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Published: June 23rd 2013
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Day 4/5
After what was a bit of a disappointing breakfast, we set off again for a shopping centre looking for the elusive football shirt - no luck. We got picked up by Joe for the airport, and asked if on the way we could stop at one of the sports shops we had seen for a shirt. We went to the shop of one of his friends, and Russ is now the proud owner of a shirt, complete with wonky Adidas embroidery logo!
At the airport, we were a little early for the flight, but eventually approached the entrance and were asked for our Yellow Fever vaccination certificate and flight details. We're not sure how much of it she could read, as she studied it intently, but we were allowed to pass through to check in. We waited at the gate, of which there were only 2, as the rest are closed for building work. This caused no end of confusion as flights that were boarding weren't on the board, so half the people were trying to get on the wrong flights! As a spectator sport, it was quite entertaining. Our flight was going to Dar es Salam,
and only touching down in Kilimanjaro to drop us and a dozen or so other people off, but the board didn't say that either.
It was noted, that the planes were definitely getting smaller, and whilst it was still jet engines not propellers, there were only 2 seats either side of the aisle. It was a 1hr 10 minute flight for us and lunch was brought round just before landing packed from the hotel we had just been staying at. When we opened the foil, it was the chicken skewers we had seen from the night before! They just managed to clear the trays away before the landing gear went down.
We disembarked, and before we even entered the building they asked for the Yellow Fever certificates. This time i know they could read it, because ours are just in date for this trip And they took the time to realise. We were collected from the airport by Sammy, who was just taking us to the hotel the Serena Mountain View which was 30km away. What we did notice was that they drive on the left in right hand drive vehicles. On the way, we passed lots of
fields filled with sunflowers and maize, as well as coffee plants ready to be harvested and greenhouses filled with roses. The road leading to the hotel was pure African Massage for a few hundred yards. At the hotel, we were taken to our room, which was a cute round bungalow with mosquito curtain - note apply repellent liberally before going to dinner! The lodge was very nice, with lovely furnishings and Wi-Fi in the bar area and an open fire. The shop had some nice items in it, but once we had worked out the exchange rate, they were very expensive, so we resisted temptation. It overlooked a lake, but as an area of conservation, you had to be accompanied to visit the lakeside.
Dinner was slightly better than just Buffet, with choice of 2 soups and 3 main courses, and just the salad bar, desserts and cheeses were laid out on a table to pick from. The sight of cheese was welcome, but Russ cast some evil stares at some guests who helped themselves to cheese before the end of the meal! The meal was accompanied by a "plinky plonker" who was dreadful, and a short power cut.
We retired to the bar area, next to the fire, as it had cooled as we were at 1400m, and finally to bed with the mosquito coil lit just in case.
We had a slow start to the day, with the morning at our leisure, and were picked up Sylvester, who is our driver for the rest of the trip. He taught us that the local greeting is "Karibo" where as we thought it would be Jambo, and thankyou as "Asante". As we drove through the local town of Arusha, Sylvester told us that it is named after one of the 124 tribes in Tanzania and they are very much like the Masai in dialect and dress, but live in modern houses instead. We were taken to the Arusha Coffee House for lunch, after which we were meeting the other couples on our trip. It was a very nice location, but quite close to the main road and airport, but also home to a Tanzanite outlet. This is a precious stone discovered in 1967 by Tiffanys and is 1000 times rarer than a diamond and is only mined in Arusha. It is a dark blue stone, and some of
the pieces were really nice.
Our journey to Lake Manyara was 2 1/2hours, much of which was on temporary road surfaces, as they are building a lot of new Tarmac road. We passed the gates to the NP that we would be going into the following morning, and almost immediately on the road were baboons looking for food. Really these were the first animals we had seen, and we stopped to take some photos. Our hotel overlooked Lake Manyara and directly outside our rooms, more baboons were scavenging for food. Before dinner, we sat by the infinity pool and watched some of the local dancers and acrobats perform. After dinner there was more traditional dancing in the bar, but to be fair, the sound of the frogs in the pond wears far better!
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