2012.12.27Leaving Kirurumu Manyara Lodge at 10am, we continued driving to the south on B144. After half an hour, we reached a town. This is Karatu district, one of the six districts in Arusha region. This is Justin’s home town. We stopped by a store and he left something for his friend.

Passing the town, drove for another 3 miles, we turned left on a dirt road towards Lake Eyasi.

The road was a little bumpy. It’s getting hotter as we went further south. There were no high vegetation, but only bushes here and there.

After about an hour, we saw a hut at the roadside. This is the reception office of Lake Eyasi area. A man working in the office joined us in the jeep. He would be our guide to visit Hadzabe bushmen and Datoga tribe living in this area.

Keep driving for another 5 minutes, we turned off the road and drove into the bush. All Hadzabe bushmen live around Lake Eyasi. Their total population is under 1000. They are the only hunter-gatherers in Africa. There were several attempts to bring in other cultures or even administration to the group, but all failed. They still live today as they have lived for thousands of years. The current approach is to keep them informed about political events and make sure they receive fair treatment in this fast-changing world. Inevitably, the intrusion of tourism affects their traditional way of life, but on the positive side, more income offers more opportunities for their kids to get some education.

It’s at noon of the day. Most men and women in the tribe just sitting in the shade. Some of them were smoking or making tools for hunting. They demonstrated some of their skills, such as making fire with hand drilling and bow shooting. The guide also showed us the rock that the bushmen use to shelter from rain and the tree that they use to display skulls of animals they hunted. At last, several young men and kids gathered in a circle, sung and danced together. The other thing that visitors can do is to hunt with them in the early morning. Most of time, they shoot down birds with their bows; very occasionally, they might be able to catch Baboons.

Left where Hadza people live, our next stop is to visit a family of Datoga Tribe. Their house was next to the main road, so I am not sure if they are real indigenous people or staged for tourists. Datoga men practice polygamy. All wives in the family came out to welcome us. We enter their cottage with very low roof and watched them grinding corn. At another side of the yard, we watched them melting bronze metal and making arrows. They also make bracelets for sale. The guide told us that they got their raw materials from nearby village. We saw them using bronze pipes. They already have access to these modern industrial objects, but they make them into arrows for primitive people. The fact itself is quite surreal to me.

We checked into Tindiga Tented Camp at around 2pm. Compared to the first two lodges, this camp is much more basic. The front desk was located in a small dining room. We were the only guests on that day.

After having some rest, Justin took us to drive around the area. The jeep climbed to a nearby hill. At its east side, there were crop fields of the nearby villages; at the west, we could see Lake Eyasi about 1 mile away. Justin said the lake shore were all mud because of the rain and difficult to access,

Justin wanted to show us how ordinary Tanzanians live, so we went to the Qaund’ded Village at the foot of the hill. We first stopped by a small pond – this is the water source of the village. Young men and women carry water from here for their daily usage. Most people didn’t mind me taking pictures, but one girl was unhappy about that, so I stopped.

We drove through the village. Justin said the climate of this area is good for growing crops and villagers work hard, but by looking at their shelters, these villagers must still live in deep poverty.

We had dinner together with Justin. We talked about various subjects, such as the interesting brotherhood relationship between China and Tanzania in the past; but mostly we talked about our everyday lives, the marriage tradition, education and so on. Justin was quite unhappy about western influence on Tanzania’s school system. He felt that kids now a day were so spoiled. He said if he had choice, he’d send her daughter to the school that allow corporal punishment!

I was woken up by chirping birds the next morning. I had a walk around the camp. The morning sun was warm, not harsh yet. I got some good shoots on those birds.

2012.12.26We left Tarangire National Park at 10am. Driving 3 miles on dirt road and a couple of miles on paved road to Arusha direction, then we turn left on B144. This is a section of straight high way. The landscape is open and dry, covered with sparsed low bush. The distance between Tarangire and Lake Manyara is not far. From here, we could already see the south part of Lake Manyara.

After about an hour, we entered a populated area, Mto wa Mbu, which borders Lake Manyara National Park to the southeastern side. Justin took us to a nearby village. Crossing a banana field, we saw several farmhouses and thatched shacks. A shack was used to display handcraft and woodwork. Some locals were working on the new items, carving and polishing the wood sculptures.

Tanzania is renowned for original and fanciful woodcarvings. They are also popular tourist souvenirs. One of men first gave us a short talk, telling the story about why their tribe moved from Mozambique and how they created these woodwork based on their dreams and their everyday lives. We were much more impressed by the way he talked than the story he was telling. He spoke slowly and calmly, with clear logic and great confidence – it’s a very persuasive sales pitch. He claimed the carvings were made by Ebony wood, but Achmed told us before we left Arusha, “whoever said it’s Ebony, it’s not”. We bought some paintings made by banana leaves.

We decided to check into the lodge before going to the Lake Manyara National Park. It’s hot at noon and animals are not active anyway. We passed by the park’s entrance and started climbing a steep hill – we were actually escalading the western wall of the East African Rift Valley. Unlike the river valley or glacier valley, the rift valley is not created by erosion but by tectonic plates pulling apart from each other. Horsts and Grabens are often produced along the parallel faults. In the section of Rift Valley, the geological structure appears to be a half-graben, where the valley’s western wall rises 2000 feet high on one side and a flat lowland on the other side extended to as far as eye can see. Lake Manyara lies right at the foot of the wall.

There are several souvenir stores along the road. Tingatinga style paintings were displayed outside the store; inside, thousands woodcraft items, from two-inch-long statues to full-sized monkeys and buffaloes, were packed on the shelves. We picked three foot-long figures and bargained for about 40% discount of what they originally asked for. Even at this price, the store could easily worth hundred thousand dollars.

After lunch, we checked into our hotel, Kirurumu Manyara Lodge. The lodge sits on the rim of the Rift Valley. From its entrance, the paved alleys split into branches. Each branch leads to a tent cabin surrounded by woods, yet every tent has a view of Lake Manyara.

At 4pm, we climbed down the Rift Valley to the park. Once we entered the park, the dry and hot air was suddenly behind us. The temperature seemed to drop several degree at least.

Because of abundant water source, unlike Tanragire National Park, most of Lake Manyara National Park is covered by lush forest. The game drive road winds through the jungle. Not far from the entrance, at the northeast end of the park, there is a small pool called “Hippo Pool”. We could only see one hippo from far away, but Justin assured us that we would see plenty of them in Serengeti. Along the road, baboon troops haunt the dense woods or lounge on the open ground. The park is also a good place to view birds and eagles.

Game drive road in Lake Manyara National Park is a loop. Contrasting to the forest in the north, the southeast of the park is the grassy floodplain. More animals were visible.

We retired to our lodge after spending about two hours in the park. On our way back, I took several pictures of sunset at a vista point by the rim of the Rift Valley.

The next morning, I got up at 6am. Next to the dinner area, the platform in front of the lodge’s bar has a great view of Lake Manyara. Just like the previous day, the sky was covered by the heavy cloud; also like the previous day, the cloud opened a long and narrow gap at the horizon. If the sunrise at Tarangire was splendid, the sunrise over Lake Manyara had a sense of mystery.

2012.12.25~26We checked out from our lodge in the morning at 8:00am. After exchanged some cash at Arusha’s city center, we headed west to Tarangire National Park.

Half an hour later, we already left the majestic Mt. Meru behind, now we were surrounded by the open plain dotted with Maasai villages. The village normally consists of several thatched huts with low roof and a cattle or sheep pen. As Justin and us got more familiar, our topics of discussion started touching things of his life, such as his family and what he did for living. He became very angry when he told us about the government corruption and unfairness in the society. He is quite a passionate person.

It has been very cloudy since we left Arusha. Rain started about 1 hour after we were on our way and soon became a downpour. There are two rainy seasons in Eastern Africa. November and December is supposed to be a minor one. However, according to Justin, there was a drought in November this year and it only started raining in late December, so we saw higher than normal precipitation at this time of the year. The rain was so heavy so that many ponds and creeks came to live along the road. The good thing is that this kind of rain normally doesn’t last long, and most part of the road were well paved, we didn’t have any trouble to get to the park at 10:30am.

The area is scorching hot in the dry season. Animals migrate into the park along the Tarangire River, which is the only permanent source of water year around. It’s the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem. During the rainy season, most animals scatter over the region but elephants stay. Elephants and Baobab Trees are two huge creatures that can be commonly seen in the park.

Our plan was to have a short game drive, and then have our lunch before checking into the campsite. The landscape was getting more beautiful as we approached the Tarangire River. Wide panoramas of open Acacia woodland, rolling savanna studded with Baobab Trees, our jeep drove right into it. I was so excited and almost wanted to shout it out. This is exactly what I imagine Eastern Africa to look like!

The picnic area sits on top of a hill overlooking the Tarangire River. We had the same lunch box as the earlier day. We saw people from different countries, China, India and Arabic regions. Some of them were on the day-tour from Arusha. Human’s activities also attracted a group of black-faced vervet monkeys. They were just as aggressive as those in Mount Emei.

Tarangire Safari Lodge is one of tens of “luxury camps” established in Eastern Africa national parks. These camps run just like hotels, except the visitors live in tents instead of rooms. The tent is spacious and it has private bath and toilet attached to it. The quality of these luxury camps varies widely. Tarangire Safari Lodge is by far the best one we lived in.

The lodge is situated on a panoramic bluff. We were impressed once we step into the the lounge, which is also served as the lodge’s lobby. The open design offers 180 degree unobstructed view of the Tarangire River valley. All tents are build along the cliff so you can just sit in front of your tent and watch elephants, giraffes and impalas coming to the river or playing over the wide plain.

It’s hot and the sun is harsh at noon. We rested in the tent and went out again for game drive at 4pm. As we crossed the same bridge over the Tarangire River again, we found that the flooded river a couple of hours earlier now almost dried out.

Whenever you see several jeeps stopping by the road, it never hurts to stop and check too. This time was different – there were more than 20 vehicles lining together but we couldn’t see a thing. After asking other drivers, Justin told us that there were two African hunting dogs lying under the tree at distance. This is an endangered specie. There are only two groups of them in activity in northern parks of Tanzania. We were very lucky.

Another interesting scene we encountered later was a group of elephants drinking water and having fun around a pond. Sometimes they enjoyed the water maybe too much, they, especially the young ones, need some extra help to get out of the pond.

Because of the vast open space and the dramatic change of temperature in a day, the weather varies from time to time and from place to place in the park. While driving in the park, we often saw dark cloud gathered at somewhere far and the rain blurred the line between the cloud and the ground. After the thunderstorm, there was a rainbow. I asked Justin to stop the car and took these pictures. We were in awe of nature’s beauty!

None of the campsites has wall or fence. It can be visited by wild animals. After dark, the camp has its personnel to escort visitors between the dining area and their tents. Living in the tent is comfortable. Secure the zippers of the tent and apply the repellents, we were not bothered by mosquitoes at all.

We planned to leave early the second day for game drive, but the sunrise was just too spectacular to miss. The thick and dark cloud covered the whole sky, except a narrow gap at the eastern horizon. The sky was burning red as the sun rose. It’s violent yet brilliant.

We left the campsite at 6:30am. Only 200 yard out, we saw 9 lions in the bush. They seemed alert and gazing out over the open field outside the bush. One after another, quietly and in an organized manner, they walk out of the bush. Justin jumped on to the jeep, trying to see what their target is, he said their move normally meant they were ready to attack, but he couldn’t see anything. A couple of minutes later, these lions seemed to lose their interest. They sit down and eventually all lied down on the ground. What a group of lazy cats!

We drove to the picnic area again. It’s early, there were nobody but us, and some groups of impalas and Thomson’s gazelles running around, enjoyed the morning. As we were about to leave, Justin spotted something unusual far across the river – there was a lion on the tree. Trees are normally leopard‘s territory in Eastern Africa, not lions’, but this lion looked quite conformable on the tree.

What dominates the park is still elephants. They can get very close to the vehicle, within 20 feet. Although most of time peaceful, they can become aggressive if irritated, especially when they are with their calves. If you are faced with adult elephants, you’d better give them the right of the way, even you are in a car.

Baobab Trees are regarded as tree of life, because they are capable of providing shelter, food and water for animals and humans. Mature Baobabs are often hollow, their trunk skin from the ground up to 10 feet high are mostly gone. This is because Baobab Trees keep water in the trunk during the wet season for themselves to get through the dry season, but elephants know this trick and they peel off Baobab’s skin to get water. In the dry season, Baobab Trees lose all their leaves to preserve moisture. The tree is like it is planted upside down with its roots sticking up in the air.

We returned to our lodge after 3 hours game drive and checked out at 10am. We were heading to our next destination, Lake Manyara National Park.

2012.12.24Justin picked us up at the lodge at 8:30am in the second morning. Our safari tour officially started from Arusha National Park.

The perimeter of Arusha National Park is only several miles to Arusha, but its main gate is about 40 miles away from the city. Although the size is small, the park has diversified geographical features, including Mt. Meru, Merella lake, forest and grassland over the Ngurdoto Crater. About an hour later, we parked our car at the entrance. While Justin was checking in at the office, we saw several giraffes walking in a bush about 200 feet from us. It’s our first wildlife encounter in Africa, understandably we were quite excited.

The entrance gate leads into shadowy forest. We started seeing more animals, including groups of zebras and buffaloes.

We stopped at a ranger station near Tululusia Hill. One good thing about Arusha National Park is that, while visitors are not allow to leave their cars in other national parks, they can hike in Arusha National Park, accompanied by rangers with shotguns. Justin introduced us to one ranger, bigger group will have more rangers to walk with them. The rangers are guides at the same time. They are quite knowledgeable about plants and animals in the park.

We walked along a dried creek into the Buffalo Glade, an open area surrounded by forest. A group of buffaloes were at the edge of the woods. As we walk towards them, the ranger kept reminding us not to get too close, not to stare at them for too long. He said there were two times in the past that he had to warn then fire at buffalo when the visitors entered the flight zone and the buffalo started charging.

Leaving buffaloes behind, we kept walking across the glade. At the other end of the grass, we met three persons just climbing down from the mountain. One visitor had only a pro-camera in his hand and the other two locals carried other equipment and camping stuff for him. This is a typical format of hiking tours in Tanzania and Kenya. In some programs, such as climbing Kilimanjaro, the tourists are accompanied by even more locals.

We entered the shade area of Tululusia Hill. A walk on the rocky trail rewarded us with something quite unexpected, a 28-meter water fall.

We turned back and walked along the foot of the hill. In the middle of the woods, we saw a giraffe under the Acacia Tree eating leaves, calm and elegant. My wife happily had some pictures with the giraffe.

We walked for about 2 hours and returned to the ranger station at 1:30pm. Justin and us sit down in an open hut to have our lunch. What’s in the lunch box are almost same every day and same for all different tour groups. It normally contains a fried chicken leg, a piece of bread, an apple, a bottled drink and some bagged peanuts. Every morning, the camping sites prepare the lunch box and give them to the guide. They are not very fresh, but the chicken was always tasty.

It started raining as we were having the lunch. Lucky that we didn’t try to climb the hill, which is normally part of the program. We resumed our game drive to the east in the rain after lunch. Some animals were using bushes to shelter from the rain.

The rain stopped as we were approaching Momella Lakes. This is a group of lakes that are fed by underground water. Different mineral not only give lakes different colors but also support many types of waterfowls. The most attractive ones among them are certainly flamingos. They gathered along the lake as if to embroider the lake with the pink border.

We circled around the Big Momella Lakes. At its north side, hundreds of lesser flamingo standing in the still water. I reduced the exposure time to darken the water in the hope of creating an abstract theme. To me, the image of Africa safari has always been endless savanna, vast, wild and sometimes brutal. These tranquil lakes with flamingos revealed a peaceful and soft side that we didn’t expect.

Arusha National Park is located in between Mt. Meru and Mt. Kilimanjaro. On our way back, we first stopped at a vista point that can view both of these two mountains. Only 40 miles from Mt. Kilimanjaro (19,341 ft), Mt. Meru (4,977 ft) is the second highest mountain in Tanzania, and a dormant volcano dominating the park and the city. In the eruption about 8000 years ago, Mt. Meru lost much of its bulk on the east side and created the dramatic terrain of Arusha National Park. The hollow center couldn’t support the huge body, several collapse ensued. In a clear day, one can see Mt. Kilimanjaro from Mt. Meru. Unlucky to us, the Kibo Summit of Kilimanjaro was blocked by the cloud.

We made a brief stop at an one-room museum near the park’s gate. Moving further, we encountered a troop of baboon walking directly towards us. They are large size old world monkeys that can be commonly found in Africa. At one point, we also saw a colobus monkey on the tree, but I didn’t have a good shot of it.

We left the park at about 3:30pm. We saw several coffee plantations on our way back to the city. Coffee is Tanzania’s largest export crop. These plantations still employ the traditional shade-grown cultivation, in contrast to sun cultivation, which yield more coffee. Shade-grown coffee is considered superior in quality and causes less environmental issues, thus, more “organic”.

2012.12.23~24The decision to visit Tanzania at the year end was really made during Thanksgiving holidays. It’s possible to get ready in such a short time is because I already did my research and had contacted several travel agencies, especially the one we finally chose, Base Camp Tanzania, when we struggled between the trip to Antarctica and Eastern Africa a year early. The trip was confirmed only a couple of days after Thanksgiving and we were on our way three weeks later.

Our trip started at Arusha, which is served by Kilimanjaro International Airport for international travelers. KLM is the only major airline offers direct flight to the airport. It was our longest connecting flights so far. We had totally 21 hours in the air. Layover time was shorter than our other trips, but we were lucky that there was no major delay and we arrived at JRO at 9pm local time on Dec. 23rd.

We met our guide, Justin, at the airport. He has a tall and strong figure and looks very humble. He will be our only guide and driver for the next 9 days. From the Airport to Arusha, the road was mildly uphill most of time, Our car was particularly slow. This 35-mile took us almost one and half hours. After we entered the town, the car turned off the main street to a very rough dirt road. We were tossed up and down for another 10 minutes. As we started wondering what this seemingly endless bumpy road would lead us to, we arrived at our destination, Ilboru Safari Lodge.

We had a room in round shape, probably modeled after the Maasai huts. It soon started raining. There were some small issues with the room, such as the shower and power outlet, but the room was spacious and comfortable. Although it’s already dark when we checked in, I could feel that we were surrounded by lush plants. The next morning, I had a chance to walk around the garden.

Arush is the capital city of the Arusha Region of Tanzania. We didn’t have opportunity to spend time in the city, but merely passing through the city center several times on our car. Although the city is a political hub for Eastern African international issues, Arusha remains a small and rural town. However, it doesn’t mean it’s not vital – a lot of people on the streets and the roads are jammed by cars during rush hours, especially the only one road coming in and out of the town. Compared to the busy town outside, the lodge is like an oasis.

After coming back from Arush National Park on our first day, the owner of our tour company, Achmed, came to visit us. He helped us setup the tour in very short time and was very responsive to all our questions. He is a British man who is also half German and have lived in Tanzania for more than 20 years. We had a beer in the lodge’s German Beer Garden. Achmed went over our itinerary and noted special features of each park. He also stressed that if we wanted to go to the toilet while in safari, just go to the back of the jeep, instead of hiding behind the bush. Still recovering from the time difference, we could barely keep our eyes open lately. There is one thing I still remember – the reason he prefers living in Tanzania, given the government corruptions and lower living conditions, is because “there is no puppet law in this country”.

At the dinner, the waitress obviously forgot that we didn’t have the dinner the previous night because we came too late, but we managed to get their local Swahili cuisine that only offers to the guests on their first night. The dinner came in as small dishes, including Machalari, Ugali (maize flour paste), Sukuma Wiki, beef stew and barbecue plates. The food were quite salty, some of them had tastes of Indian dishes.