Sunday, December 24, 2000

We packed up and planned a game drive on the way out of the park. We requested to go back to the area where the leopard was to check on it before we left. The remaining part of the impala carcass is now way up in the tree. The leopard is still here. He’s in the grass again to the left of the back of the tree he slept in yesterday. We are glad to see he got to eat. This leopard has been a real lesson in patience. Three more vehicles have arrived. We saw the leopard moving before they came and we KNOW he is no more than thirty yards away and yet you cannot see him. The grass just doesn’t look long enough to hide him so well. Another lesson taught here is that one should NEVER get out of their car. That leopard is so close to the road but you would NEVER know he was there if you hadn’t been following him!! You never know what could be right where you are!

We drove along that Oasis area on the way out of the park and spotted those two huge Saddle billed Storks again. We caught three Cape buffalo in this area … (water buffalo are a little smaller than these)

Tarangire is a park of 2600 sq km so it’s not all that large an area. We saw giraffe, waterbuck and a flock of eight ostriches along the way but the thrill of the ride out was a pair of cheetah in the grasslands. We watched them as they watched us and determined they did want to cross the road. They are beautiful creatures. We thought that was our farewell here but we caught one lone elephant along the road taking a mud bath so we stopped to watch. We saw a herd of about 20 Coke’s Hartebeest today and a herd of about 20 giraffe in an area of acacia trees like looked like it had been planted like an orange grove.

We were headed for Lake Manyara, which is a park of 320 sq km…. The smallest in Tanzania and 210 of that sq km are the lake itself. This is in the Eastern Rift Valley. The drive here was scenic and very different and changing. It had rained and the road was not paved and was rough. At one point Ephata stopped the vehicle in the middle of nowhere and backed up. We couldn’t figure out what he had seen. He had noticed a dung beetle rolling his ball down the dirt highway. We let Rus get out his camera and take pictures and we all watched the dung beetle behavior for a bit. It is pretty interesting. It was a big highlight for Rus. I think Ephata had heard him talking about them. I think he was surprised later that Rusty was serious and really wanted to observe them.

Water runs through this village at Lake Manyara all the time from the Ngorongoro Crater so it’s never dry. A couple years ago in wet season Malaria really took a toll here. We saw Olive Baboon in the road coming in. It all looks very tropical again. There are tons of banana plants. We still see lots of Maasai bomas along the road (Manita – corral around the boma) We are staying at a Serena Lodge (chain) called Kirurumu Lodge, (bantu word describing the sound of rushing water) which is permanent tents. This is at the edge of the Gregory Rift Escarpment overlooking grassy plains, Lake Manyara and volcanic Mount Losimongori. The facilities are great. Behind the sleeping area of the tent the bathrooms have been added and there is electricity. The tents are put up on a concrete slab and a thatched roof covers the whole thing so it’s shaded and cooler. The porch on the front faces the lake and has two chairs out there. Sounds like Laurie and Linda got the tent with the best view of the lake!! Elevation here is at 1200 meter… We had lunch here. The dining area is under a huge thatched cabana (open air). They have a Christmas tree lit up. It’s a beautiful view and a lovely area for birds. They have put feeders and birdbaths in among the trees and bushes. There were many nests around. The weaver’s nests were right over the walkway.

Banteleur Eagle Lapit-faced Vulture Saddle-billed Storks

Orange Headed Swallows of some type Green and Yellow Parrots

Red headed Weavers Spotted Morning Thrush Cross Beaked Weaver

African Fire Finch Valuable Song Bird Rich Nose Weaver

Golden Breasted Rock Bunting Beautiful Songbird

The waiter named some of these beautiful birds for me at lunch and I’m not sure about those “scientific” names…. But I couldn’t find them all in the bird books. They certainly serenaded us during lunch.

The afternoon game drive to the lake was wonderful. We saw 100’s of Olive Baboon. You couldn’t see or count them all. They were on both sides of the road and in the trees and bushes squabbling. We also saw a few blue monkeys. There were zebra here and wildebeest. We counted about eight hippos out in the water but that was a good distance from us. We saw a herd of elephants and had seen a couple of lone ones in the trees. We were hearing some on either side of the road and had commented that we had seen so many but hadn’t ever heard one trumpet. The Hazels were in front of us and had crossed a ravine and parked. We slowed to look at a couple elephants on the left and were still hearing some behind us on the right. The ones on our left seemed to be wandering on. .. We could hear the brush breaking and could hear them but they were hidden from view. One suddenly appeared in our direction and Ephata eased on up and went over the ravine and parked near the Hazels. We were watching and one of them came back out on the road and faced us directly on with ears spread. My thought was that he was just warning us a little and wouldn’t come down and up that ravine… I WAS WRONG… Sherry was in the back and soon started yelling GO, GO, GO. We were trying to get her to get a picture and Rus was trying to get the camcorder back on… It all happened so fast it was a whirl, but Ephata hit the gas and was GONE. Ben was reading in the other rover with his engine off when he realized we were moving. He looked in his rear view mirror and saw ELEPHANT… so he cranked her up and MOVED OUT. All of us had adrenalin raging. We stopped the vehicles up the road to talk about what had just happened and calm down. They told us that a car in front of them had been charged. They had explained what had happened. That was the trumpeting we had heard ahead of time. It seems a group of males was moving across to follow some females. The car interrupted them on their mission. They just were in the wrong place at the wrong time. One of the bulls had charged them. I guess they were still a little agitated when our vehicles came along. It was quite exciting and we are sorry we didn’t get it all on video!! This was another light bulb moment and lesson in nature for me…. I could “feel” the power and the size of that creature. One needs never to lose “respect” for that!! We were on our way out of the park along that stretch of road. So - that was our “farewell” on this game drive!

Christmas Eve was beautiful. We sat at the bar a little while which had a fantastic view of the lake. We watched it get dark. There are NO LIGHTS in this part of the world. Just no electricity. Here at the lodge the power goes off at 10:00 p.m. We had a lovely dinner (although we like camp food best!) We took a picture by the Christmas tree before we left. We walked over to Laurie and Linda’s tent to look out at the stars. They were so bright and there were so many! The sky looked different than it looks at home!

Jane Wojecki

Sunday, December 24, 2000

Laurie and Linda had some impalas come by their tent during the night and had them scared for awhile since they could see their shadows on the tent walls. Lions were also heard during the night. Went back and checked on the leopard. The leopard had drug the kill further up into the tree and was still around. We headed out of the national park and luck is with us again. Laurie spots some ears and a head pops up in some grass. It turns out to be 2 cheetahs. They start to slowly walk our way. Finally they make a run for it and cross the road between the 2 cruisers. It is exciting to see them so close. just before getting out we came across two Cheetahs walking right toward us. We are starting to see the same animals since we have seen so many. We are getting more selective on taking pictures. Getting some great pictures and video. Drove to Lake Manyara National Park.

The road was a washboard gravel road that was extremely rough. We would not see paved road again until arriving back in Arusha. This park is essentially a rain forest located between a large lake and a large escarpment. There are only a few villages scattered along the way. We stopped for gas where they had a crank pump. We are heading up into some mountains to a small lodge that has about 20 permanent tents. It’s very secluded. Checked into our permanent tented lodge called Kirurumu Camp. It is hard to describe how pretty the view is from the lodge once we got there. The restaurant looks out over the valley. It’s open with just a huge thatch roof. It was a nice setup and Laurie and Linda had a beautiful view of the lake from their front veranda. Tents are set up as permanent tents under a fixed roof.

There is a permanent floor and the tents are equipped with flushing toilets and showers along with electric lights. The tents and beds were nice. Had lunch and a nap. Headed out for a game drive in the park at 3:30PM. It is beautiful in the forest. There are massive trees and vegetation. We drive down to a lake and then head back. Saw blue monkeys and lots of baboons. Saw our first hippos way out in the lake. On the way out stopped to watch an elephant in the trees alongside the road. While watching the elephant other elephants in the area became agitated for some reason. They started trumpeting and charged a car right in front of us and that car took off in a hurry with the elephants right behind. We continued to watch an elephant on the side of the road. When it started making some false charges toward us, we moved past all the elephants and crossed a small ravine. Ben told us how elephants had charged vehicles in the past and caused injuries. Rusty’s vehicle joined up with us. The elephants remained agitated and finally one charged out of the trees toward us. We started hollering Go! Go! Go!. Rusty’s vehicle sailed by us and when Ben heard us hollering and saw an elephant fast approaching in his rear view mirror he took off and caught up with Rusty. It got our blood racing. We have been seeing plenty of elephants but this was a first to actually hear them. It’s a loud awesome noise especially when you add in the sound of the tree limbs breaking. After our escape we stopped along with Rusty’s cruiser and compared notes on what had just happened. We made it out of the forest and back to the lodge. Saw more different types of birds on the way out. Had a nice dinner. Took some Christmas pictures around the Christmas tree set up in the dinner area. The camp was set up on the top of the Rift Valley Escarpment. Did a little star gazing after dinner. It was a cool night and everyone got a good night’s sleep.

The Hazels