The early morning wake-up calls are rarely looked forward to in my world. However, I do it gladly here as it means we get to do some pretty amazing things. Today we get to go on another game drive and now that we have a bit of a better idea as to what that will entail, we are excited, prepared and anxious to get started! But first…let’s deal with that friggin’ phone…again.
An added bonus to leaving at 7:00am? We got to witness the mass migration of children getting to school. Dozens of young children, decked out in their school uniforms, walking along the road in small groups. They walk 3, 4, 5 and even more kilometers to and from school every day. Some of these kids are as young as 5 years old, gleefully bobbing along, barely avoiding the cars coming up behind them. Oblivious and hyper aware at the same time. Great skill building!
It is a short drive to Lake Manyara National Park. Once again, although this is a protected area, it is still completely wild and natural. What you see is what you get, you are lucky, or you aren’t. Honestly, just the fact that we are here makes us lucky. We felt weird (and very North American!) saying this, but it felt like we were getting ready to go on the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. Yes, we realize the irony. The real park was so real and lifelike, that it made us think of the pretend jungle mimicking the real jungle. Maybe that’s a credit to how great Disneyland is at paying attention to details. Or maybe we are just so used to replications and imitations that we have a hard time absorbing the real.
The first thing we see? Right out of the gate, so to speak. Olive baboons. Dozens of them, right near the entrance going on with their lives like we don’t even exist. I think the park has done an amazing job at making sure the public doesn’t interact with or feed them. They were not aggressive and they did not come to the vehicle begging for food. It was a nice change to see them undisturbed. It allowed us to observe them for a long time and take all kinds of pictures. Baboons are great subjects!
Next up on the road: Blue Monkeys! Great subjects again and a new species for us – already.
And then another – the Ground Hornbill! Seriously, birders would never tire here. Waterbucks and Bushbucks also made an appearance. I think it is important to note that we have been at the park for less than 30 minutes. It also needs to be clear just how densely packed the brush, trees, and bush is; for every animal we saw, I’m sure there were a hundred we didn’t see.
Imagine our surprise when we saw elephants. Where are they able to walk? How do they get through the brush??? We are stunned. And so happy. In fact, our car got trapped behind them as they were following the path. Do you know what you do when elephants are taking up the whole road? You wait. Patiently. With a sense of awe and wonder as well because, come on, this is the best traffic jam in the world. So we sat back and enjoyed the show.
We also felt extremely privileged to have witnessed two awesome events:
The male impala of a harem defended both his land and his females from a bachelor group. It was impressive to watch. Paul said that it is a fine balancing act between defending & protecting the harem and then also keeping the females happy & reproducing. It takes a lot of energy to do both of these activities. If he is unable to keep up, some of the females may leave with another male from a bachelor group and start another harem.- Two male waterbucks (why is always the males?) were having quite the tiff. Chasing each other, locking horns, posturing. You always read about this happening but to see it happen right in front of your eyes is something else. Nature is brutal.
After all this excitement, it was a while before we saw something else, but, when we did, YAHOO! Paul saw a lioness (he has eyes like an eagle) lounging in a tree. What?!? Sure, this is the park where this is bound to happen, but really? While we are there? Because the brush is so thick, lions like to/have to go up into the trees to survey the land and find prey. You need eyes everywhere here to survive! We stood and watched her lounge for way longer than was necessary. We couldn’t help it, this isn’t a zoo, this is real life.
Lots more monkeys, lots more impalas, tons of birds later we think we’re done. We are saturated, it cannot get any better than this. We had to witness a poor bushback, all on his own try to get away from a thousand flies that just wanted to eat him. He looked so miserable and unable to make things better. I wanted to get out of the car and spray him with bug spray. But I felt (and still feel) like that would have done more harm than good.
Wait.
What the heck is that?!?!
Zebras?? What? And…giraffes??? Double what. Madagascar (in live action form is happening right in front of us. What majestic animals. We stayed and watched them do nothing for a very long time. They ate, they walked, they stopped, they munched, they stopped, they glanced at us, they ate. They walked. Nothing particularly interesting yet 100% fascinating. Remember, we are not in the Serengeti, we are in a relatively small park and we are still seeing these enormous animals in huge numbers. This is the best. We have to be done now, right?
More elephants! In water! Having a water fight!! I need some punctuation that is stronger than the exclamation point. These elephants were having the best time in the water – frolicking, spraying, swimming and eating. This is what happens naturally, in the wild, without human interference. Amazing.
This drive around the lake area usually takes 3 hours and we have been here for 4 already. That is proof as to just how many animals we saw! As well as how much time we spent just watching them. Almost as soon as the drive started, it is nearing the end and we are driving along the last stretch of road out of the park. <sigh>
Out of nowhere, a lioness walks out of the bush and onto the road, right beside us. I don’t have enough words or emojis to express the shock and awe we are feeling. Paul informed us that she likely hadn’t eaten in quite awhile and would have to make a kill soon. Upon closer inspection, she did look quite skinny, but not having anything to reference it to, we didn’t know any better. Honestly, she looks like the lionesses in our zoo. Luckily, the animals don’t distinguish us humans from the vehicle we are riding in, so we are not perceived as prey. Phew, because she followed us for quite some time and we got a bit concerned that she was heading out of the park and away from all of her potential dinner choices. Eventually, she turned off the main path and into the bush and was gone, disappeared, we could no longer see her. Just like that. I hope she found something to snack on!
What a morning. We learned that many people give this park a miss because it is relatively small. We would wholeheartedly recommend going here. It is a short amount of time spent for a huge payout in animal sightings. I haven’t even mentioned the scenery – also worth the drive. The trees, the marsh, the hills. Stunning.
This was the end of our planned activities for the day. It was back to our hotel for lunch (thank goodness, we were getting hangry!) and then a beautiful swim to cool off. The afternoon and evening are ours and we take full advantage of the hotel’s amenities. Apparently, we are supposed to rest up because our day tomorrow is heavy duty.
Heard.
Can it really get better?
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