Lake Chala

Lake Chala is located about an 1 1/2 hours from Moshi on the boarder of Kenya, with half the lake in Tanzanian territory and half in Kenya. On the Tanzanian side there is a lodge/camp and reserve on 800 hectares (2000 acres) of land with access to the lake. One of the bonuses of being private land is the lack of expensive park fees and hiking regulations. Nearly all national parks require you to have a guide at all times, even for a short walk. The freedom at Lake Chala was excellent, though not without it's challenges. 

We were brought to Lake Chala as the result of the newly formed (by Ana) Moshi Birding Club. The aim is to go out every two weeks and do a census of birds to help contribute to the Tanzanian Bird Atlas, as well as get some fresh air and see some of the natural beauty of Tanzania. Our first trip was with myself, Ana, an older British woman that has been a resident of Tanzania for 40+ years, a Masaai whom had recently graduated from a college as a tour guide, and a student whom had previously worked with some expats doing a bird census. 

Savannah across to Kenya. 

We left early and arrived by 7:30 am. During the morning we took a walk along a dry riverbed, apparently subject to flash flooding from Mt. Kilimanjaro and the surrounding hills. We ended up seeing about 40 different species of bird, two of which were the first sightings of the species (Pangari Longclaw and Pygmy Hawk). 

Dry river bed. 

There were some excellent vistas with savanna and sparse hills to the east and Kilimanjaro and hills to the west. We eventually made our way to a crater, which provided an awesome perspective to perch and scan the space below. The crater was about 1500 ft (450m) across and had a very steep drop of about 50 ft (15m) to the bottom. 

We were all relaxing when we suddenly heard the bushes rustling. It sounded like a stampede! Suddenly, about 15 ft (5m) to our left, a troop of about 100 baboons came rumbling through. They frantically climbed/fell down to the bottom of the crater and dispersed. Within the crowd there was a bushback running at full gait. Because of our angle and trees and foliage on the crater side, we didn't see exactly how the bushback got down the side. I know that I couldn't navigate down the side without falling because of the steepness, so I was impressed when I saw the bushback running across the bottom of the crater. 

After we all gathered our bearings we noticed the baboons and bushback were being pursued by a young boy, no more than 14, and a dog. We had been joined by a guide from the park who wished to learned more about birding, so he immediately dialed the headquarters to send some of their patrol. We then had a very interesting discussion about poaching and government support that seemed to indicate that corruption in wildlife management was as rampant as ever, especially with any areas not designated as official protected areas. In fact, the owner of the land has considered putting an electric fence up and, "buying a few zebras and antelope", as a result of increasing development around the area. He has been trying to lobby for a conservation corridor to allow for safe passage of animals but to no avail. There was even an incident of corrupt poaching of two male elephants last year with very suspect management of the situation by authorities. 

Looking out over the crater. 

When we finished in the morning we hiked back up to the lodge. There is camping available at the lodge as well as some luxury huts. The view from the restaurant over the lake was breathtaking! We enjoyed a cold drink and a recap of the mornings events. We then trekked down to the lake and took a swim. The water was a lot warmer than I thought it would be and a few fisherman were on the shores looking for fish. Apparently the owners have plans to install a dock, buy some canoes and provide a bit more water recreation. Either way, I'll be back to Lake Chala for a long weekend, hopefully with some camping!

Restaurant overlooking the lake. 

View from the restaurant. 

Notice the strip of green next to the lake. Beautiful environment!

View on the walk down. 

Lake side. It was pretty rocky but easy enough to find a nice spot to swim.