THURS. MAR. 16 DAY 11 MOSHI-LAKE MANYARA-KIRURUMU TENTED LODGE

Up early, hearty last breakfast at Bristol Cottages and off to Kilimanjaro Airport. Our flight was a short hop on Coastal Aviation to the Lake Manyara airstrip. I don't like flights on small planes, so thank goodness our flight was short. It wasn't that bad really, but I was glad it was done.

We met our driver/guide Aron who proved to be a genial, reliable and wonderfully knowledgeable guide. We set off on safari !

The safari was Jeff's idea: his reasoning was that, since we'd come all this way to Africa, we should do this most African thing. I reluctantly agreed. As the climb was drawing to a close, both of us began to wonder at the wisdom of this add-on. We were still tired, sore and injured and overwhelmed by the climb. We wanted to be home. The safari now seemed to be a silly nuisance.

Nothing could be further from the truth. We spent a wonderful afternoon at the park at Lake Manyara, driving around in Aron's tripped out Land Cruiser. We saw amazing animals in their natural habitat. The only members of the Big Five we didn't see were lion and leopard. The elephants were outstanding, befitting these behemouths.

We spent a rainy, agreeable night the Kirurumu Tented Lodge, a luxurious get away deep in-country. Comfortable surroundings, cold beer, delicious food were our rewards. Nice idea, Jeff !










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