{"id":3473,"date":"2022-09-10T03:07:05","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T10:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2022-09-22T03:08:31","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T10:08:31","slug":"lake-manyara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/?p=3473","title":{"rendered":"Lake Manyara"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first half of our day is about as unexciting as I expected. There is a reasonably good spread for breakfast, but there is always something a bit deflating when traveling outside of the US and stepping up to a buffet tray full of hot dogs. I’m not sure why sausage is such a foreign concept in all the places we travel as my summers slinging meat at the slaughterhouse taught me the process is pretty much the same, yet here we are.<\/p>\n

From there it is into the safari car and onto the highway. Like a lot of places, that means two-lane road (paved though, so good news there) shared with all other forms of transportation imaginable and pretty much no room to pass. Scooters piled high with bamboo, flatbeds hauling loads of bricks up the hill at seven miles per hour, and tuk-tuks chugging along powered by golf-cart motors, we get the pleasure of following them all.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

Jackson, our driver, has been at this a while and helps pass the time pointing out interesting tis-bits along the way. The scenery here doesn’t have a whole lot going for it, but seeing the people going about the daily routine is interesting. We pass through some tribal areas and learn more about their way of life, including the Maasai, who we see walking along herding their animals like we’re in a Nat Geo special.<\/p>\n

Our goal is the Lake Manyara National Park. It is smaller and gets less PR than some other stops, like Serengeti, but is apparently the best spot to see elephants. From the looks of the gate, it seems like we might also have a shot at seeing a dinosaur or two.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

This is our rig, a converted Toyota Land Cruiser, complete with refrigerator and extendable roof. <\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

We’re sharing it with a couple of Italians who finished Kili the day before and share a few tips about what to expect.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

It seems James Bond may also be here, although I didn’t see him in person.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

After a quick lunch, we’re off, with our spotter on the lookout for wildlife. <\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

As we are without our usual events coordinator and animal lover, I was a bit concerned for what she might miss. Fortunately, there wasn’t a whole lot here. We didn’t see these baboons with babies clinging their backs and bellies…<\/p>\n

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There were no giraffes snacking on spiky acacia trees like this one…<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

No warthogs…<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

No water buffalo…<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

And definitely no 10,000 pound elephants wandering down the narrow road, brushing by the car as it slowly passed.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

I heard we might see some 1,000 year old baobab trees like this one but, nope, none of those either.<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

After a wasted afternoon, we admit defeat and head up to our camp where our cook sets to work on a well-deserved three-course meal (sitting in a jeep all day is grueling work)<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

\"IMG<\/p>\n

We have a long drive in the morning to get to Serengeti National Park so, refueled, we’re off to bed. As the philosopher Froggy Fresh once said,<\/p>\n

I said tonight we gonna be sleeping in the tent
\nSo grab a sleeping bag a pillow and a friend
\nWe’re gonna do it, it’s gonna be awesome
\nWith good times a friendship can blossom<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first half of our day is about as unexciting as I expected. There is a reasonably good spread for breakfast, but there is always something a bit deflating when traveling outside of the US and stepping up to a buffet tray full of hot dogs. I’m not sure why sausage is such a foreign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tanzania"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3473"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3474,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions\/3474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chadtown.casaroberts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}