Sunday, October 5, 2014 - Tarangire National Park to Lake Manyara to Ngorongoro Crater - Day 11

We had our usual wakeup call at 6 with coffee delivered by the Maasai man.  We were up, dressed, and packed by 6:30 and went to breakfast.   Godson was ready for us to leave at 7:30.  We put our gratuities in the camp “tip box” and were on our way.  Godson was driving like a bat out of hell across the national park on the very bumpy roads – and my butt feels it!  (:-)

Kikoti Camp - great accommodations!

We stopped several times to look at cape buffalo, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, and various birds.  At the last stop before we left the camp we found 3 lionesses lying in the brown grass resting.  They had full bellies so probably had a good kill for the “pride” last night and were sleeping it off.  It was fascinating to watch them.  Occasionally they would raise up their heads to check us out, but then went right back to sleep.  It was incredible how close they were to us.  They were panting like crazy – Tim thinks it is because they were hot, but Godson thought it was because they were full and digesting a big meal.

Cape Buffalo out in the grasses of Tarangire National Park

Lionesses sleeping by the river - sshhh - don't wake them!

We checked out of the park and drove back through many Maasai villages to Lake Manyara.  On the way, Godson pointed out boys dressed in dark black or dark blue robes.  These are boys were have just turned 15, experienced circumcision as a ritual of becoming a man, and are now in transition to accepting more responsibility and becoming a man. 

We got to Lake Manyara and checked in.  There was a huge flood here in 1998 and much of the park was underwater.  We drove through and saw an elephant dusting himself in dirt and eating bark from the trees, blue monkeys with their very blue balls (the men of course), dwarf mongoose, egrets, ibis, cliff springers and rhinoceros.  A much smaller national park than Tarangire Park, but enjoyable. 

An elephant wrecking trees to get branches and the bark to eat - they are ravenous!

A monkey and her baby

Rock climbers

Large baboons grooming each other in the trees

Vervet monkey nursing her baby

 

Hippos grazing and soaking in the river - wildebeests grazing in the distance

 

Hippos soaking in the river to get out of the hot sun

After the park we went to a woman’s house to eat local Tanzanian food.  We watched the ladies cooking on a fire stove and then enjoyed the buffet with our Kilimanjaro beer.  While we were finishing our lunch and man delivered a huge bucket of bananas for the lady.  The goats from her farm got into the bananas and were having a feast.  I told one of the attendants but he didn’t seem to care.  Oh well.

Banana groves all over - both yellow and red bananas

The lunch table set for us at the woman's house

The kitchen - everything cooked on a huge fire stove made of concrete

The buffet line - Tim was ready!

Red bananas - they tasted like vanilla pudding - delicious

Huts made of sticks - dung and mud

We then headed up the mountain to Ngorongoro.  We are staying 2 nights at the Serena Lodge on the rim of the crater.   We stopped part of the way up at a shop that had local art objects and I bought 3 masks – one with the face of a zebra, one with the face of a giraffe, and an art carving that has giraffe and elephants.  I bargained the price to almost half but I think I still probably paid too much.  Oh well, it’s all in the experience.

Godson stopped at the entrance to the park and checked in.  We then headed up from 3,500 feet to almost 7,500 feet above sea level to the rim of the crater.  The view from the hotel is spectacular.  We checked in and went to the bar for a Serengeti beer and to catch up on email and Facebook.  Then for a shower and change of clothes.

Entrance to Ngorongoro Park - the National Parks are all run by the government

Room with a view - the crater just outside our room at Serena Lodge Ngorongoro

Tim on our patio overlooking the crater - the entire lodge was made of stones - beautiful

We returned to the bar at 7 pm for the Maasai “show”.  We couldn’t hear much of the commentary because of the “ugly American’s” talking so loudly, but the show was great.  Lots of jumping way up in the air by the men and shrugging of the shoulders by the women who wore large neck pieces.  We learned that the Maasai are polygamist and they told the story of the young men turning “of age” at 15.  We enjoyed the show a lot and I took a few pictures of the great costumes.

We then went upstairs to dinner.  Tim had the fish dish and I had the vegetarian menu which was on a buffet – mostly Indian food.  We enjoyed the salad bar, and some soup and then our main courses.  I went to the dessert buffet and got dessert for both of us which we enjoyed together.  We had a deep political discussion during dinner about how interesting it is that they have so many tribes here in Tanzania and they get along and make it work, yet we have 2 political parties in the USA that can’t seem to do anything for the infighting.  It is disgusting.

Irene was our waitress at dinner.  I asked her where she lived and she told me across the highway in the Maasai village.  I asked her if we could visit there and she looked very funny as if to say “Why would you want to do that?”  I may ask Godson to take us over there for a walk around. 

We left her a great tip when she delivered the bill but then a male colleague grabbed the bill and we saw him pocket the cash.  That wasn’t nice.  So I called Irene over before we left and gave her another tip in cash and told her what happened.  She seemed to appreciate that.

The moon - almost full - rising over the Ngorongoro Crater

The Maasai show at the Lodge

The women wear the large collars and shrug their shoulders when they dance to make the collars move up and down

Large fireplace in the middle of the bar at Ngorongoro Lodge

We walked back to the room and relaxed for a while and then went to sleep.  The moon is almost full tonight and I got a picture of it earlier over the caldera.  Absolutely amazing. 

What a beautiful place we are visiting.  Off to bed.  Only to find a big surprise in our bed!!!  They had hot water bottles on each side – I wonder how they knew!!!!  A nice touch.