King of the Hill

Fourth in the series

Goodbye Tarangire. Our time was short together but wonderful! Martin picked us up and we headed out of Tarangire National Park. As we were leaving we stopped by the spot where the evening before we had seen a zebra carcass with a lioness nearby. Now there are three lionesses there and no zebra carcass. The vultures look fat and happy in the trees nearby. Things don’t go to waste in the African wild. Every scrap is eaten by someone.

So we hit the highway and headed towards Lake Manyara, a small much less traveled park on the edge of the incredibly large Lake Manyara. Lake Manyara was most famous for tree climbing lions but now those lions are seen more frequently on the Serengeti. Lake Manyara has 13 separate ecosystems according to Martin. There are areas that remind you of a North American timber forest, then there are swampy marshes, jungles, dusty desert type flatlands, and of course a big beautiful lake to name a few. Lake Manyara is also know for having the largest troops of baboons.

We watched as the troop leader left his post on top of a termite hill. A little guy decided it was his turn to try out being king of the hill. So he climbed up and sat on the top, looking out very serious. No doubt he will be a future protector of the family! He wasn’t there long before a cousin came up and they tumbled around together and off the hill!

We then drove the swampy marsh and saw dozens of hippos. There was an area where we could safely get out and walk up on a wooden bridge and overlook the swampy area. My dad really enjoyed gazing out across the marsh, pointing out hippos and water buffalo.

We went to the picnic area of the park where Martin served us a wonderful lunch. Dad really loves talking to Martin and asking him millions of questions. Martin is so good with him and explains everything and even pulls out his field guide sometimes to show him things.

The highlight of our afternoon is when we came across two big male lions snoozing underneath a bush. This was the first we had seen of male lions. You cannot believe how big their heads are! Very intimidating!

As we were watching them and I was taking pictures, Dad suddenly sneezed a very loud sneeze! One of the male lions lunged out of his afternoon stupor and roared loudly. He was not happy to be woken from his slumber by that loud sneeze! I think that was the first time that Dad or I thought we may actually be the lunch while we were on our trip! The lions are the true King of the Hill in this neighborhood.

After a long day of safari we traveled to the top of the ridge overlooking Lake Manyara park and stayed at the beautiful Serena Lodge. The sunset was spectacular with hues of pink and purple. While we sipped on ice cold Kilimanjaro beer we watched a performance by some of the Masaii tribe with beautiful singing and acrobatics.

All along the way of this trip, one thing strikes me over and over again…people here are happy. They are incredibly poor but their hearts are full of love. I think of the smiles of the young Tanzanian children as they run up to our safari truck and we hand them apples, protein bars, or bottles of water. All the stupid things we worry about at home just melt into the background of the hot African plains. I’m so appreciative to be here, to experience this, to open my heart to it all. I know when I leave this place, I will leave part of myself behind.