Day 21 Nairobi to Cape Town
Snake Park, Arusha to Lake Manyara Game Reserve & Kudu Lodge 150km
Up at 0530 to the morning chants from the local Mosque. We showered, broke down our campsite & had breakfast. There was a vehicle in the campsite that got our attention, we went over to have a closer look and met a very nice German couple from Munich who were overlanding in their 2011 Land Rover Defender for 12 weeks which they had customized in Germany and were sending it back by ship via Dar Es Salaam, it was a perfect setup and great chatting to them but sadly our pick up for the safari had arrived and we wished them a safe trip back home.
We bundled ourselves into Gabriel's (our Safari Guide) Land Cruiser and proceeded 1.5 hours to Lake Manyara National Park which was located in the heart of the Tanzanian Rift Valley. We arrived at the Reserve around 0900 and registered with the Park Authorities before being granted our permits.
We proceeded slowly into the Reserve and quickly came across Baboons, Vervet Monkeys, Gazelles and Blue Ball Monkeys (see picture). We continued deeper into the Reserve where we watched Giraffe, Wart Hogs, Hippo and a large flock of Pelicans gathered around the wetlands. After lunch overlooking a panoramic view of the Lake and Rift Valley we carried on and came across what we thought was a single Elephant, we moved closer and positioned ourselves where we thought he might cross our path. The next thing we knew a herd of 8 Elephants were within 2 meters of us with the Matriarch keeping a very close eye on us as one of the little ones trumpeted its way past. They stayed with us a couple of minutes before disappearing into the brush which let us grab our breaths then we slowly moved away, then 500 meters down the road saw an elephant on its own with its back to us so we left him to himself.
We left the park @ 1545 and 10km up the road visited a souvenir store selling Tanzanian Tanzanite and other gifts from the region.
We pulled into Kudu Lodge for the night and pitched our tent before having dinner & an early night sleep ready for our early trip to Ngorongoro Crater in the morning.
