Lake Manyara and Back to Arusha

After a refreshing night's sleep in an actual bed, and a hearty breakfast of scrambled eggs, we drove to Lake Manyara Park for our last real opportunity to see wild game. We were becoming a bit blase by now (oh, not another giraffe ... and get those impalas out of there, they're spoiling the view). We gave our guide instructions (don't stop unless you see a lion sleepng in a tree, or actually eating something)

owever the day still had the potential to thrill. This was most evident when we made a rest stop at the park gates. We were all encouraged to use the facilities as there wouldn't be another opportunity for some time. I walked down the path toward the toilets only to hear delighted exclamations and excited conversations from the womens'. It sounded like a cocktail party after the second round of drinks. The reason for all the excitement, I learned later, was that they were shiny, new, clean and nicely tiled, (the washrooms, not the women) with flush toilets, toilet paper, spotless sinks, soap, and hot water. The relief among the women campers was palpable.

We took a group photo (above) then drove to Lake Manyara, stopping to see a family of black colobus monkeys with several cute and tiny babies. They were in a tree right beside the road, at the height of the bus windows, fascinating us with their antics.

We drove on to a hippo pool, where several hippos were actually moving about and getting out of the water, which they rarely do during the day. White flamingoes were feeding near them.

We got back on the bus and carried on toward Arusha, stopping at a small town to buy food for lunch at an open air market. We were immediatedly accosted by trinket sellers as soon as we got off the bus. They seemed to come from nowhere, as they couldn't have anticipated our arrival.

In the market there were many kangas (printed lengths of cloth worn as skirts, shawls, or head coverings) bearing the face of Barrack Obama. Many minibusses and trucks we passed had Obama bumper stickers or a picture of him in the front window. If he ran anywhere in East Africa, he would win in a landslide.

We arrived in Arusha, at a campground attached to a nice lodge, and pitched our tents for the last time. Wilson arranged for us to go to a good hotel restaurant for a buffet dinner. The prople on the bus had developed a real cameraderie, and the bonhomie carried on back at the campsite, where a number of us sat up drinking Kilimanjaros and Tuskers, good local beers, until quite late.