Aimee, me, Sarah, Temba, Liz B, Liz R, and our Landrover
The weekend safari was brilliant - we had a lot of fun, saw some amazing scenery and a wonderful array of animals! 9 of us went with a local company called Hakuna Matata ('no worries') and the name proved to be a good omen - Elly and Temba, who run the company, plus another guide and a cook (nicknamed Mr Delicious), did a great job, and it all went really smoothly. Elly and Temba don't have much experience as yet, and it's hard to get started in this business as it's so competitive, but they certainly have a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully that'll get them a long way. They certainly deserve to do well, and we were very pleased to be able to support them.
We drove off from Tengeru in 2 Landrovers on the Friday afternoon and after Arusha headed west towards Manyara National Park, stopping off at a snake park with camel riding along the way. This was fun, but certainly not the highlight of the trip. Can't say I took too well to camel riding ... can take that off the list of career options!
One of the more rare and exciting moments was sighting a cheetah that was stalking prey, though while we were there it was not successful in catching anything. I was kind of relieved ...
The following day we went on safari closer to the lodge - in Manyara National Park, and saw a similar selection of animals, but also elephants, and incredibly close to our van! And a lot more monekys - baboons were even beginning to get boring! It was also a prettier terrain, with a large lake and a lot of green forest, which was very pleasant.
And after lunch back at the lodge and a photo shoot with us all wearing our newly acquired Hakuna Matata T-shirts (gifts from Elly and Temba) we headed 'home', wishing we could have stayed longer.
So thanks again to Elly and Temba for a great weekend! Take a look at the Hakuna Matata website at: http://www.hakunamatatatz.com/. I've also added it to the links on the right-hand column. I've offered to help edit Hakuna Matata publicity ... maybe I should add safari guide to my list of career options?
The weekend safari was brilliant - we had a lot of fun, saw some amazing scenery and a wonderful array of animals! 9 of us went with a local company called Hakuna Matata ('no worries') and the name proved to be a good omen - Elly and Temba, who run the company, plus another guide and a cook (nicknamed Mr Delicious), did a great job, and it all went really smoothly. Elly and Temba don't have much experience as yet, and it's hard to get started in this business as it's so competitive, but they certainly have a lot of enthusiasm and hopefully that'll get them a long way. They certainly deserve to do well, and we were very pleased to be able to support them.
We drove off from Tengeru in 2 Landrovers on the Friday afternoon and after Arusha headed west towards Manyara National Park, stopping off at a snake park with camel riding along the way. This was fun, but certainly not the highlight of the trip. Can't say I took too well to camel riding ... can take that off the list of career options!
Then there was a couple of hours' drive through the countryside - passing wide open spaces, mountains in the distance, herds of Maasai cattle along the roadside, and the occasional town or village. The countryside opened out, and for the first time I sensed how vast this country is. Even before we got to a national park, we stumbled across some giraffes just grazing near the roadside - it was quite a surprise and very exciting to see them in the wild! And then our luck struck again when we found a herd of elephants, just strolling along, or whatever elephants do!
We stayed at a place called Twiga Lodge, near Lake Manyara, and got there early evening - in time to wander along the main street before it got dark, though we didn't hang around as the street was full of tourist shops and we were hassled to purchase - it's much more touristy here than in Tengeru! But we did enjoy a tree absolutely full of storks, and as the sun set it was great watching their silhouettes. Maybe I could get into this bird-watching lark after all ...
The next morning we were up early and off by about 8 - headed for the Ngorongoro crater, which took about 2 hours, driving along incredibly bumpy roads (reminded me of Peru!) and for most of the journey we were driving in pretty thick morning mist, with only the odd glimpse of lush green forests, or the odd rugged hill. It was also very dusty, and as the earth is red here, a lot of the roadside and hedges were covered in a thick layer of red dust, and we left a huge trail of dust behind us too. So it was great to finally reach the crater and drop down into it to find some scenery ... and of course some wildlife!
The mist and clouds hung around the ridge of the crater in the morning, but down in the crater visibility was good. I'll add animal photos when I get home, and they'll hopefully speak for themselves (if they are any good) ... It was wonderful to be able to see relatively close-up so many animals that I've never seen in the wild before - zebras, lions, buffalo, wildebeest, flamingos, pelicans, hippos, vervet monkeys, baboons, warthogs, to name a few, and an amazing array of small birds. OK, so the photos aren't anything extraordinary, but they are mine!! I've spared you the blurry blobs ...
One of the more rare and exciting moments was sighting a cheetah that was stalking prey, though while we were there it was not successful in catching anything. I was kind of relieved ...
The following day we went on safari closer to the lodge - in Manyara National Park, and saw a similar selection of animals, but also elephants, and incredibly close to our van! And a lot more monekys - baboons were even beginning to get boring! It was also a prettier terrain, with a large lake and a lot of green forest, which was very pleasant.
And after lunch back at the lodge and a photo shoot with us all wearing our newly acquired Hakuna Matata T-shirts (gifts from Elly and Temba) we headed 'home', wishing we could have stayed longer.
So thanks again to Elly and Temba for a great weekend! Take a look at the Hakuna Matata website at: http://www.hakunamatatatz.com/. I've also added it to the links on the right-hand column. I've offered to help edit Hakuna Matata publicity ... maybe I should add safari guide to my list of career options?
Elly
Temba
1 comment:
Hi Hazel,
The safari sounds amazing! I'm glad you've managed to get blogging!! You'd be lost without it!
See you soon and enjoy your last week there.
love Suzy x
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