We finally started our Safari today. We started our day in Arusha, Tanzania and drove about 3 hours south to Lake Manyara. Our guide took us to three tourist shops along the way. He told us not to buy anything but to compare prices and we would stop at the one or two shops that had the best prices for the things we want on Sunday. The locals here make (at least for the tourists) wooden carvings, marble decorations, oil paintings, and beaded necklaces. We also looked at the Tanzanite stone which is found here and is hard to get other places. We did buy a wooden bowl and a Tanzanite stone today. The prices are much more expensive here so sorry no one but us are getting souvenirs from here. Ethiopia was very cheap and these prices are the same or more expensive then the United States. We had a nice time also looking at the trees, landscape, and people that we passed by. We saw giant (I mean giant) termite hills – over 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide, more school children, people buying and selling at the market (market takes place on Wednesdays and Saturdays), local buses with so many people on them they were sitting in each other’s laps, and sheep/goats being herded by adults and also six or seven year old boys by themselves.
We arrived at our hotel around 12:30 and had about a three hour resting time before we went on our Safari. Justin and I enjoyed lunch, settling into our room, and putting our feet into the swimming pool (since we didn’t have enough time to swim). Did I mention our hot the weather is here? It was perfect swimming weather today. We also saw three baboons right next to the pool area hanging out.
We left for our Safari a little after 3. We went to the Lake Manyara National Park right near our hotel. You can actually see the park from our hotel room. We were able to see a lot of baboons, a lot of different types of monkeys, impalas, water bucks (they look like big deer to me), hippos, one giraffe, and four elephants. We also saw the smallest gazelle in Tanzania (it looks like a baby but it is full size). It was amazing to see the animals in the natural habitat with the impalas, wart hugs, and baboons roaming together freely. I really enjoyed seeing baby monkeys hanging from their mother’s stomachs while the mother’s walked around on the ground. Our highlight was probably the elephants and giraffe. It is amazing to see such big animals out in the wild. Tomorrow we drive to the Serengeti for two nights. We will be staying in a tent so stayed tune for how that goes. Open air with lots of mosquitoes and no one to watch our bags while we are out should be interesting.
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