2017-12-07 Thursday Lake Manyara Park

The Morning Walk

Ryan, who will be the Resident Assistant for the Maymester, and I were the only ones up early enough for a morning walk. Lori, the Maasai man who took us on the walk the previous evening, met us at 6:15 AM, and we set out on the lakebed. There were small herds of zebra and wildebeasts. Sometimes they would break into a run for no reason apparent to us. There were also bachelor wildebeast scattered by themselves. There are males to young to assert dominance over a herd of females. We also came across and abandoned ostrich nest with three unhatched non-viable eggs.
When the first sunlight hit the lakebed, it was magical. The pinkish sunlight glinted off of the zebras. It was beautiful. Peaceful. Ryan snapped away taking pictures, while I soaked it in.

Lake Manyara Park

It was a couple hour drive to the far side of Lake Manyara to the national park. This is a very different environment. It is very flat, with wetlands, and much more lush. The drive was through jungle part of the time, then out on roads through the wetlands. We didn’t see any of the tree climbing lions the park is famous for, but we saw over twenty hippopotamuses. Huge animals, but not very active. We saw some slowly grazing in the distance, but they didn’t move much in the pool.
We also got a close look at some Cape Buffalo. Great size and fearsome horns. There were many exotics birds in this park. A hornbill hopped around our vehicle as we stopped for about 20 minutes watching. And there were more elephants.

Lunch at Serena Lodge

From the park we drive through a very busy village on the edge of Great Rift Valley escarpment, then up the rise to the Serena Lodge on the rim. The lodge was very classy, and the view was breathtaking. After lunch we had a long drive across the Rift Valley to the Ngorongoro Crater. We chugged up the 2000 foot high rim and there it was, the huge crater in front of us.
We spent at least 30 minutes looking into the crater and taking pictures. It is actually the collapsed peak of an ancient volcano, not a volcano they blew its top. After the formation of a giant volcano, probably larger than Kilimanjaro, continued eruptions from the side of the volcano drained the magma chamber which collapsed. The Ngorongoro crater is 2000 feet deep and 10 miles across. The bottom is a habitat for large herds of grazing animals and many lions. We should see lions tomorrow!

Maasai Village

We visited a Maasai village on the edge of the crater. The village has a spectacular view. When we entered the village we were greeted by a singing and dancing group are we were basically forced to join them. (I did willingly, of course.) We then went into a traditional hut. It was very dark and musty. I came to the conclusion that the village was probably one family group since the chief has 15 wives and lots and lots of children. Each wife has her own hut. (Well she had to build it. He didn’t give it to her.)
After a quick visit to the “school” the sale pitch began. To me the experience was unsettling, because the whole village caters to rich tourists and obviously has changed to sell to them. We had to pay $50 for the whole vehicle, so even though no one bought anything, the village (or at least the chief) made good money for them.

Sopa Lodge rim of Ngorongoro Crater

A short drive from the Maasai village took us to the Sopa Lodge. This, like yesterday, is a free upgrade we will not be staying in during the Maymester. It is another spectacular lodge with great food and a spectacular view. Wow!
Peace out!