Africa Trip - January 2012 -Tanzania

To Lake Manyara and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

 

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We were up bright and early on our first official trip day and after a great breakfast at the Serena Wilderness Village, we had our orientation meeting on the grounds. We met our guides and our fellow travelers and went over the route of our trip. Then we grabbed our gear, loaded up the safari vehicles and set out on Highway A104. We drove through villages along the road as well as wooded areas and past culivated fields and coffee plantations. There were shops and markets of every kind along the highway and people going about their daily business. Not too far out of Arusha we started to see people in the the distinctive red and purple garb of the Maasai, the people whose lands we would travel over for the next two weeks. The topography of the Tanzanian countryside is completely different than the dry desert and bush of Botswana. There are rolling hills of red soil and high mountains always visible north of the road.

Our first destination was Lake Manyara National Park and we reached the entrance station a little after noon. The lake is a large shallow alkaline lake on a flat plain is part of east end of the rift valley. It is a beautiful lake surrounded by lush green wooded lands. It is home to all of the diverse types of wildlife in Tanzania with herds of Cape Buffalo, Wildebeest, Zebra and Elephants roaming the open lands around the lake and troupes of baboons and Vervet Monkeys in the trees. The weather was perfect and driving around the park was a great introduction to a Tanzanian wildlife safari.

As we left the flat plains of the lake valley, the road started climbing into lush green rainforest that covers the volcanic region of the Ngorongoro Conservation area in central Tanzania. We were headed for the rim of one of the most beautiful volcanic craters in the world, the Ngorongoro Crater. The paved road winds through dense forest and after we passed through the entrance station we caught glimpses of all sorts of animals, including elephants, in the vegetation. Finally the road levels off at the rim of the crater and we stopped at a scenic overlook in which the crater stretches out below. It was late in the afternoon and the light was dying, but we spied a herd of elephant snaking along a trail in the crater floor. The view really whet our appetite for exploration of the crater.

As evening twilight set in we arrived at our lodgings for the night. The Ngrorongoro Serena Lodge is a beautiful lodge built on the rim of the crater and covered with native stone so that it blends right in to the crater wall. We had a great dinner and then were entertained with music and dancing by a Tanzanian band and traditional dancers. All in all a great first day of safari.

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