On our return from the Serengeti we stopped for gas and met Anna Estes, a friend of Douglas's with whom he does student ecology trips. She's a landscape ecologist, so we talked a bit with her about farming practices and related issues. It would have been fun to have a longer conversation at a camp out in the bush. But we were each headed a different direction, and we headed on towards Kirurumu Lodge, a "Tented Camp" which is a tent mostly in name only. Our accomodations were much more than we were used to, but we enjoyed the birds we saw from our front porch.
We had some more late-night bananagrams games with Douglas, then headed down to Lake Manyara National Park early the next morning. It's a steep road on the way down, and we had a bicycle making good time in front of us. Douglas pointed out that they guy had no brakes, other than using his foot pressed against the front tire (in a good motorcycle-tire sandal, of course).
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| Lk Manyara Bicycle Foot Brakes |
Africa has a lot of weird biological stuff, at least weird to those from North America. One of those is the Sausage Tree, so named because of its sausage shaped fruits. Apparently it is not a good idea to camp under one of these, as the fruits are pretty dang big (up to 50cm long and 10cm in diameter) and could do some serious damage if they hit you on the noggin or the nose...
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| Sausage Tree
Photo by Dona |
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| Creek in Lake Manyara National Park
Photo by Dona |
We had limited time in the park, as we needed to be back in Arusha in time to pick up our rental car and drive to Lake Chala. But we saw quite a few animals, both birds and mammals.
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Photo by Dona |
Green Sandpiper
Photo by Dona |
Lesser Striped Swallow
Photo by Dona |
We found this cool little Pygmy Kingfisher by one of the creeks, and a variety of hornbills.
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| African Pygmy Kingfisher | |
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| Photo by Dona | Photo by Dona | |
| Silvery Cheeked Hornbill | ||
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| Photo by Dona | Photo by Dona | |
| Bushbuck | ||
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| White Backed Vulture |
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| Crowned Hornbill | Crowned Hornbills
Photo by Dona |
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| Xxx Frankolin
Photo by Dona |
Long Toed Lapwing | Long Toed Lapwing
Photo by Dona |
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| Brown Hooded Kingfisher | |
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| Glossy Ibis | African Jacana
Photo by Dona |
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| African Jacana and Glossy Ibis | Common Moorhen
Photo by Dona |
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Douglas, I need help again... |
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| Banded Mongoose |
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| Olive Baboon |
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Photo by Dona |
| African Fish Eagle | |
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| Xxx | Grey Headed Kingfisher | Bearded Woodpecker | Xxx |
We left Lake Manyara feeling like we needed more time, then stopped in Mtowambu town to pick up some fruits and veggies for our upcoming trip by ourselves. Douglas said it would be both less expensive and faster, especially since we had him to help bargain and find our way. Watermelon was 1500TSh, 4 carrots for 500TSh, 4 bananas for 1000TSh. As we left town we could see Mt. Meru in the haze. It's high, rising far above where you expect to see a mountain when looking at the hazy landscape.
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| Market Day near Arusha |
It was really difficult to say goodbye to Douglas. He had become a great friend in our two weeks together. We hope to be able to do another trip with him some day; we would love to return to Tanzania. Or maybe he can come visit us in Montana and we can show him a little of our part of the world. But part we did; he dropped us at the place where we were to pick up our rental car, and then we had to make it to Lake Chala on our own.
This page last updated on 2014-05-10.
