Day 2

We set the alarm for 6am in the hope of seeing Kili before the cloud came up. Sadly the cloud had gathered overnight, so no view. Breakfast was in the dining room, with open sides and lots of birds flying about. Alan left his croissants on the table to collect some spread and jam and the superb starlings flew down in numbers and pecked them! We threw them on to the veranda and many SS and sparrows came down for them, as well as a pied crow. We watched a pair of heron flying around, trying to land on an agave spike, then a rat dashed out from beside the building much to everyone’s surprise, to have a nibble of the bread! There were lots of sunbirds among the garden plants, too.
After breakfast we set off with Kim, into Arusha (40km) to collect lunch boxes. We had to stop on the way out of the airport to watch a crowned eagle just by the road. Then it was a longish drive to Lake Manyara Park. Kim signed us in and so began our game drive. Almost immediately we saw elephant in the bushes - forest ellies that climb up the hillsides. These hillsides are covered with baobab trees – some very old, very tubby looking ones, too. We had seen some fresh water crabs in the springs, by the roadside as we entered and slightly further on, we spotted a silver cheeked hornbill in a bare tree. There were also blue monkeys in the trees by the road. Just one to start with, then we realised that the leafy tree was full of them. A bush buck was hiding in some more trees.
We drove out of the trees onto the plain and there was a herd of Maasai giraffe - about ten, some 'necking', while several seemed very concerned about something in the bush. Alan wondered if it may have been a lion, but Kim wasn't sure. We continued along the road and some black faced vervet monkeys came dancing across the road. We followed them a little way then turned off to the hippo pool. Here were tens of hippos basking in groups on the far bank with some in the water. There were also several really young ones. In amongst the hippos were lots of birds; pelican, goliath heron, grey heron, Egyptian geese, little egret, ox peckers, yellow billed storks, white ibis, glossy ibis, a pratincole, cormorants and shrike. Then we spotted a spoonbill and a yellow billed stork sifted the water side by side. ‘Just good friends’.
Time had flown by and it was time to drive across to the picnic spot for lunch. On the way we found the road blocked by a basking silver cheeked hornbill, enjoying the warmth of the earth in the middle of the road and not keen on moving on! We watched some antelope and some monkeys while waiting for it to move. Then a little further along we had to pull over as a male elephant was strolling down the road. We kept very quiet, remembering a similar experience in South Africa, when a male elephant threatened to turn over our vehicle; but this time, it was quite friendly and just quietly walked by our silent van!
There were quite a few vehicles parked at the picnic spot, but soon Kim had our lunch set up at a table with a view across to the lake. It is a soda lake or magadi, and as we were taking in the view, we realised that the pink bands across the lake were flocks of flamingos. There were also lots of superb starlings close by and two lovely, gaudy red and yellow barbets. A large tree some distance away was occupied by a great big baboon which kept roaring/ coughing. We also saw more elephant and impala. A party of school children arrived and we lent them the little binos for a while, which was great fun. As we still had a long drive up to Oldavai, we set off again, stopping to see a troop of baboons beside the road to the park exit. We were so close that we could hear them chomping.
Out of the park, we headed up the road on the way to the Ngorongoro crater rim, passing through several small towns where we saw several different tribes of people. Apparently there are about 126 different tribes with their own culture and language. Their lingua franca is Kiswahili and many people also speak English. Eventually we stopped at a view point looking down into the crater. It is huge and there is a soda lake, several swampy areas and streams. We could pick out buffalo, elephant, rhino and antelope, (at least, that’s what Kim told us) - but all very small and distant. The last bit of drive was to our camp in the hills above some Maasai villages. We have an igloo tent, a chemical loo, a dining tent and some neighbours. They are a young couple on honeymoon, English/Swedish and very jolly. We will walk with them tomorrow. Dinner was soup (green veg), beef stew with spuds and mixed veg and cake with oranges. The lads had cold beers. Then we sat around the campfire as it got quite cold and windy. There are lots of stars, the Milky Way and a very new moon.