In the Jungle

Day 12 - True Date 6/17/13

Ok, so technically we spent very little time today in a "jungle" but the song came up early and was sung with much repetition through the day so it seemed appropriate to me!

The morning was what might be called an early start but was actually pretty routine for us by this point in the trip. We met for breakfast at 7:00 and were presented with much the display of food we remembered from the week before. We sat at our usual table and served ourselves from the buffet of toast, pancakes, eggs, etc. We were slightly more hurried than before so conversation was minimal and we all finished up by 7:30.

We spent the next half hour completing our newest round of packing and checking out of the hotel. We met Ayubu, the safari guide/driver, at 8:00 in the lobby and he helped us store our excess luggage and load the jeep. Our first stop was actually a bit of maintenance as we would need to provide our own towels on this leg of the trip. So, we headed to a local Shop Rite and purchased a set of the group. From there we began the safari by driving southwest from Arusha for about two and a half hours.

The drive took us through many plains where there was little wildlife. However, we did see a number of local tribes. Apparently, most of the people we saw were headed to various different local markets for the day. We passed groups who were herding goats as well as hauling cartloads of goods along the roadside. We also passed frequent police checkpoints, but clearly had all of the required vehicle (and any others) registrations in good order. We had no troubles.

Just after 11:00 we reached our destination: The Lake Manyara National Park.This is an "enclosed" area on the side of Lake Manyara with well kept dirt roads intended for safari groups to navigate in an orderly fashion and observe. Soon after entering the park we had our first of many encounters with the local animals. Among the first few animals we saw were all monkeys. The first spotting was of the Blue Monkey, which we had recently gotten a few views of on the first day of the Kilimanjaro ascent. Here, like many of the animals who were clearly used to the safari jeeps, they were quite close and in a sense, posed for the pictures to be

taken. We then saw what would be the first of many large troops of Savanna Baboons. We saw these troops (apparently the word for a large group of monkeys?) throughout the park and their behavior was pretty uniform among them. Many would dig on the side of the roads where the soil and peddles seemed most loose. Younger ones would play with and chase each other and infants would ride

on the backs of their parents. The Savanna Baboons were the monkeys we saw the most of both this day and during the trip as a whole. The last of the monkeys we saw were the Veret Monkeys. We only saw a handful of them and they were much less animated. They mostly sat on their individual branches until we moved along.

We then had a short wildlife lull. However, there was still much to see in the variety of nature. The Acacia Trees flanked the road throughout much of the park.These are intimidating plants with massive thorns that can be found every inch or so along the branches of these trees. Many

of us had to fearfully dodge low hanging branches of these as we drove by (and were standing out the roof). We also saw the "classic" termite mounds. These are easily spotted as massive piles of packed dirt that are riddled with holes which I assume the creatures use as entrances and exits. These structures often exceed 6 feet tall and can be close to just as wide. Termites certainly are industrious creatures.

We then some animal spottings that I consider less exciting. We arrived at the park's hippo hole, and you guessed it, saw a mound of hippopotamuses sleeping in the distance. I describe them as a mound because from our vantage point we could identify them but they were sleeping in a dense group in the mud. We were not close enough to get a good view of any of them but mostly just knew they were there. From our position we could also see many Thompson's Gazelle (who were never very close) grazing on the fields beyond. To

the right was a herd of water buffalo and we got in the jeep to head in that direction. There, what I expected was what I received. The Water Buffalo are large, hulking animals with curled horns that look a bit like a wig. They ate, they stood, they roamed; all seemed to be having a "good" time. While we were here we also had our first glimpses of Warthogs. Remember Pumbaa from the Lion King? Yeah, him.At this point Archer began singing the corresponding part  of Hakuna Matata.

We had 3-4 major elephant sightings today. During the first we found the cluster dowsing themselves in mud at a secluded watering hole. Meanwhile, two young

makes appeared to be "practice fighting". Later in the afternoon we found another parade (yeah, that's what you call it!) of elephants with a very young one who was clearly less than one year old. It was super cute and it was clear that the adults were very protective of the small creature. The other sightings through the day were either similar or much shorter. They were mostly confined to seeing a few elephants cross the road or a lone elephant eating in the distance.

This left, what I considered, one last "major" animal spotting of the day; the giraffe. In the afternoon we were rounding a bend in the dirt road a midst a mass of

Acacia Trees. Suddenly to the left the trees opened into a clearing and the giraffes were grazing. There were dozens of the long-necked quadrupeds. We were very close to one in particular who was grazing on a tree just adjacent to the road. He stood parallel to the jeep and seemed to pose for us. First facing away to give us a profile view and soon turning toward us. When zoomed out and considering the entire herd they moved very little. They often stood in place and stared at us while we looked back at them. They are a funny animal and I like them. <<smiley face>> :)

At 4:00 we headed to the park exit. We had eaten lunch earlier and had many other brief animal glimpses. We saw scattered wildebeest in the fields among the gazelle in the fields as well as the occasional ostrich. In regards to other antelope we saw a group of male Impalas, learning that their society included separate herds. One herd had an alpha male and all female and the other herd was the rejected/defeated males. We also saw a pair of dik-diks who are tiny, super cute, and I like to describe as "African Bambis". We had a short

sight of a Brush Hyrax and many birds during lunch. It was a pretty full day one of animals. When we exited the park we were taken only a short drive to the campsite.

This was luxury camping with large tents and bed pads laid down for us. There was an roofed building that had two areas - one for eating and one for cooking as well as a pool and bathrooms. Ari (our guide from the climb), as well as our cook and his assistant (also from the climb) rejoined us at the site. Dinner was served at 7:00. We started with a leak soup, second in my opinion only to the once mentioned pumpkin soup (from the first day on the mountain). We then had kebabs of beef and carrots with fries and various vegetables. It was quite delicious. After dinner Ari offered us a sparkling grape juice as a way to celebrate the completion of Kilimanjaro and we headed to our own tents for the night.

P.S. I somehow forgot seeing many zebras but do not feel like going back and fitting that into the correct spot so I'll just mention it here.