Nyumba ya Mungu: Trip XVII

Beautiful reflection!

We took a rare Sunday trip to Nyumba ya Mungu this weekend (Trip I, II, III, IV, V & VI, VII, Trip VIII, Trip IX, Trip X, Trip XI, Trip XII, Trip XIII, Trip IV, Trip XV, Trip XVI). Ana had to spend last week in Dar es Salaam for work so she was dying to get outdoors for a bit. We also figured the water level may be low again, which is prime for exploring and bird watching.

We left town around 9am, which was decent though a bit late. I was worried that we'd run ourselves ragged and be exhausted on Monday (this has happened several time before) but we managed to have a fairly well paced day. We usually stop at a river on the way to do some birding but we bypassed it this trip in order to reach the lake earlier. We had some nice birding on the way there and noted that the big pools of water that had formed on the road had dried up in the month since we visited.

When we arrived at the lake it was the lowest we had ever seen. This afforded us the unique opportunity to venture far out into the mud flats that had recently dried up. We accessed areas that are typically full of water and reeds so it was a pretty unique experience.

The water had also cleared up since our last visit and offered us the "classic" Nyumba ya Mungu reflective water. The area was very quiet so we had a few hours to ourselves to just enjoy the open space and calm water. We even brought an umbrella to give us some shade, which proved very effective in prolonging our time out on the lake! I'm a bit desperate to get back on the lake before it gets too much water since it's usually impossible to walk along the edge (it is typically a massive swamp). We'll see if the rain holds off!

Masaai going for his cows. 

Very dry shoreline.  

Ana is well protected against the sun. 

Crossing the rier.