Africa: Lake Manyara National Park - Tanzania

We woke up early again, had a great breakfast at the main lodge and put our bags into the jeep before starting out into Lake Manyara National Park. The Serena Lodge was way above the lake so we descended down the mountainside towards the Park Entrance with the famous Baobab trees on both sides.

Right off the bat, at the entrance to the park, there were Crowned Hornbills with bright red beaks flying from tree to tree. And once we entered the park we spotted a few Trumpeter Hornbills as well.

The main difference between the two is the crest on the Trumpeter Hornbill's beak. They are also much larger than the Crowned Hornbill which are more similar to toucans in size. And then further up the road we spotted yet another Hornbill - the Southern Ground Hornbill which is the largest of the three and looking more like a turkey than a hornbill.

There were three or four feeding on a zebra carcass that smelled absolutely horrible. We decided not to stick around for too long and let them get back to eating. After we left the carcass behind us I was able to smell again after nearly losing my breakfast.

Not far up ahead the road was blocked by a large troop of baboons with about a hundred or more members. As the baboons cleared off the road the others were grooming each other and jumping from branch to branch.

After we watched the baboons for awhile and the road was clear we were able to keep on moving. We were about to leave the jungle when we saw a troop of Vervet Monkeys up in the trees. 

Soon we left the jungle altogether and entered the marshes like the ones in Amboseli. Mom, Sage, and Zaddek got to see some of the herons and spoonbills they missed when Sage and Zaddek were sick. We also saw a huge Cape buffalo cooling off in the reeds with a small King Fisher and a Green Bee-eater perched not to far away. 

We entered the mud flats next and you could see thousands of flamingos way off in the distance creating a sea of pink. 

There was no path to get closer but there was another good spot to see the flamingos. The hard part was that it was a lot farther in the park and we still had to drive to Ngorongoro Crater before dark. Considering flamingos were Sage's first choice of the animals she had wanted to see on our trip we asked if we could make it. Latow said that we had enough time to get there as long as we didn't stop too much. On the way there we saw a really rare marsh deer right before it darted into the bushes.

We kept moving and were almost there when we spotted two male lions sleeping beneath a thorn bush. 

They were pretty far away and we didn't have a lot of time so we kept going to the mud flats to see the flamingos. There was a small spot to park and a long boardwalk winding out towards the shallow water where the flamingos were feeding. 

Sage was super excited to see the flamingos and rushed to the end of the boardwalk to see them.

There were hundreds of Lesser Flamingos feeding in the water eating the small shrimp and algae. 

It was funny watching them fly because they land like planes on a runway. They hit the water and hold out their wings to slow them down as they run through the water before coming to a complete stop. We watched the sea of pink for a long time getting used to the loud chatter and squawking before we had to go. 

As we were about to leave Latow heard on the radio that there was a small pride of lions not too far from the boardwalk. It took us awhile to find them but soon we spotted a male and female resting beneath a huge thorn bush with needlelike spikes.

 They was also another male resting on the other side of the road and a few more lionesses hidden in the brush.

We decided to start on our way out of the park and passed by a huge herd of Cape buffalo with a lone giraffe bringing up the rear walking on the edge of the lake.

Once we left the park it was a couple of hours to Ngorongoro Crater. We stopped at a small lookout and got our first view of the crater. The crater is so big that you can barely see the other side in the horizon.

The Serena Lodge at the Crater was really nice and we loved how the stone work made it camouflage in with the surroundings of the sides of the crater. We had dinner in the dining room before heading in for the night after an awesome day.