August 24 - 25, 2016
Slept until 7:30 a.m. - what a treat! After breakfast, we embraced our lack of agenda. We commandeered a nice outdoor lounge area at Eileen's Tree Lodge, where we read, used the wifi and got caught up with each other. Tim and Mike seized the opportunity to powwow on fantasy football strategies, and Tim Sr. pulled out his pipe, a rare sight. Our guide came along later in the morning, and joined us for a game of Chinese checkers. We hadn't quite finished our game when lunch was served. Eileen's doesn't normally have guests around during the day, but kindly offered a hot lunch for us instead of the usual boxed lunch. We finished our checkers game after our meal, then our guide offered to walk us through the town of Karatu.
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| Inside the mosquito netting |
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| breakfast |
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| Couple of birds dropped in for breakfast |
The walk started out on a dusty back road, but we soon made our way into town. Our guide told us someone shouted, "Hello, white people!" in Swahili. Jambo! Many small cement buildings lined the streets, with painted signs out front, including the Holly Wood Bar. A sign for the Karatu police station had a coke sign above it (have a coke and a...?) Looking very out of place was a sign for an Irish bar.
Everything seemed to be covered in the red African dust. We walked through the outdoor market, with lots of fruits, vegetables and meats for sale. The smells were quite reminiscent of the Thailand outdoor markets, and not in a pleasant way. People were very friendly, and little ones waved and said hello. The main road was bracketed by deep trenches on either side; necessary, I imagine, during the rainy season. Pop music floated from a shop across the way, and people sat in patches of shade.
Tim Sr. was a walking dollar sign in his western wear, and had to fend off a couple of young, enthusiastic salesmen hawking small drums and necklaces. One admonished him for saying "no" right away, saying they must first talk for a bit before rejecting the deal. I wondered if he was being watched by a "Fagin," and would be admonished for not trying hard enough. Just a feeling I got... In any case, it was great to be out walking around instead of sitting on a bumpy car ride.
Geoffrey pointed out the Tanzania flag. The symbol of this young republic, formed in 1964 when Tanganyika and Zanzibar united, is green, blue, black and gold. He said the green represents nature, the blue is for the ocean and many lakes and rivers, the black represents the skin of the people, and the gold is for the rich minerals.
Away from the main street, we passed fields and trees, finally circling back to Eileen's. It was so nice to be able to stretch our legs. We enjoyed a nice dinner and a sit by the fire.
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| Dusty shoes from Dusty Roads |
The next morning we packed our bags for our next destination. We were amused when Tim Sr. and Geoffrey met at the car wearing matching outfits. Our first stop was a large souvenir shop that had a tanzanite seller inside. Our guide insisted, more than once during our time on the tour, that tanzanite comes from Tanzania, not Kenya as so many people assume. This seemed to be a bit of a sore spot - perhaps previous clients argued that fact? So he reminded us when we arrived - "Where does tanzanite come from? Tanzania, not Kenya!"
The shop had so much to see. We first went into the Tanzanite shop where a salesperson showed us the different shades, from a deep purple sapphire to light aquamarine. Tanzanite was just discovered in 1967. The scientific name was blue zoisite, but Tiffany's rebranded it as Tanzanite. Apparently their first campaign was that Tanzanite could only be found in two places: in Tanzania and at Tiffany's.
The stones were beautiful to look at, but I really had no interest in owning one. The salespeople were a bit stunned that a western woman didn't lust after their precious gems. They tried to coax Tim into buying one for his wife, and Tim considered it, but they soon got the message that it wasn't happening.
Some of us did, however, find other souvenirs of interest here. Tim Sr. picked up some beautiful sculptures, and Tim Jr. got a nice soapstone chess set. The shop had a DHL service in the back that shipped the items home for us. We will have to wait for our return to the US to enjoy these treasures.
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| Tanzanite artist at work |
While we waited for the transaction to be complete, Mike and I lingered outside. Geoffrey asked if we saw the tanzanite, and Mike said, "Yeah, it's from Kenya, right?" Our guide wanted to kill him; the look on his face was priceless. Of course this became a running joke for the rest of the trip. Scores of tour cars had arrived by the time we left - looked like a popular stop for the tourists.
Our next destination was Lake Manyara National Park, a notably smaller 13 square miles compared to the massive 5700 square-mile Serengeti and the 3200 square-mile Ngorongoro. The forested entrance to Lake Manyara park was a refreshing change from the arid, open spaces we'd visited thus far. Rather than looking off into the distance for the animals, we were suddenly looking up into the trees or peering into the brush. The variety of trees was vast: acacia, quinine, baobab, mahogany, sausage tree, ebony, sycamore fig, palm tree, yellow fever tree, and the curious-looking rhinoceros-rib tree. |
| "Rhinoceros Rib" tree |
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| Endless variations... |
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| Blue Monkey plotting his next move |
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| Sunken buildings |
(The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity. This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage , adopted by UNESCO in 1972.)
We were able to see most of what this park offered in a few hours. It would have been a good starting point to build the anticipation before seeing the Serengeti and Ngorongoro. Having already seen those treasures, this felt like an afterthought. It is a lovely park, with lots of wildlife, especially elephants, giraffes and birds.
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| Sitting down! |
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| What's it gots in its cheeks, Precious? |
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| Tusk |
A list of birds seen: hamerkop bird, grey-headed kingfisher, African gray hornbill, red-billed hornbill, the long-toed African jacana, spoonbill, marsh sandpiper, cattle egret, the colorful green bee-eater, and hundreds of flamingos.
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| Red-billed Hornbill |
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| Grey-headed Kingfisher |
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| Ever-ready rangers on duty |
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| Cattle Egrets |
We ate our box lunches, then headed for the exit. No one was at the gate when we arrived, and Geoffrey had to go find someone to open the gate for us. Outside the gate, we saw a sign touting Lake Manyara National Park as the "home of the tree-climbing lions," but our guide brushed it off. Apparently all lions can climb trees. Interesting angle to attract visitors, perhaps.
The road to our next lodging took us through the town of Mto wa Mbu, an active little town of over eighteen thousand people from 120 tribes, just north of Lake Manyara. Mto wa Mbu means "mosquito river," but we did not stop to validate.
Once we left the main road, we seemed to drive further and further into the middle of nowhere. We passed Maasai grazing their goats, and children ran toward the car when they saw us coming. One wanted to show off a new kid, hoping to earn some money by letting us take a picture. After about five dusty, off-road kilometers, we finally reached the gate of Burudika Lodge. No one seemed to be around to let us in, so Geoffrey got out and opened the gate. The staff seemed a little surprised to see us - I think most guests arrive later in the day. We were shown into the main lodge and given wet washcloths and glasses of baobab tree juice - didn't know there was such a thing. We were also given a walkie-talkie for communicating from our room. Finally, the staff grabbed our bags and led us down a long path to our "banda," a family unit with three bedrooms, a nice sitting area, and an even nicer little deck off the back. The amenities were few, but it was comfortable, and one of the staff soon came back with a wifi hotspot for our use.
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| Baobab Juice |
We watched a beautiful sunset from the deck, then radioed for our escort to the dining lodge. The dining lodge is built around an enormous baobab tree. We were made to wait in a little lounge area before being shown to our table, one of only two tables occupied for dinner. Dinner was slow but tasty.
After dinner, our hostess announced that there would be a bit of entertainment for us. Tables were moved away, some drums were brought in, and staff changed into costumes. The guys played the drums while the women danced and wailed atonal melodies. Then some of the guys moved out front and performed some acrobatics. It was all a bit awkward, being that the performers outnumbered the guests. It became even more awkward, and disappointing, when the tip hat was passed around. Once tips had been collected, they brought out little drums and CDs for sale. With only two tables of guests, it was difficult to decline. We accepted the many solicitations for tips and souvenir purchases while we were out and about, but it was quite disappointing that our downtime was disrupted with more hands out. We did enjoy the free show of a million stars in the sky as we were led back to our banda for the night - no tipping required.
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