Day 5 Bike Tour and Toga

Another beautiful morning, perfect weather for our planned cycling tour around the area.

After a healthy African breakfast, we met our guide Rajah who got us to sign a few "standard" legal documents agreeing to bare full responsibility for any minor, major, body harm, reptile or animal bites or injuries – I suppose your usual local paperwork…

As I wasn’t yet aware of what lay ahead, I was still smiling and looking forward for our ride. When the trail turned into a constant climb, rocks, narrow single trail, I gradually lost my smile and began thinking to myself "Who's stupid idea was this anyway?". Since I am married to a mountain bike freak I tried to keep up, not complaining and just concentrating on staying alive.  

Well when I reached the situation that  I couldn’t even   push the  bike up the hill and I was going to collapse in the middle of nowhere,  I began to try and  convince everybody to return to our comfortable beautiful farm lodge…

Rajah, using positive 2 cent psychology convinced me that we would soon be over the difficult climb and the rest would be easy "sailing" downhill. I pulled myself together and went on trying to work out "what was I thinking?" ,(the pictures in the brochure showed  bikers cycling  happily through a scenic route  around a lake...) Yet we were climbing steep  rocky terrain , sweating , out of breath after  signing  those documents releasing the hotel from any damage responsibility   … THIS IS NOT GOOD !

Rajah, kept his word as the ride eased off and we were rewarded by passing through a few local huts and asked to look around.

The tribe is known as the Iraqi tribe (No connection with Iraq ). We met a family living in a tiny hut one out of 3 in that area.

We were amazed to see how these people live. The whole family grandmother, parents and children live in this tiny hut.

Inside, pitch dark, the mother was cooking on an open fire – no ventilation!

Only with the camera flash we could see that there were a woman and child in the hut.. Amazing that they can live there while we couldn’t breathe properly in it for more than a minute…

No electricity, no running water, strong smell of smoke and the toilet is located in a small little hut not too far away..

The children walk a long distance to the nearby school which was our next stop..

We got to the school admiring the beautiful little children, always smiling, carrying water bags on their heads and asking us for just one thing… not candy, not toys all they wanted was a pen… Unfortunately I only had one pen in my bag and I gave it to a cute little smiling girl…

About an hour later we made it back to the lodge, checked out not before we had an amazing outdoor buffet lunch.

Visiting the TOGA tribe

A few hours' drive, tons of dust and absolutely no civilization in sight,  we arrived at a small village to visit the Toga tribe. The "Houses" there were more spacious than the little hut and all the children came to welcome us. We handed out a few games and gifts we brought along, Jumping ropes, Hanukah tops, hair decoration… (Sharon brought all kinds of hair clips not knowing as the rest of us, that the girls are hairless in most places we visited…)

Our guide explained that the Toga marry several women and have many children… Their main source of income is "recycling' metal junk and manufacturing weapons for neighboring tribes or jewelry sold to tourists

The women decorate their faces by scaring rings around their eyes using   a sharp knife.

 A little baby girl, dressed in a dirty pink dress, the age of my little one, came running to me so happy to get chocolate and a rubber ball I wanted to pack her with me and take her back to Israel..

We left the Toga and drove all the way back and arrived at our "Hotel " for the night.

Back in Israel we couldn’t find accommodation near that suited our destination the next day. Our agent had suggested an adventure of spending the night in a tent that would be put up especially for us in the middle of nowhere….

Obviously, we weren't too excited about this adventures idea…..and only when we understood that the only alternative was an extra 3 hour drive, we agreed

Still, Africa, the middle of nowhere, animals, and mosquitoes….we were not excited about this coming night.

To make a long story short - That night was one of the best experiences we had in the entire trip!!! A truck full of equipment and a team of 16 men, among them the camp manager and most important a chef! arrived the day before and set up the camp

We were welcomed to the camp by the camp manager offering clean wet towels and fresh mango juice (As usual…)

We were totally surprised when we saw a queen size bed, private toilets and shower in each tent.. Water was boiled on the fire to a perfect temperature for the shower. Clean towels and a mirror…   We took a shower and sat around a bonfire noshing and drinking while our dinner was prepared and later served in the dining room tent.

Hundreds of monkeys jumped on the trees above us beneath them babies hanging tight..

Dinner was amazing. Wine, candle light …..Bravo to the chef!

Good night Africa

Woke up early in our little paradise farm Ngorongoro Farm Lodge. Scent of spring and flowers everywhere….strong colors and one huge Maramboi Stork welcomed us on our fourth day in Africa.

After breakfast, we packed lunch boxes and drove to what is known as the eighth wonder of the world- The Ngorongoro Crater.. The Ngorongoro Crater is part of the Serengeti ecosystem, and to the north-west, it joins the Serengeti National Park

The crater is said to have the densest concentration of wildlife in Africa.

We stopped to admire the breathtaking view before driving down and into the crater.

The crater, which formed when a giant volcano exploded and collapsed on itself about two to three million years ago, is 610 m (2,000 ft) deep and its floor covers 260 km2 (100 sq mi).

Sharon wanted to "check the tire" and Philip suggested that she waits a bit… two minutes drive further down, we saw an impressive beautiful lioness about a meter away from the jeep…   well, we were all glad Sharon was still with us…

We drove down into the crater and started complaining a bit (  in Hebrew of course)  that all we saw were a few ostriches…. Although one female was nesting her eggs, we couldn’t wait to see the big five…  

Rael was the only positive thinking one and kept on saying "wait… we'll see some animals soon…" When it was obvious that there isn't anything to see, we got to what seemed to be a scene from the "lion king" where all the animals are standing proud to be presented…

A population of approximately 25,000 large animals, along with the highest density of predators in Africa, lives in the crater.

Animals were there by the thousands!!! Ugly hyenas, buffaloes, gnus, a zillion different birds of all size and colors, hippos, beautiful zebras, antelopes, monkeys and the highlight of the day  lions and lionesses that came so close we could pet them..

The lions came close looking for shade from the sun and we were so excited we nearly dropped one camera trying to pass it to another jeep in order to take some pictures of us with the massive cat…

We stopped for late lunch by the lake when a local thief jumped through the roof of the jeep, opened a box and stole a banana… Monkeys apparently do like bananas…

Driving up the other side of the crater we admired the breathtaking view again at the end of another amazing day…

Pool time, uploading pictures to my laptop, great dinner

Good night Africa



Early morning, usual routine, shower, get dressed, breakfast, anti malaria pill, checked out the Maramboi Tented Camp Lodge and off we were on a route to Lake Manyara National park.

Philip, our guide, asked if we wouldn’t mind stopping to drop some photos at a friend of his who happened to be the principle of a local elementary school at a nearby village.  

Obviously we agreed, jumping at the opportunity to experience some "Raw" culture and asked to visit the school.

Samuel, the school principle explained that there were almost 1000 pupils in his school. We were amazed to see classes of 120 pupils sitting silently and studying Math or English. The school's infrastructure was very basic, still not bad compared to the standard of living in the nearby villages.  Most of the kids walk for miles to and back from school every day.

A few giveaways we handed out were much appreciated by the children. We were welcomed in the class by the children standing and singing a short song. One of the classes was studying English. "Madame, Madame!"  The kids called me and I stepped into the class on the blackboard there was a dictation list of opposites and I read it out loud… the whole class clapped their hands and laughed happily.

Samuel asked us to help in raising awareness to the dull situation of the schools infrastructure and lack of essential books and other school material needed by the children.

 Philip suggested that we stop at another friend of his who has adopted 14 orphans aged 5 – 12 , taking care of them together with his young wife. This again was most inspiring and heartbreaking as most of the kids were not well. A few gifts we handed out put a huge smile on their faces.

Lake Manyara National Park

Throughout our trip the code word for using the bathroom  was "to check the tire" , which is not always a good idea , as you never know what could creep up from behind. So a good suggestion is to use the public facilities around the park.

So when in Africa and you're in need for  '"checking the tire" try the public bathroom at the Lake Manyara park entrance – 5 star (and I am not being sarcastic).   

The park had a jungle feel. Most of the drive is through thick green scenery meeting the animals at a very short range.  We stopped under a large tree and looking up we saw hundreds of Baboons. Many had tiny babies hanging on their backs or stomach. Again , herds of elephants , giraffes and more.

Every now and then jeep goes out of the thick woods and the magnificent sight of the descending mountains on our right and the lake to our left becomes visible.

As the day progressed we met more and more birds. Colorful , small , large.  Trees filled with flocks of pelicans and thousands of pink flamingos in the lake.

A large group of hippos like 'little islands" floating around the lake. So huge, so fat, so ugly, so beautiful.

 We got  to our new amazing Lodge - the Ngorongoro farm...  

                                  

Good night Africa



Day Two - Tarangire National Park

Day 2 – JAMATATU (Monday in Swahili)

JUMBO JUMBO !!

Looking back we definitely developed strong common grounds with the local wildlife and that is we didn’t stop eating the whole trip……maybe we were just influenced by the animals and "As in Rome…"

Early morning, we woke up to a beautiful view through the canopy and the nets, put on our safari clothes and had Breakfast at the lodge, still excited to see Zebras, Wild hogs , antelopes and wild animals having their morning graze only a few meters away  and off we set to explore Mother Africa.

A short drive through a small Massai village   and our first safari game drive began.

Tarangire National Park

Situated about 120Km SW of Arusha , is one of the greatest concentration of wildlife outside the Serengeti ecosystem.  Philip opened the special Viewing roof of his jeep and we were on our feet ready to go. Not more than 5 minutes drive into the park, we began to understand the magnitude of the local "Production" of mother nature.

Dozens of species, small , large and huge colorful birds and animals began to appear . Huge herds of  elephants munching on tree leaves or scratching  against one of the magnificent BAOBAO trees, while even larger herds of  zebra, buffalo, impala, gazelle and many others were seen where ever you looked.

Around the corner a few elegant Giraffes peek from behind the trees going on with their business eating the day away. On the river beds you can find a full presentation of the many species side by side  , Families of PUMBA's (So Ugly yet so cute) , Zebras , Gnu , Buffalo , giraffes , pink flamingoes by the thousands, lazy hippos and many others. Not too far away the Lions lay in the shade waiting patiently for their next meal call.   

We stopped by an enormous hollow Baobab tree and we learned that the elephants chew the bulk of the tree extracting water during the dry season…

A definite highlight was when Philip spotted a leopard resting on a branch high up in the trees and in another branch just nearby lay , what seemed to be the remains of an antelope eaten to the bone waiting for the last circle of scavengers to finish of the job.

Another beautiful moment was to see a mommy elephant breast feeding her baby who curled his trunk against her body to reach her breast with his mouth..

On the way back to our Lodge we stopped at the Maasai village to for some cold drinks and a few photos with the locals…

Back at the lodge we headed to the swimming pool which was surrounded by zebras a nice background to my zebra bikini…  

Another beautiful meal and Good night Africa

Still more to come ....





Well, after surviving 6 vaccination shots..(OUCH), anti Malaria treatment, a midnight flight to Addis Ababa another flight to Tanzania, which included a stopover at Nairobi- Kenya, we finally landed at Kilimanjaro airport @ The Republic of Tanzania…..

                               

We met our Safari guide Philip Amon – a proud Tanzanian who comes from a small tribe in southern Tanzania and who currently lives with his wife and two boys in Arusha. Philip  turned out to be an amazing, funny, responsible and most importantly, an expert on African wild life, tribal culture , and any other subject we wanted to know more about… with his perfect English and sense of humor he really made our African adventure even better…

                               
At about 17:00 local time, we arrived at Maramboi Tented Camp just outside the Tarangire reservation, our final destination for the day…

We loaded our luggage into Philip's "Land cruiser" and set off for our first taste of Africa.  Within minutes after  leaving the town of  Arusha,  we passed small villages untouched by time, colorful Maasai walking or riding their bikes along the road,  already realizing  that the scenery, smells and culture we were about to experience are far from anything we've seen before.

We were welcomed with wet clean towels (much needed..) and delicious mango juice… and escorted to our rooms. The rooms were tented "Villa's" each with a  wooden floor, roof a big balcony and nets for walls.. the king size bed was covered with a canopy to protect us from apparently the greatest danger- the African mosquito…

Colorful birds, zebras, antelopes and wild hogs roamed peacefully in the camp grounds    not paying the new guests too much attention.

Night fell upon our lodge and we made our way to  dinner, escorted by a "security" guard  carrying a bow and an arrow !!…. 

Dinner was served by several men each carrying a bowl with different salads, lamb, and wine… a perfect finale to our first day in Africa…
We fell asleep to the sound of a an African wildlife symphony. 

…  Good night Tanzania..