


lots of buffalo


hyena is the only popualtion that they control. If the population gets to high they impact the ability of lions to get a meal

crown cranes and their chicks. Very cute. We saw a few pairs with two checks as we journied towards the road up and out of the crater


hamerkop


one way road in and one way road out


the look out on the edge of the rim


unlike most of the places we've been to so far, we won't be back


thriving Rhotia. Tonight's digs are just out the other side of the town

 

[bPeteb]

What a unexpected surprise Ngorongoro Forest Tented Lodge was. It was really really nice


instead of tents we found ourselves in the best two of the eight solid structure rooms


the view from our verandah back towards the crater


in case a baboon comes in and tries to attack us


our rooms beside each other on the upper floor


main camp building - viewing lounge upper level, restaurant/bar/reception lower level


the standalone 'viewing deck', down a path below the pool, that was so much more than a deck


inside the main building




the upper viewing lounge




and dinnert hat was a fixed menu and was very nice


day 12, done

 

[bPeteb]

Say 13

Ngorongoro Tented Safari Camp to Simba Tarangire Camp

Looking back through my notes that I put into my phone as we go I have -

Ngorongoro comes from the the sound of cow bells ringing
Poli poli - slowly slowly
A new Geopark Museum has been constructed on the road from the crater towards where we stayed
An elephant never forgets and a buffalo never forgives

Back to normal programming. A TERRIBLE nights sleep. There was constant singing coming up from the valley below. What we thought was an all night party, that conveniently fiished right on 6am was in fact an f'n all night church 'service'. F'n missionaries have a lot to answer for with what they have done to African society. I'll say no more on that subject.

Opened the curtains and it was grey and damp looking outside. The weather gods had sure been on our side for our visit to Ngorongoro. The Pittsburgh people we'd spoken to at our Serengeti camp had rain and cloud when they were there.


Breakfast was part buffet, part cooked to order. Yet again the service here was just so good


but the concept of soft poached eggs was not really understood and that bacon was, unusual


looking back towards the crater


lunch bag for today's trip to Tarangire. Great concept where you grabbed a bag and you put into it what you wanted. A chef there to make you a roll with whatever you wanted in it.

a warm goodbye from a great little lodge. The tents here look great. Another recommendation we'll take back to Tapestry


Ernest pointed out Lake Manyara as we started down a decent. Here it is in the distance


we were looking forward to this drive as it mentioned the possibility of lions in trees but we drove straight past the entrance. I said to Ernest aren't we supposed to be doing a drive there and he said no, just Tarangire. I said that's not what our itinerary says.

We pulled over, he got on the phone, we drove back to the park. He showed us his very basic itinerary for the day - Tarangire Lodge, Tarangire National Park, and he read through the rest of what we had for Tanzania. Our itinerary was a little more detailed.

We had to wait until a booking was created before we could go into the park. While we did Ernest explained that the tree lions were only during the wet season. No matter, we've done pretty well with lions so far.

We're all really glad that I mentioned it. Ernest loves this little park. he loves the trees and pointed lots of them out to us. He loves the geography of the narrow park that skirts the edges of a growing lake and he loves the animals.

Literally five minutes in and one of the last animals on bALt's list - blue monkeys - were beside the road


then baboons high in the trees


we saw some vehicles together on the side of the road and LAbert stopped and asked what they were looking for. Someone in the thick undergrowth was a lion. We all decided not to bother. Then the first of many, many elephants emerged from the jungle


where one of the roads used to go


I love the next series of pictures that bAlt took. It's like he said to the blue monkey strike some different poses. I wish the eyes closed one was clear


then we came across a huge group of baboons around and in a flowing stream. It was beautiful



baboons seem to only have one thing on their mind


even the really tiny babies!!!

 

[bPeteb]

Is that weapon completely disproportionate or what to that little guys size???

back to g rated

Lake Manyara


a bird of some kind


there are of course hippos in the lake


hadada ibis


I can't resist. Dik dik


elephants of all sizes. There were a lot of elephants here and they seemed to be having an excellent time


vervet monkeys, the males of which go around with very blue balls, all of the time


Ernest kept telling us this was a bee-eater but we Aussies know that is a fisher of kings


some big monitors. We saw one swimming a little later on

 

[bPeteb]

the pland was for Ernest to drive the whole way down the length of the park/lake and we would come out very close to our lodge. Unfortunately due to lake rises and rain washouts this became impossible so we turned back. This gave us the opportunity to stop for lunch at a large picnic area.



we watched with great interest the goings on here. A table set for a fancy lunch. Two silver topped food warmers. A bbq. A chef complete with chef's hat. We couldn't wait to see who it was for. They even had a selection of wine and beers to choose from

At least one North American but pretty sure the majority were Aussie's. The faux farmer's hat was my giveaway. The North American walked past us and she was talking to someone who had been at a tables nearby. She said to him that they had no idea that this was waiting for them. Hat lady sure looked like it was what she was accustomed to.



jealousy is a cough but to be honest who needs a two hour lunch when there is so much amazing nature around you?

tuk tuk = bodi bodi


for our two nights at Tarangire National Park we stayed at Tarangire Simba Lodge. We loved it. Our safari tent Nyati (buffalo) was getting a bit tired but it was pretty darn nice


the other tents around us


Great restaurant, bar and pool area

 

[bPeteb]

mongoose at the entrance


some more of the beautiful sunset.


water buck out by the waterhole


firepit peeps



Another camp/lodge where we were not allowed to walk unaccompanied after dusk and until dawn

Buffet again for dinner. All freshly prepared and the chefs standing proudly behind their food



coughtail o'clock. I have no idea what they were


if there were any mossies this kept them out


day 13, check

 

[bPeteb]

Day 14

Full day Tarangire National Park

Up at sparrow fart yet again. Wandered into the bathroom to start getting ready and this happened. I think I am very, very lucky that I didn't go the whole way through


dawn


as we were being escorted to the lodge building the guard confirmed that the noise we'd heard in the night was in fact a lion somewhere nearby. Yikes!

lots of vervent monkeys in the grounds


Tarangire is famous for giant baobabs and elephants. We saw lots of both


white headed buffalo weaver


we drove a real lot here and to be honest there wasn't as much wildlife as I expected. Sure, a decent amount of elephants but not a huge amount of anything else. There were giraffes and various gazelles and antelopes. We didn't go near the lake that had a huge number of flamingo. We hinted but to no avail

first elephants


vulture feeding chicks


giant baobab used by poachers to hide in during the day. It was gigantic inside


more elephants. First time that we'd seen them in water and they were also drinking that water



of course there were more baboons


giraffe making a getaway

 

[RooFlyer]

who needs a two hour lunch when there is so much amazing nature around you?

Amen, brother. or even one hour. Just give me a sandwich and a banana and let’s keep going.

 

[bPeteb]

a couple of young giraffes getting their fight practicing in for the day


a big old tusker


it was about this time that we started getting buzzed by flies, and they not just any flies, they were bloody tsetse flies.


Did we know Tarangire was known for them? Yes. Did bAlt and I where appropriate long clothing with enclosed shoes? For some unknown reason no again. These little f*ers were very persistent. They filled the vehicle. Poor Ernest was getting attacked up front. Splattered one of the window that was a little ball of blood. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh.

I think Ernest intended to stay out longer but he decided to head for the lodge and we were not against the idea.

This bloke was one of a pair of old males hanging together. He was using this tree to give himself a full body rub


Getting closer to the park gate we came across this guy who was happily munching away on some grass


He moved closer and closer to us and eventually Ernest started the engine and he backed off. I think all he wanted to do was eat the long grass right beside the road but we'll not ever know

banded mongoose


they'd asked what we wanted for lunch before we left and we all independently chose chicken and fries! It came with an unexpected pasta starter


When we got back to the room the floor had been mainly fixed. lazy afternoon by the pool. A swim and photo editing and uploading this report. Free popcorn handed out by the pool


another beautiful Tanzanian sunset


nyati artwork in our tent


dinner, wine and crème caramel and after another coughtail, and maybe a gin, and ay 14 drew to a close