Safari Vacation in Tanzania - Day 6 (last day)

April 6, 2012

Today we go to Lake Manyara National Park. 

We say goodbye to the crater.  None of the photos do justice as the sky, clouds, and mist blend together.  

In the Lake Manyara National Park, it is a bit different.  More vegetation, trees especially.  This is because of the volcanic activity that laid a very hard layer just under the surface in the more northern parts we were in, so it is more difficult for trees to grow, so you get more grasses.

We had to stop in town to leave the flat tire that we had the other day and this truck pulled in.  

Back on Safari  - It is a Monkey. 

a lizard 

 with the baby riding bare-back in the sitting up position

versus the tight reverse hold

or the no-hands required

and you might wonder what this is?

Well, that is a Baboon in heat.   Pretty attractive...hum 

Here are some birds and those black and white striped things.

and more Hippos chowing down some grub

Another one of those Dik-Dics.  They are so cute.

Ok, Lake Manayra  Flamingos.  That is as close as we get. No, not the Giraffes, the little pink things in the back.   Notice the Giraffe laying down.  Don't see this too often.

and a Toucan

Getting our final debriefing at the lodge

 
All the Serena Lodges have been very nice.

Is this not the coolest pool ?

Having fun in the pool

and on the way back to the airport to fly out.
  Memories of the Entrepreneurship of Africa.  I don't see poverty.  I see people doing what they can to make a living and do better for themselves.

And the list of all the animals, birds, etc that we saw:
Hyrex is small mole looking one
Cheetah
Hippo in water and on land
Lion
Leopard
Dik-dik
Gazelle grant.
Gazelle Thompson with black underbelly stripe
Impala
Elephant
Guinea fowl
Buffalo
Giraffe
Wildebeest
Mongoose
Crocodile
Zebra. If brown then female
Baboon
Black faced velvet monkey
Secretary bird
Marabou white bellied bird
Ostrich
Wart hog  -( Pumba)
Stork
Hyena
Termite
Tsetse fly
Mosquito
Vulture
Love Birds
Bat eared fox
Elim
Egyptian geese
Flamingo
Korey bustard.  Bird.
Crowned crane. Frilly headu
Black smith plover small black and   white
Egrit
Abdim stork. Small white body black head
Black Rhino
Hardebeest
Black headed heron. Bluish with long neck.
Spur wing geese. Black upper, white belly, red head
Gray headed king fisher
Water buck
Great white pelican
Squaco hero
Yellow bellied stork
Marabuv stork
Spoon billed stork
Cattle Egret
Spur winged geese
Ground horn bill
Trumpet horn bill
Red and yellow barbot
Jackal
Topi
Eland
Black Kite
Yellow billed oxpecker
Lappet faced vulture
Masai Ostrich
Ring necked dove
banded mongoose
Monitor Lizard
Afghan White backed Vulture
Superb Starling
Wattled starling
Crowned Plover
Lilac breasted Roller
African Pied Wagtail
Coke hartebeest
Sunbird/Bee eater
long tailed black starling
White necked raven
Pied Crow
Drongo
Saddle billed stork
Von der Decken's HornbillDung Beetle
Sand Beetle
Chameleon
Spotted Wood Dove
Tawny Eagle
Ruaha (red billed) Hornbill
Bushbaby
Honeysuckle bird

That is the end of the Safari.

Safari Vacation in Tanzania - Day 5

April 5, 2012
We go into the Ngorongo crater today.  Imagine a big Monopoly play board - very flat and then a bunch of animals are laid out on top of it.  The floor of the crater, really a caldera, covers 260 square km  (100 square miles). 

We see our first male Lion in the distance. ok, not really impressive, but we were excited to see one.

followed by a Wildebeast

and another

  and where there is one, there are many

And a few ducks

 

This view shows how flat the crater floor is and the grass is also short.

and the wall of the crater in the background with lots of animals

There is a lake and on it are a lot of Flamingos  - Every one of those little pink things.  We could not get closer as the roads don't go there.  The reason is that the lake gets much larger in the rainy season.

and a bird

and another  - if I could just learn to focus with an auto-focus camera

Then Niety, our driver said, while looking through binoculars, "There is a Hippo on the land"

and a bird

Then Niety, our driver said, while looking through binoculars, "There is a Rhino" .Our first siting.  It looked the size of the tip of a pencil.  With my camera's telephoto, I hoped I got this shot.

 
 I caught these guys in flight

 and more lions.  What is that guy on the right doing?

Probably the same as this guy

and there is an endless supply of stuff to look at.

This guy did not quite make it.

one Egrit

lots of Egrits

and Egrits are a companion for a Hippo and eat the stuff in the wounds in the Hippo's skin.  That is a helpful thing.

and a bird.. lol

and ... yawn ... another lion

 what is interesting here is that the lions are not that far from the Wildebeast

and a bird

Wow, look at this. 

I am not sure I can explain this, but it is a bit of a fight over something

Sometimes the roads were not so good.  While this is the rainy season, the real rains had not yet started.  We heard that Safari folks have sometimes had to get out in the mud and help dig and push out their vehicles.

I really like this picture.  The clouds, the mist, the endless numbers of animals.

and this one

and more with birds

and this gal was in the hunt mode.  But the Baboons had alerted any food supply nearby.

so she gave up for awhile

Meanwhile this Hyena found a snack and took it home.  What part do you think it is ?

From quite a ways away, he actually carried this thing in his mouth across the road directly in front of us and then kept on going.

And back to lions - a tough life with endless food.

end of day 5 and we stayed at the same hotel