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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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LAKE MANYARA, TANZANIA
So Saturday morning we leave - bigger group this time (and not half as fun as other group!) - there was an American lawyer woman who worked on Kerry campaign, a German woman who was completing research in Tanzania, and a mixed couple (Tanzanian woman and Dutch man). From Meru House we headed to the big Arusha supermarket to buy supplies. It's always fun going to a supermarket in another country to check out the items and prices. I bought some water, laundry detergent, bananas, batteries for my maglight, and the ever important toilet paper! One last stop at the gas station and we were off. About 10:30am we stopped at a restaurant for the toilets - again sometimes it is easier to go find a bush. I got within 10 feet of the toilet and turned around to look for a bush!
About 40 minutes later we stopped at a curio market in Manyara town but it was really touristy and marked up so I didn't buy anything. Funny I did see alot of the "one of a kind" soapstone statuettes from Zimbabwe. They must import them - ha ha ha! 15 minutes later and we were at Panorama campsite. It had sections of grass where groups could pitch a tent and then a thatched roof open-air dining hall. Groups had to bring their own cooks but could use the BBQs and we could use the tables. Oh and it also had a bar but Ahmed our driver was Muslim so he didn't drink and no one else in the group did - so I stuck to Fanta. No fun drinking Tusker alone - which proves that I am not an alcoholic! Just in case anyone was wondering... So we pitched the tents, relaxed and ate lunch (meat pastry, salad, banana, bread) around 3pm. The monkeys were the best part and we stopped for about 45 minutes just watching them. They were hysterical! Though with some of the larger baboons, you had to look away at some points (they weren't wearing any pants. yikes!). The blue monkeys were gorgeous! You can't really tell from the photo to the right but they really are a deep blue.
Anyway, we went back to the campsite and had dinner about 7pm (fish, veggie stew, potato) - dining room was full of about 5 groups (including a huge overland truck full of Afrikaaners - ahhh I was having flashbacks from last summer!). After dinner, we had entertainment - traditional drummers and dancers. It was great!
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The name "Manyara" comes from the Masai word emanyara, which is a euphorbia species of plant that is grown into a hedge around a family homestead. Ernest Hemingway said Lake Manyara was the "loveliest [lake] ... in Africa."
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We went to Lake Manyara (a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve) for a 4-6:30pm game drive - saw loads of baboons, vervet monkeys, blue monkeys, giraffes, dik dik, impala, zebra, hippos, etc. No cats though. 
Went to tent about 11pm and listened to some tunes. Then about 30 minutes later - SWOOSH! It was sooooo windy that there was a funnel cloud starting in my tent. It felt like it was going to pick up ad fly away - and it was really loud - ALL NIGHT LONG. I started listening to my mp3 player to drown out the wind, and even at full blast, the music wasn't drowning out the wind. Yea not much sleep...but fun nonetheless! 