After breakfast I did some bird watching in the camp. They had, amongst other, the most beautiful yellow-collared love birds. We again had a nice easy 2 hour drive today, arriving at Kudu Lodge, just outside the little town of Karatu around 11:00.
Along the way we passed through the lands of the Maasai. This tribe is extremely colourful, with men and women, draping themselves in colourful fabric. The Masaai are pastoral nomads who have actively resisted change and still, as far as possible, follow the same lifestyle they have for centuries. Their society is patriarchal and judging by the nature of the tribes along the landscape they are highly decentralised. Their culture centres on their cattle, which they consider sacred.
On leaving the nomadic lands of the Maasai, we ascended up a fairly steep road into Karatu, which we are using as an overnight stop before entering the parks. It is a beautiful drive and we stopped a few times along the way to admire the view of Lake Manyara. The lake hosts thousands of flamingos and even from a distance we were able to see their pink tinge off the lake.
Once settled at the Kudu Lodge campsite we met with Peter, who will be our guide and driver into the crater and the Serengetti. We are doing a budget tour and it is costing us US$1300 (R8800) for 2 ½ days, we still have to take all our own camping equipment and food. The bulk of the costs go towards park and entrance fees. Overseas visitors, go to Kruger National Park in South Africa, it is soooooo much cheaper.
Then it was camp maintenance time; we needed to sort out what to take on our mini safari and I needed to sort out what to take back to S.A., as I leave shortly after our return for a week in Johannesburg before returning to Zanzibar. Before I started my major repack, I decided to check the food boxes and discovered a 2L carton of fruit juice had exploded – I was not happy as that entailed seeing what could be salvaged and washing everything else down.
We then headed into Karatu to buy a few provisions from the local stalls and have a look around the little town, this didn’t take long. On return we decided to relax around the pool, it has this life sized ellie that squirts water out of its trunk into the pool (pretty kitch). Gray went to get us some coldrinks at the pool bar, while I went for a dip and he was informed that my swim would cost US$10. I guess we have moved out the value for money sector.
I then went for a shower and they have the best showers here; big, clean, hot and great pressure – it’s amazing how the simple things in life, that we so often take for granted, are so appreciated. It makes one realise how lucky we really are, when to so many people in the world, water is such a precious commodity.
After dinner, we decided to have an early night as Peter would be collecting us at 6:00 tomorrow morning.
Lake Manyara
OMG... now this looks like a gorgeous place to visit! Love the ellie! Hope you have a wonderful visit the next few days... enjoy! At that price you probably won't be back in a hurry! Can't wait to catch up next week! Lots of love to you both! xoxo
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