Wednesday, September 13, 2017.

Early morning drive we were off at 6:10am.

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We saw a beautiful sunrise over the savannah at Lake Manyara.
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Flamingos on Lake Manyara at sunrise
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The birds of Lake Manyara enjoying the sunrise
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Spotted hyena
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Flamingos on Lake Manyara
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Spotted hyena with the flamingos of Lake Manyara in the background.
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Two lions had recently killed a Wildebeest and Hyenas were eating the carcass and giggling with delight.

The two lions full from their kill lay on the grass in the warming morning sun. Then a herd of Zebras crossed.

Not too far from the two lions, we spotted their cubs, all full from breakfast. We got incredible photos of them as they traveled back into their den in the brush.
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As we looked around for what killed the carcass the Spotted hyena was feeding on Wilson spotted a lion pride on the edge of the forest. Right over the group of Wildebeest.
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We then drove over to the lion pride - who were quite full and content.
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A lion mother and cub
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Ostrich running by
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Zebra and Wildebeests on the savanna along the shore of Lake Manyara
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We would stop every now and then to allow the tracker to check for tracks - and there are a lot of tracks.
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Lake Manyara ia along the low side of the Great Riff Valley
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Martial eagle
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Two Grey Headed Kingfishers sat facing the same direction - incredibly beautiful colored birds.

Wilson, our guide, spotted tracks of a leopard and her cub but we've not found them yet.

Baboons galore!
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A Hamerkop eating a minnow
We stopped around 8:30am at the lake boardwalk for breakfast while out on safari. We had yogurt, cereal, crepes, boiled eggs, chicken sausage, bacon, toast and jam, fruit and coffee. All were spread on a tartan blanket with silver plates, cups and cloth napkins.

In the water with what seemed thousands of pink flamingos, were hippopotamuses.
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Yellow-billed Stork perched on the Lake Manyara boardwalk
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Yellow-billed Stork flying
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Flamingos
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More Flamingos
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Black-backed jackal
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Impala
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Shortly after breakfast, we encountered about 10 Cape Giraffes, male, female and young ones. Very dark and tall.
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The giraffe stayed away from us but were not too bothered
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The young giraffe seemed more interested in us.
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Mwanza Flat Headed Rock Agama - high up on a bolder. Again Wilson was driving at several miles an hour and spotted the little lizard.
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We came upon a troop of Olive Baboons eating seed pods from the trees above. A baboon or two would go up in the tree and shake the pods loose for those below.
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Olive Baboon baby chewing on a leaf - we watched the troop for at least 30 minutes
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Olive Baboon baby scrambling up on mom for a ride
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An African Bush Elephant close up - these were the only animals which bothered any of our drivers.
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African Bush Elephant is the largest and heaviest land animal on Earth
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Elephant using dirt as protection from the sun
In the mid-afternoon, we were back at camp for Masali Chai tea and cookies. We met Allen and Maggie from Auckland, NZ.

On the afternoon game drive at 4:30pm, we saw a Leopard cross the road and some Crested Guinea Fowls.
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The Lepord was very elusive - Wilson tracked the cat from one stream to another and we saw the cat several times but never long enough to get a good picture.
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Crested guineafowl - very pretty and a good sized bird.
The afternoon ended with cocktails on the Savannah. This was our first camp and we had to tally up the tips for the staff. We gave Wilson, the Guide/Driver $50, Patrice, the Butler $30 and the Staff $20.

Dinner was grilled Jidori chicken, basmati rice and white beans cooked with tumeric, garlic, curry, onion, celery and grilled vegetables. This is a must-repeat dish!


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