DAY 44: Ashante sana! Thank you very much!!!

Wow! Thank you for the incredible response to our previous post! We have raised R3100 in one day and are well on our way to get the additional data funded to keep the Serengeti Trip blog up and running. We’d like to thank every single person who made donations today. If you’d like to make a contribution, please visit yesterday’s post for the bank details. I’ll do my best to get the necessary details up for those who’d like to make contributions from abroad.

And just to explain quickly: It’s actually not the photos that are taking up all the data – these are reduced to approximately 30kb in Photoshop. It’s opening the Blogger program and posting that takes up all the data, so we’ll keep posting 4 or 5 a day. According to Google Analytics we’ve had over 4000 people from 60 countries visit the blog, so the support is there! Yay!

As always, we got up before the birds this morning to start our morning safari in Lake Manyara National Park. This reserve is located at the edge of the Great Rift Valley and looks very different from the larger, more open Serengeti system. For a good 30 minutes we drove through dense forests that looked like Tarzan-country, before we reached the lakeshore. 

A typical Lake Manyara scene

I had virtually no expectations for the park, but before 09:00 we had seen four of the Big Five! Buffalo lined the shore, elephants fed in the thickets and three lionesses rested close to the road. Finding the leopard was not so easy:

At some stage we drove a winding little road through a dense forest when a family of vervet monkeys started to give frantic warning calls. We scouted the surroundings, but couldn’t see anything suspicious. Around the next corner another group of monkeys went berserk - this time right next to the road! We desperately wanted to see who was upsetting them… So we waited, watched, and waited some more. After about 15 minutes I finally spotted…well, spots! I told Ji to keep his eyes on the path in front of us, because the leopard was sure to cross. And she did so seconds later, at the speed of lightning! Fortunately I was ready and got this shot:

A very short, but memorable leopard sighting!

One thing that I’ve loved here in Tanzania is to see how certain animals look slightly different from those in South Africa. Take this giraffe, for instance. Doesn’t she have stunning spots? Both Ji and I also love photographing the smaller creatures, such as this massive leopard tortoise. He was very relaxed and even walked closer to inspect the camera. The things he must have seen in his lifetime…

A beautiful lady in golden light

...and a wise old man

We stopped at a picnic site to make lunch and then headed back to our camp for a nap. The Hyena got a full tank of fuel and a wash at the end of the day, so she should be happy on the long road to Dodoma tomorrow. That’s right – we’re turning south for the first time in 44 days! Another 26 days and we’ll be home. And thanks to you all we’ll be able to share every day’s highlights (and lowlights) with you.

The Hyena is shining again!

Lala Salama

Villiers

PS: Please remember that we have data constraints when it comes to using the internet so Ji and I will not be checking e-mails regularly. So if it takes some time to reply to your messages, please be patient. Thanks!

Highlight of the day:

Villiers: Seeing that leopard! I love it when the monkeys help you…

Ji: The tortoise sighting!

Lowlight of the day:

Villiers and Ji: All the mozzies!