Masai Mara, Tanzania
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Up early to catch our flight to Kiimangaro Airport in
Tanzania and our next safari from the renowned Lake Manyara Serena Lodge. On the way to the airport, really just a dirt strip inside the preserve, we see some more lions, giraffes, etc. The wildlife is terrific but the most significant memory I will take with me from the Mara is the beauty of the huge open vistas of grasslands and mountains, as far as the eye can see. Pictures can capture only a small sense of this. It needs to be seen 3 dimensionally, in person, to understand the sense of awe this landscape inspires. As we wait for the plane, a family of giraffe saunters across the runway a little too slowly and a security guard races down the strip in his truck and throws some rocks to speed them up. Our plane turns out to be a small 10 passenger single engine turbo prop with a real bush pilot at the controls. I ask him if he could use a co-pilot. He smiles and tells me to jump in. After saying our good-byes to Nelson, I climb into the right seat while the pilot loads
. We taxi down wind, turn around and start the take off roll...uphill! The take off roll seems to last a long time. We're at full load and high density altitude (combination of 6,300' altitude and outside air temp) and running up hill. All these factors decreasing wing lift. Take off ground speed must be calculated based on all these factors before he can rotate and transfer the weight to the wings. Although he's done this plenty of times, its still a little un-nerving to see the end of the runway coming up fast. I glanced at the airspeed indicator and saw he pulled back on the stick at 90kph with only a little runway left. The trip was smooth and we talked mostly about the plane's navigation instruments and flying in african airspace. After landing at Kilimanjaro Airport, Emmanuel, our new safari guide picked us up and on the way to the Lodge that afternoon was stopped for speeding but luckily avoided a ticket. We were pretty much uncomfortable with his driving, particularly his passing with close oncoming traffic. Although its expected the oncoming drivers will move for a pass it's still 3 vehicles side by side at 90kph on a road 25' wide. What if the other guy isn't looking and doesn't move over? Elena was the first to notice one of the interesting differences between
Kenya and
Tanzania: Compared to Kenya, the Tanzanian villages we passed all seemed to be thriving with many cultivated plots of land growing, tea, coffee, papaya, banannas,and sugar cane, among others. There were viable businesses along the road selling all kinds of produce and products as if the people were much more industrious and productive then their Kenyan neighbors
. We arrived safely in the early evening at the small, but beautifully designed Serena Lodge. While checking in Herbert saw a brochure offering mountain bike tours to Lake Manyara and we decided right there that was for us. We booked the tour and asked the girls if they would take the morning safari tomorrow by themselves. We had the best dinner of trip and went to bed early. The bike tour was one olf the highlights of the trip. Our guide turned out to be a young man with excellent English and a great personality to match. It was a one way trip of about 20km down the mountain to a small village almost at lake level. We stopped in front of a well-maintained clinic while he explained that it treats children with HIV, malaria along with some patients with full-blown AIDS. The clinic is supported by various charities including one from the US. A little further along we stopped to watch some women making beer from red bananas of all things just for local consumption. It was quite a primitive brewery and certainly wouldn't meet USDA standards but we decided to try some anyway. The women were thrilled with our visit and we exchanged email with them just for fun. From here our ride continued through miles of banana plantations until we came to a wide open flat plain near the edge of Lake Manyara. We could tell from the lack of tracks that there were'nt too many bikers that made it this far and Jeffrey confirmed that he didn't come here often. We wanted to ride all the way out to the waters edge, but about half way there we were stopped by some purported wardens that told Jeffrey that we were not allowed there.. Nevertheless, after they left we rode across the plain where we had spotted some giraffe and got some great close ups before heading back to town for a beer and a short rest before being driven back to the Lodge for a late lunch. We then set out on our next leg of the trip to the world famous Ngorongoro Wildlife Park a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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