Globus Kenya & Tanzania: The Safari Experience - Leaving Amboseli, Kenya, and entering Lake Manyara, Tanzania
Today was moving day as we departed Amboseli and Kenya and transitioned into the Tanzania phase of this trip. We left the lodge at 8:00 for the two-ish hour drive to the Tanzania/Kenya border.
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| A spotted hyena was the first to greet us |
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| This Silver-backed jackal ran by quickly |
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| After we left the national park, we found a domesticated dromedary on the side of the road |
We took a beating for our final drive in Kenya. The thing we were driving on could only loosely be called a "road". We were happy to reach the border.
At the border, we were faced with typical African efficiency. We exited Kenya easily with a quick glance at our passports, a stamp, and we were done. Entering Tanzania, however, was another story. It took an hour, waiting in an endless line for a slow, inefficient immigration process. When we got to the window, they looked at and stamped our passports, didn't even look at our immunization Yellow Cards, and collected our visas. With that, we were finally able to board the bus that took us to lunch.
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| The Maasai vendor women were relentlessly pursuing Arlona, much to Jill's delight |
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| What a change - smooth, paved pavement in Tanzania |
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| Interesting people were all over the sides of the road |
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| Just walking down the road with a basket of bananas on her head |
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| Herders can graze their livestock along the roadways |
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| The terrain had also changed to something much more fertile and much less dusty |
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| The whole gang loaded into one bus, briefly |
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| We passed by Arusha Airport, where we will return to from the Serengeti |
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| Our lunch stop, with a very nice buffet lunch |
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| Our transport vehicles for the remainder of our time in Tanzania |
On the way to the hotel, we made a stop to let Arlona and me out. Through Globus, we had arranged a tuk-tuk tour of Mto Wa Mbu Village, and this was our starting point.
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| Ready to roll |
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| Our first stop was a rice plantation |
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| Each area is owned by a family that works cooperatively with neighboring families to harvest rice twice each year, in June and December |
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| A ten square meter area can yield eight to ten 100-kilo bags of rice |
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| Arlona, inspecting the crops |
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| Our next stop was the daily market where fresh food is sold |
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| Rice, beans, white corn, and more |
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| Baobab tree fruit - the white is natural, the red is ground and mixed with red sugar as a treat |
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| The inside of a baobab fruit |
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| There are 16 varieties of banana grown here |
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| These were huge |
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| Using banana bark to make banana rings - they are used as trivets and also as head rings where women balance heavy loads |
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| People come every day for fresh food as most don't have refrigerators |
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| Sunflower oil is sold in reused plastic bottles of all kinds |
Next, we visited a local pub and brewery run by the Chagga Tribe, where they make Mbege, or banana beer. It is an eight-day process that starts with millet. The millet is allowed to germinate, and then it is milled into a powder.
The process only uses bananas, millet, and water. Bananas are soaked, then cooked in water, pressed, the millet is added, and fermentation is allowed to happen. It is made daily and consumed within three days. After three days, it becomes too strong and doesn't taste good. Then, it is given to the pigs, who enjoy it, and then sleep and snore.
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| It was thick, somewhat sweet, smokey, and not very good |
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| Inside the local social pub |
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| The pub is roofed with banana bark |
Our next stop was the workshop of the Makonde Tribe. They were originally from Mozambique, but escaped to Tanzania during the civil wars. They have since been accepted and integrated into Tanzanian life. Tanzania has over 120 tribes that all live together without conflict.
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| The outside of the workshop was covered in banana stalks to keep out animals |
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| Banana trees, right next door |
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| The Makonde people are woodworkers - they don't do any other work, and their work is spectacular |
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| This piece of 120 figures, all intertwined, was carved from a single piece of wood |
I've been talking about bananas. This area really has a banana life. They grow and eat bananas. They sell bananas. They make beer from bananas. They used banana bark in their art and home construction. They use banana leaves in their construction. Bananas are a daily part of life in this part of Tanzania. Our final stop was a banana forest.
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| Banana trees |
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| The banana flower |
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| Banana saplings grow from the roots of another banana tree |
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| It only takes a couple of months to look like this |
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| And another couple of months to look like this |
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| And within nine months, it is full-sized and producing its one bunch of bananas before it dies |
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| When the bananas are harvested, the stump is left since it is full of water, and will seep into the surrounding soil to nourish the banana saplings that will sprout - it is a kind of banana power bank |
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| The flowers contain the actual bananas as they develop |
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| That one with the yellow tip would eventually become a banana |
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| The huge flower starts opening to reveal a row of bananas |
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| It continues to reveal bananas as it gets smaller and descends |
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| As the small bananas emerge, they slowly begin to turn upwards |
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| What could this huge pile of banana leaves be hiding? |
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| The harvested bananas are hidden until the truck comes to take them to market |
It was a fascinating 2.5 hours, and we really enjoyed our tuk-tuk tour of Mto Wa Mbu Village. We were picked up and taken to the lodge, where we checked into our room. We had a short time before dinner, and then were back at it for a night game drive at 8:00.
The night game drive took place after dark. We were in open safari vehicles with a grille-mounted seat for a spotter with a spotlight. Here's what we saw.
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| We saw a small gennet, but it disappeared, and all I could catch was its tail - we saw another on the road back to the lodge |
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| This looked weird - then we figured out it was a bunch of birds and this was their tails |
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| They were Warblers |
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| Impala |
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| An elephant in the brush |
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| Cape Buffalo |
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| More impalas |
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| Another elephant heading into the trees |
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| As we were on the way to the exit, we spotted a lioness, slowly sauntering down the roadway |
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| Those paws |
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| She turned and went into the shrub - here she is looking to the left, perfectly camouflaged |
We took the open Land Rover back to the hotel — it was pretty chilly. We were back around 11:30. Tomorrow, we'll do a game drive and grab lunch before making our way to our next stop at the Ngorongoro Crater.
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