July 1, 2005

Our day started a little earlier than we planned when at 5:00 a.m. we heard a lion roar and it was very close. Enough to wake us up out of a sleep. Phebe would not allow me to go to the tent window with a flashlight to see just how close it was. When the boy delivered our morning coffee I asked about this and he told me that there had been a male lion out back but he was gone now!

As we were getting ready to depart I looked in the toilet and noticed the water was a very dark gray color (almost black) reminding me how important it is to be careful.

We set out from our camp and almost immediately we spotted a silver-backed jackal. Unfortunately I was not prepared with my camera, which was really unfortunate when a second one appeared with fresh meat from a kill in its mouth. We learned that a lion would let a jackal steal from the kill but not a hyena.

Our first stop of the day was the village of Minjngu. This was an Arushan tribe. The women in this tribe make baskets and a few of our women (including Phebe) joined in to see how it was done. This is also the tribe whose women carry things on their heads. We were given a demonstration of different types of loads from pots to wood. They even carry their stool on their heads if they are going to a meeting.

Children from the village came out of the woodwork to see us a couple of them were sporting homemade toys. They were fascinated as I videotaped the women dancing in front of me as the children looked over my shoulder at the camera screen. We also visited the inside of one of the houses. These were different than the Maasai because they had thatched roofs and higher ceilings. The one we went into also had a dresser with mirrors on it.

We then visited another school. This time a seventh grade class.

It was then on through Manyara town and the Manyara Park. The landscape here was much different than on previous days. There were huge magnolia trees growing on an underground spring. There was a nature walk describing the park. Sheldon stayed behind and when we returned to our vehicles he was standing there with a machete. Apparently a baboon had entered our jeep through the top and grabbed some of our boxed lunches and ran off with them. Another missed video opportunity!

I really enjoyed the shadiness of this drive and the sound of the bubbling springs. We saw many baboons and a new species of monkey called the Blue Monkey.

One of the great sites once we left the wooded area was the hippo pond where there were at least 50 hippos. Some were in the water but most were on shore sunning themselves. They looked like huge rocks. In the distance we could also see some Cape Buffalo.

There was a great plain the result of a huge flood a few years ago when it rained every day. At this point off in the horizon I thought I was seeing a mirage as a huge white stripe appeared. It turned out to be salt deposits from the lake.

We saw many birds we had not seen before including Goliath Heron, a kingfisher and black ibis.

We saw a group of Masai giraffe where there was a male, a baby and a pregnant female.

We stopped for our picnic lunch and were amazed when we open our boxes to find two types of sandwiches, 2 bananas, cucumbers, carrots, a muffin, yogurt, a cookie and a bottle of water.

Upon leaving the site we once again started back down another narrow bumpy dirt road and encountered a large male elephant with only one tusk heading right towards us. There were two more jeeps right behind us and we had to start backing up. I was really nervous because at one point the elephant was about 5 feet in front of us and I didn't feel we were backing up fast enough. When we finally got out of its way it went over to a tree and just snapped an entire branch off and started to eat it. I announced as I caught all of this on film that the price of the video just went up again!

We also saw another cute scene where a mother baboon was picking bugs off the father while the baby was picking them off the mother.

We headed up the steep Great Rift and once on top had fantastic views of the park below. We also passed and photographed a brick factory.We stopped at a gift shop where I purchased an animal mask. The asking price was $50.00 but I got them down to $22.00 and I was happy.

We continued to climb until we got to a village where we turned off to go to Gibbs's Farm. As we entered the drive to the farm, kids ran out of the woods and were turning cartwheels.

We loved our room here; it was very spacious with our own fireplace. We immediately sent out our laundry of trousers and went outside to enjoy the beautiful scenery below. While sitting outside we were served tea, a cookie and a piece of cake.

We decided to return to the room to do some sink laundry. We also had to perform minor surgery on removing a splinter from Phebe's finger. She had brought a sewing kit and so we sterilized a needle by lighting a match. I tried to use her cheaters but the lighting just wasn't good enough. She remembered the combo compass/ magnifying glass that she had brought and that worked like a charm.

We headed for our nightly information meeting and dinner. There was a plate of bananas in a tree and we were told that at about 7 each evening two busbabies would come to feed. Sure enough they arrived on schedule and we were able to get a picture.

The manager of the farm gave us a history of its origin. We then had a very nice dinner made from everything grown on the farm.

The rest of the evening was uneventful as we just caught up on our diaries. It sounds like we will have a big day tomorrow though.