Africa Day 11 Tarangire National Park to Ngorongoro Crater pronounced without the N

We woke before 5.30am this morning, we had a lovely knock on the door and a cuppa arrived. ?

When we were packed up and ready Greg went outside and shone the torch into the tree and a warrior came to get us. It was a bit of light by then  but it was reassuring to walk with him. Evidently the lions were active all night, the female is on heat, during this time the lions have sex between 20-40 times a day for up to 4 days, from what we were told they were 3 days into this cycle, so I am guessing they are pretty tired.   I asked the warrior where the lions were now and he pointed up the hill to my right. But we didn’t see them again.

We had a good breakfast and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise then checked out. We were given a bag of snacks for our drive today. We met Zoya with his great big, beautiful smile at 7am and set off on our journey. We took a different road this morning that was a bit smoother, so we could go quicker ? we got up to 40-50km per hour.

Today we started at 945m above sea level, Tomorrow we will be 2350 meters up before going down into the caldera. On the way out if the park we saw  over 100 Zebra, Gazelle, Red hornbill, Ostrich, Giraffes, about 25 Elephant, over 25 Eland, 20 Cape buffalo, 8 Vultures up in trees which meant lions were nearby the birds were waiting for a kill. We saw our first Gnu about 70 of them.  Our guide Zoya refers to them as the spare part animal, they look like a mixture between a cow, a zebra, buffalo and have a horses tail.  There was also a silverback Jackal and Waterbucks and lots of different birds.

We were happy to say goodbye to the Tsetse fly, they have a nasty bite.  Tsetse flies feed on the blood of vertebrate animals, including humans, and in doing so, transmit the sleeping sickness parasite from infected animals.  It can be treated and every year less people are being affected by them as there are better controls of the fly.

About 9.30am we left the Tarangire Park, and there was bitumen, we got up to 80km per hour. ?

There are quite a lot of philanthropic ventures in the areas we have travelled, the head of CNN built a boarding school for the Masai children that we saw from the road on the way to the Serengeti.

We went by a Maasai village. The Warrior Chief has 99 children, and twenty two wives ? , the government built a school for his children.

The road we are taking to the Serengeti is very interesting. Lots of Maasai along the road. There are people standing around, others working in the fields, children who look about 8 tending to about 30-50 cows or goats grazing on the side of the busy road, I wondered how our children would manage such a long day doing this, I would think they would get bored very quickly.   There are Maasai in groups dancing for tourists. Lots of little communal huts.

We went passed a few Main shopping streets over a kilometre long. Was fascinating. Similar but different to in poor parts of Asia.

Next we visited Lake Manyara National Park. At the entrance to the park Paul gave us a talk and walk, explaining some plants in the area and about a flood they had. Paul had only been doing this job for two weeks, he did a good job.  When finished he also gave us the password to the WiFi ?, it is hard come by here and made us smile!  We could certainly not tend to cattle on the side of a road all day long.?

Then we did a treetop walk with Moses, he has worked here for 20 months before that he helped build the nine suspension bridges that we walked along.  I enjoyed the walk, the trees and talking to Moses.  Both of the young guides were delightful.  Later Zoya told us that they are training to be guides to take over his job.  I told him they have a long way to go, but that is the way it is the whole world over.

On the walk we saw a sycamore fig tree, Mahogany tree, Poison tree,
a little baby green snake, a Kite spider and a Golden Web spider and a
Quinine tree used for malaria.

Went inside park for a short game drive, it was like a jungle.  Then we came to a large open area, here we saw Gnu, Zebra, Buffalo, our first Pelicans, Warthogs, Baboons, Vultures and many birds on the wetlands.

There is a hippo pond but the road is flooded from the rainy season so we couldn’t see it.

On our travels Zoya told us the people in Tanzania retire at 60, government wants people to work to 65, he said the people are not happy with this but he supports extended family and is worried about the future of his family when he is not working. He also told us That he has climbed Kilimanjaro it took 8 days, altitude sickness made him tired. Climbed twice on his own and once with clients.

We are going to the tribe area of the Iraqw  people. They grow wheat and barley, red & white beans and millet, sunflowers for oil. They cut their faces and put sticks in. Each tribe cuts differently. Zoya’s tribe are the Gogo tribe, they take out their bottom tooth as a tribal mark.

We drove through the Karatu village, it looks a bit better off than the previous village. A few people seemed to have motorbikes 100,000 people live here farming and tourism are the main industry.

Around 2pm we arrived for lunch at Gibbs Farm.  It was a beautiful property, with gorgeous gardens, it has accomodation, a large produce garden and grows coffee.   The views from the toilet were amazing over the garden ?  we enjoyed a lovely lunch overlooking the gardens to the hills beyond.

Another hours drive and we arrived at Neptune Ngorongoro which is a lodge, so no tent for us tonight.

Tomorrow we go on Safari to the Ngorongoro Crater, I am looking forward to being there.  It is the world’s largest Caldera and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.    But Zoya has warned us there will be many vehicles.  Hoping to see the Black Rhino tomorrow as well as many other animals and birds.

 

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