World Tanzania Lake Manyara National Park

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Lake Manyara National Park - Close encounters of the large animal kind Jun 22, 2005

Excited at the prospect of seeing a variety of animals, we were packed and ready early in the morning. Mtaki, our driver/guide for the safari appeared as excitable as us when he arrived in a large jeep with a pop-up top for maximum viewing. It was a very spacious and comfortable drive through the Maasai villages towards Lake Manyara National Park. We quickly learnt how knowledgable Mtaki was as he pointed out every tree, shrub, flower and bird with both the scientific and the common names. His enthusiasmmust have blinded him from our half hearted acknowledgements. Unfortunately trees and shrubs don't interest us as much as say elephants and lions! Lake Manyara National Park is a relatively small area for game viewing with only 25% of the entire National Park as land, 75% is water, spotting animals wasn't very hard. We drove into herds of elephants, giraffes, zebras, dik diks (tiny Bambi-like animals), impalas and baboons on many occassions. After Etosha such close encounters made the experience truly magical. The more unusual sightings were of an elephant using his huge tusks to push a tree over; a group pf giraffes sitting on the grass (have you ever seen a giraffe sitting down? Apparantly it's a rare sight) and a large group pf tourists going snap happy over a lone monkey posing happily on a branch. Our accommodation for the night was in a tented lodge. A semi-luxury type of camping where the enormous tent is permanently stationed on wooden stilits and contains all the furniture you need as well as a bathroom. We even got our very own Maasai man who escorted us everywhere and carried our bags. Definately more our style of camping. The stunning views over Lake Manyara National Park from the bar were replaced by some local singing and dancing after the sun had set. Our Maasai man took us for a walk through the lodge gardens and out towards the rift valley's edge the following morning. As we stood watching the rift valley floor extend into the distance, the Maasai told us how the Ethiopians would walk for months along the valley and into Kenya. A long trek towards safety. The start of our safari has brought many new experiences and close encounters with some of our favourite animals. We only hope that this is a taster of things to come and that we may even get to see a big cat this time.

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