July 6 was largely a travel day, as we descended from the 8000 ft crest of the crater rim, south toward Lake Manyara. Our lodge was up the 'hill' from the lake - about 2000ft elevation. The park is in the valley floor, with the hotel on the plateau above. As the crow flies, the path to the park is a near-vertical drop to the park. It is so steep with such a large vertical drop, that (to me) it looks like the valley floor rises to the lake edge (of course, it does not).
The lake is continuously fed through underground springs that start at the Ngorongoro wetland forest. The lake has no outlet, and is brackish. It is famous for its flamingos, but they are not present in large numbers this time of year (they leave during the wet season, and although the wet is over, the lake is still too high (dilute) for the blue-green algae that the flamingos feed on).
After a short rest, we went to do our one tour of the park. We did not see large number of animals or new behaviors, and we had to race at the end to get out of the park (park closes at 6PM - if you leave at 6:01, you pay for an extra day of park fees; we got out at 5:59PM, just before they put up the chain. The group ahead of us stopped to take some baboon pictures 2 minutes from the gate - they did not cross before the chain went up. I hope their baboon pictures are really nice.
Because of the continuous water supply, there are a number of animals in the park, but the band of grassland between the lake and the thick rainforest is small. I am sure there were a lot of animals in the rainforest that did see us, but we did not see them. A lot of them have also done their mini-migration South to Tarangire for better grassland. We did see a number of zebra, impala, cape buffalo and wildebeest near the water's edge, grazing on the small amount of remaining grass. Unlike the zebras and other animals in the Ngorongoro Crater, there are more bugs here so the animals dust often, and they don't have that same clean 'look' as at the crater.
The main attraction was not the animals, though, it was the freshwater rainforest on and below the near-vertical cliff to the plateau above, and the small population of baobab trees.
July 7, we traveled past the South end of the lake to Tarangire Park. It is a hilly grassland expanse with large numbers of acacia and baobab trees. The baobab trees are ridiculously fat and hardy with tiny branches. Myth has it that God became upset with the trees and ripped them out of the ground and put them back into the earth upside-down. Some of them certainly look it. They are constantly contending with elephants eating their bark and chewing on their fibrous interiors. They are full of holes inhabited by birds, bees, and animals. Many pictures below.
The area has a constant fresh water supply from the Tarangire river which leads to a large swampy marshland that feeds into the Manyara river. This place is a paradise for elephants. Lots of other animals, too, but elephants seem particularly numerous. And the landscape changes every few acres. Today, our afternoon drive was to the marshland, where we saw numerous fowl.
On the way back to camp, we found they are doing a controlled burn nearby. It is a bit disconcerting being this close to a 'controlled' grass-fire, but it is definitely making for a nice sunset.
Tomorrow will be our last full-day game drive. After, we go back to Nairobi for 2 days, and then to Victoria Falls and then to Madagascar. Big changes in scenery coming up.
Pictures for two days:
Final photos over Ngorongoro Crater
Sunset over the crater, as the sun disappeared over the rim.
Lake Manyara:
Lake Manyara from our lodge. The precipice is so steep that it looks like the rain-forest at the floor is rising to the lake (of course, it is not).
Pelicans at the lake
Crowned plover digging though buffalo poop.
A buffalo escorted by two egrets (this is common - large animals kick up a lot of insects and grasshoppers, so egrets frequently lead/follow for an easy buffet. Large animals also carry parasites that the egrets eat).
A baboon drinking from the stream. This place was crawling with baboons, vervet monkeys, and blue monkeys. Mostly baboons.
Zebras near the lake. As you can see, these guys spend time in the dirt. They are not nearly as crisp and clean as the zebras from the crater.
A herd of buffalo charging along the shore.
A snake in the wash. I think it is a puff adder.
Steep, steep hillside from the plateau to the valley floor. Water from the plateau passes through the porous rock and emerges in springs at the valley floor. No shortage of fresh water here.
Tarangire (Day 1)
Jana and Christopher in front of an average-sized baobab. They are big, and actually do look like they are upside-down (roots up). Remarkable trees. A lot of them have holes/crevices for animals.
A lot of impala here.
A herd of wildebeest near a couple of baobab trees.
A baobab from my nightmares. you can see where the elephants stripped the bark.
A lot of elephants here. A lot of baby elephants, too. this mother has enormously long tusks that reach the ground. This is the first time I have noticed such long tusks.
Large elephant dwarfed by baobab.
Red hornbill between branches
Mom and baby elephant walking side-by-side.
A dik dik.
Another scary-looking baobab. This one provides a lot of caves. Caves at ground-level used to sometimes be home to poachers. With the continued government support, this is now much less prevalent.
Maasai Giraffes.
Landscape photo. There are a lot of termite mounds here. Our guide said a study had recently been completed that showed that the termites in Africa consume more grass than the wildebeests.
Mt Tarangire on the horizon
Yellow-necked spar-fowl with a brood of chicks scurrying to safety.
A lot of elephants here.
Yellow-collared lovebirds. Very pretty.
Another dik dik.
Saddle-billed stork nesting at the top of a tree.
A view of the marshland.
African open-billed storks. There were a couple of dozen in this tree. When the light hits the feathers, the black turns to green and purple.
(back) - A knob-billed duck. This bird has almost no beak.
Two Ground Hornbills with bright red heads hiding behind the grass.
At the waterside, a couple of very large herds of impala. Herds are typically a single male and a dozen or so females in his harem. This was a much larger harem - there were also other males here challenging to take over.
Helmeted guinea fowl (our guide says they are delicious, but not as good as sand grouse)
Mother and baby elephant crossing the road
Pumba!
A large herd of giraffe, with smoke from the grass fire behind.
Driving to the lodge past an active part of the fire.
The grass-fire made for a very nice sunset. A lot of red.
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