Trips

Fri., 8/11/2017 – To Karatu and Lake Manyara National Park
        We drove along the floor of the Rift Valley where water is available and the tribal people have become farmers.  There is water in streams, springs, lakes, and only a few feet underground.  Farmers can plant 4 or 5 crops at one time in the same field and harvest them one after the other.   They plant mostly beans, sunflowers, corn, and pigeon peas.  Pigeon peas are exported to India where they are used to make “bread” and “cookies.”  Rice can be grown here and sesame, which is used for seeds and oil and the stalks are made into fences.  We also saw some fields of sugar cane.
           

Creative electrical work and local farm	New construction
Doing the laundry	Fish trap
Dinner!	Modern farm machinery
Another style of farm machinery	Local hauling
Local boy	Brick manufacturing
Rift Valley escarpment	Power lines
Road block - Cows	Road block - Next the goats
Drying fish to be smoked and sold	Water from the river
Water from the river	Water from the river
We stopped because cows were in the road.  This is not an unusual occurrence but this time a boy was up high in an acacia tree over the road shaking branches so the seed pods fell onto the road for the cows to eat.	Knocking pods down for the cattle
Cows eating acacia pods	Acacia pods - cattle feed
Carrying the corn stalks	Lake Manyara National Park is 125 square miles and 2/3 of it is the lake.  The lake is a nesting place for flamingos, great white pelicans, and storks and we saw thousands of them along the shore.
Lake Manyara National Park	Lake Manyara National Park - we didn't see any climbing lions
Cape Buffalo skull	Vervet Monkey
An unhappy (with us) elephant	An unhappy (with us) elephant
Warthogs	Marabou Stork
Shore birds	Flamingos
Pelicans	Pelicans in the tree tops
Pelicans in the tree tops	Pelicans
Baboons	We ate our boxed picnic lunches overlooking the viewing pier that extends into the lake.  We arrived at the same time as four bus loads of school kids.  They were polite and quiet and listened to their teachers’ lessons.  We also walked to the hot spring.  The water is almost boiling as it comes out of the ground.
Lake Manyara picnic area	Gale testing the hot spring water
Lake Manyara viewing pier	Worker (convict) cutting back brush
Maasai Giraffes	Maasai Giraffes resting
Wooden bridge	Impalas
Blue Monkey	Blue Monkey
We drove up the steep, curving but newly paved road up the escarpment that creates the Great Rift Valley.  On top were more farms, larger than most in the valley and eventually we arrived at our next lodge, Karatu Simba Lodge.  We have a beautiful view of farm fields.  Our “tent” has solar power and hot water, a large room with sitting area, and a deck with a roof.  These camps have been like 5-star accommodations.
	Karatu Simba Lodge - our "house"
Karatu Simba Lodge	Karatu Simba Lodge - a wonderful view

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