Lake Manyara National Park

Grey-crowned Cranes with the western escarpment of the Rift Valley providing a backdrop.

We had only been to Lake Manyara once before, and it was probably for less than two hours as part of a frantic Big Birding Day last year. I have been eying up a trip to this park for quite some time but it's just a bit too far to reach for a weekend trip. However, a long weekend was not coming soon enough and since we are leaving for a trip to the US next week, I thought it would be a good time to go all out and try to make a weekend trip of it.

Lake Manyara is about 3 1/2 hours from Moshi so we left Friday at 5pm and made it to a town just outside the park at 8:30pm. We had done this exact drive one time before on a trip to Lake Natron but unfortunately this time we did not see any wildlife on the highway (last time we saw zebras and a zorrilla). We did get stopped by a traffic police and he requested we give his co-worker a ride about a half hour away, which is not unusual among police here. I mean, come on, who is going to refuse a police officer a ride? Unlike America, where the presence of a police officer in my car would make me nervous, here it basically gives you the green light and guarantees you won't be solicited for a brib (which is also very common).

We reached the town of Mto wa Mbu and located the guest house we had previously stayed in. Cheap, clean, serviceable, with working mosquito net? Awesome. Forgetting the ear plugs with loud neighbors, too cold with thin blanket, and a very uncomfortable mattress? Not so awesome. But we survived and headed out early the next morning for a day at the park.

The biggest upside of staying in Mto wa Mbu is that it is less than five minutes to the park gate. When we arrived we were greeted by a young guy that we later learned was a student doing a field placement. He said that not a lot of people came by themselves (not on a guided safari), later evidenced by the 15 safari vehicles at the picnic spot. We manged to register and be one our way in less than 10 minutes, which is much less time than the more popular parks.

We headed to a part of the park called the Hippo Pool and found it to be quite flooded. Beautiful grassland with zebra, wildabeast and buffalo grazing was being encroached by a sprawling swamp. We realized that the lookout platform we wanted to reach was under water but didn't know if we should risk reaching it.

Luckily we waited long enough and we saw a much more experienced safari driver start to drive through what I felt was a river or swamp. All I needed was someone to blaze the trail so I followed closely behind though I was somewhat alarmed at times when water reached up to the top of our wheel but I have to admit, I was damn excited and happy to be fording a river.

Driving on the road was a good bit of fun but I could probably afford to be relaxed with other safari vehicles nearby. If I got stuck, it wasn't likely to turn into a massive ordeal. Still, there were moments where I thought of the Obi Wan Kenobi quote, "Who's the more foolish, the fool or the fool who follows him?". I had always though the snorkels on safari vehicles were outlandish but I was now reconsidering my stance.

When we reached the platform we enjoyed some stunning views. The east side of the park is the impressive alkaline lake with the west side comprising of the western escarpment of the Rift Valley. The rains had created a wetlands that drew a huge amount of fresh water birds. We enjoyed watching the wildlife, as well as watching the safari jeeps roll through the water.

We spent the rest of the day driving south and taking most of the loops that cut by the lake. The rest of the shore isn't as flooded so there aren't as many birds but there are still flamingos and storks seen about. Lake Manyara is also noted for it's numerous varied habitats and it was pretty cool to wind between forests, acacia scrub, bushland, and savanna.

There were some great wildlife spottings including a few groups of elephant, an animated mongoose family, a jackal, and numerous close views of giraffes and zebra. Since the park isn't as open as Ngorongoro or Serengeti, we felt that the wildlife viewings were more intimate and fulfilling. The big parks really spoil you so it's nice to be somewhere that you don't take a chance encounter for granted. We stopped along the road for some birds and thick grass surrounded us. We had the car off and suddenly we heard the unmistakable sound of an elephant. It sounded like it was right next to us! I got out of the car and climbed on the roof and sure enough there was a family of elephants grazing about 5m away!

We made it out of the park at 530pm (the park closes at 7pm) which was a good time since the western escarpment dims the area earlier than sunset. We had an amazing day and even though it was a lot of driving this weekend, it was well worth it and I'm sure we'll be there again soon!

Some giraffes come to the dryer part of the lake for a drink.

Ana taking in the view.

Bull elephant having some chow.

Wildabeast crosses the path of Yellow-billed Storks.

Zebras grazing.

Baby elephant walking up to the car. No words.

The view of the "road".

Crossing the "parking lot".

Totally swamped!

West Kilimanjaro Farmstead: Trip III

Awesome sunset. 

For Ana's birthday we chose to go to the farmstead on west Kilimanjaro for the combination of the food and birding. The only downside is due to the elevation, camping was chilly!!!

It had been a few weeks since we went up for our last trip (Trip I, Trip II) but the rains had all but vanished in that area. It was still green but not as lush and not nearly as muddy as our last trip.

We absolutely love the farmstead and we were in luck as we were the only guests that weekend so the atmosphere was very relaxed. We were extra lucky as the afternoon cleared up and we were able to see fabulous clear views of Mt. Kilimanjaro from the very unfamiliar western perspective. In addition, because of the elevation, the mountain appears less like a full on mountain rather it is just a little nub for a peak. Very cool!

Ana checking out a white-backed vulture. 

View of the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

Ana looking on as Mt. Kilimanjaro shows its face in the background. 

Car Accident

Damage done!

From the side. 

This is the truck that ran into us. 

Inside the door repair. 

Looking good in the shop. 

Just like new? 

Our work car has been under repair for the last few months and as a result we are using my car at work. Our work car saga is actually the story before the story but it's important to understand in the overall picture.

Towards the end of last year our work car, let's call it the Surf (Toyota Surf model), had a broken cylinder head. This was a pretty big repair and we didn't have the money to repair it for a few months. In December we finally scraped together the money and over the holiday it went for repair. Car repair here is not like in the developed world and finding a good mechanic is the holy grail of Tanzania. We had a guy, Rejabu, that we'd been using for about six months. He came off a recommendation from a co-worker's husband who owns a tour company so we were comfortable with having a link.

Rejabu worked out of a garage, which was typical for mechanics. Usually the free lancing repairmen will pay the garage owner a sort of rent each time he brings in a car to work on. A lot of garage owners also have parts shops so they get preferred treatment while buying parts. In the end it works out for everyone, except the consumer who does not benefit from the garage owner's indifference to the mechanics that work there.

When we returned from the holiday Rejabu said that there were more repairs needed as a result of the car sitting so long. He said the main issue was the turbo, which cost another healthy chunk of change. We vetted this process hard by demanding a used turbo and getting the turbo on credit to ensure that it worked properly. We were also aware of potential funny business and the convenient excuse of the car's long period being idle. It's common for mechanics to remove perfectly good parts and sell them on the second hand market.

Over the next few weeks, Rejabu began to act very strange. He claimed we needed a complete engine overhaul but when we pressed to see the car he got quiet. He wasn't communicating well and we all got a bit suspicious. He said he moved the car to another garage but all efforts to actually see the car were met with excuses. We didn't want to press him too hard in fear that he would disappear and in truth he had worked with us well for quite some time so we gave him some leeway in that perhaps he was having personal issues. Still, at this point I was worried we'd never see the car again.

It finally reached a point where I had to insinuate that we were going to go to the police. Our driver told him that we were just going to test the car and that our board of directors wanted to know the car was at least safe. Rejabu led our driver to the garage but our driver then in turn led Rejabu to our office. When he got out he told him the car was going to stay there and he could work on it there. He said the garage owner was going to be upset with him and it had to go back to the garage. Eventually he relented but was very nervous as he left.

A few hours later the garage owner came with the police. A standoff ensued with our security guard, driver, and the garage owner all yelling with the police. Large crowds gathered outside and I actually got a call from our neighbor before I got a call from our staff. Somehow how clinical officer got in the mix and apparently threats were made. The police said that since it is our car, we could keep it, and if there was a problem over the work then the case needed to go to civil court. I spoke on the phone with the garage owner and he was very upset claiming we owed him money and I simply told him we did not know who he was nor have any agreement with him so he'd have to talk with Rejabu. The night ended with our clinical officer going back to the police with complaints of vague threats but in the end the car was in our possession.

I waited about a week before even thinking of taking the car out and I expected Rejabu and the garage owner to come speak with us. This never happened and I was told through a mutual friend that the garage owner realized his mistake and that the problem was with Rejabu, not with us. I was still very uneasy about the situation but repeated to Rejabu that we had no business with him and all we wanted was our car.

Now that is the background...so after about a week I decided it was time to take the car on the road to test it.

I had to go for a meeting in town and our cooks needed to buy some food in the market. I told them to go and I would meet them at the market after my meeting. I instructed our driver to take the work car but for whatever reason he decided to take my car.

I met them in the market and they were not yet finished so I got some tea at a nearby shop next to the car. Out of nowhere a gigantic truck came around a corner and plowed into the side of my car. I was stunned but ran to the scene where the truck was trying to slowly pull away. Because it was a large diesel truck, acceleration was not its forte and I quickly caught up to it and action-movie-style jumped on the side and started banging. I shimmied my way up to the door and shouted at the guy to remove the key. He was a young guy and in obvious shock when he saw me swinging into the window and eventually he obliged and turned the car off.

At this point a very large crowd had gathered. Our driver was sitting in the car waiting and amazingly he was uninjured. I first checked if the guy had insurance, which he  did, but he was not the owner of the car, just the driver. I called the insurance company and they said we had to get a certain document from the police to file a report. What followed was a very time consuming process of going to the station to get police, having them come and draw a map and timeline of what happened, and then us all driving our vehicles to the police station.

The owner of the truck met us at the station and we began to discuss with the police. Everyone was acting a bit strange and eventually a police officer took me aside and said that we should try to negotiate with the guy directly instead of file an insurance report. I called one of my Tanzanian friends and he advised the same saying that because the damage isn't so major it would probably be more trouble and take much longer if we went through insurance.

Each of us brought a mechanic that could do body work to assess the damage and give an estimate. My mechanic (not Rejabu) said we needed a new door while the truck owner's mechanic didn't seem to think so. We then sought outside assistance from a third mechanic who came and said that we didn't need a new door and that we could come and check the progress as he went along to make sure it was returned in the original condition. The truck owner agreed on his price and we were all set. We asked where his garage was and he mentioned the same location as where our Surf was. After a few minutes we discovered that this was the garage owner that came to our center with the police! We all had some nervous laughs as he claimed he didn't have any problem with us and that everything was fine but I'd be lying if I said that I was confident handing my car over to him. Luckily we were at the police station so there were witnesses to everything but it was proof that Moshi is a small place. Now, just imagine if we had taken the Surf and it would have ended up back at his garage! 

Lake Nanja

The lake with a mountain the background.

During the Big Birding Day some of our friend mentioned an interesting lake near to Arusha. We decided to take this weekend to try to explore the place.

It worked out well since we could visit one of our friends in Arusha and then head out early Saturday for a full day of exploration. Our friends knew roughly where the area was but we had to do a little exploring to get there. This included stopping at a very small lake and thinking it was Nanja, at which point we all unconvincingly said, "Okay, this is cool..", only to be relieved that we were at the wrong point.

When we finally reached the correct location, we found ourselves on top of a hill in a more permanent than usual Masaai village. Instead of the usual acacia branch walls surrounding the houses there were sisal and trees planted around the edges. The village overlooked a valley and a mountain to the southwest. The surrounding area was drying out and vast expanses were dotted with a beautiful yellow flower.

We met the village chairman to inform him we would be puttering around and we were instructed to greet the elders. The Masaai don't speak very good Swahili, in fact the majority of the children don't speak any at all. Similar to our trip to Lake Natron, it was funny (and frustrating) to be back to square one with language communication. It's amazing how far a warm approach and big smile can go.

The lake was much larger than any of us had thought. We realized it was impossible to circumvent and since we wanted to see birds we figured we would just choose a direction and walk until it got too late.

We headed south and the lake was brimming with birds. The weather was overcast and cool which was poor for bird watching but excellent for our own temperatures. Usually it gets too hot to be out all day (though we push it) but the clouds hung in the sky until around 2pm which was only an hour before we decided to head out.

The landscape was beautiful and the community seemed to be unspoiled by rampant tourism. Now that the secret is out I'm curious how long it will stay like this. The village chairman noted that three teams came on the big bird day and it was many of their first time to visit. It's probably the closest place near to Arusha to do some serious water bird watching and one of the rare places you don't have to pay a fee to access. We plan on doing a camping trip sometime in the near future to try to walk around the whole lake!

A view from above as we walked down to the valley.

The wildflowers were in bloom.

Reeds and water.

Doing some birding!

It was cloudy and overcast for the most of the day.

Checking birds.

The valley was surrounded by hills.