Lake Manyara National Park & Ngorongoro Crater - August 15

This morning at breakfast there was one elephant that came to the watering hole. She decided that the water in the swimming pool looked better so she came and took a drink. Then, she proceeded to go through the lodge grounds eating her way through the trees and plants along the way. 

 leaving the treehouse

 elephant at the watering hole

 drinking from the infinity pool

 going rogue around the lodge grounds

 

After saying our goodbyes to the great people that made our stay memorable at Tarangire Treetops we had a game drive out of Tarangire on our way to Lake Manyara National Park. 

 us at breakfast

 

Some sites along the way from the car window: 

 

 

We came upon some Olive Baboons and there were a lot of really young ones. 

 

We entered the park and while Wilson was checking us in we were taken on a tour by an exuberant young lady of the former offices. She showed us the old buildings that flooding in 2013 buried them with just a bit of building showing and the roofs.

 kind of looks like a butt

 

Then we were off to game drive through the park on the way to the Lake. We saw Sykes Monkeys also known as Blue Monkeys. We didn’t get a good picture, but as one scampered away I remarked they should be named Blue Balls Monkeys. We came across our first Leopard. He was coming down from the tree. After he came down (he was right in front of us) he disappeared in the grass. 

 

 Sykes Monkey

 look closely for the blue balls

 Silvery-cheeked Hornbill

 Silvery-cheeked Hornbills

 creek

 young elephant crossing the road

Cape Buffalo

The scenery here was really pretty. The water level was quite low at this time of year and we could only see the pink Flamingoes and the White Pelicans from a distance. 

 thousands of White Pelicans in the distance

 thousands of Pink Flamingoes in the distance

 Verreaux's Eagle (flying upside down)

 really fat or pregnant Zebra

 Hadada Ibis

 African Fish Eagle

 Gray-headed Kingfisher

 Malachite Kingfisher

Blacksmith Lapwing

Then we started to see tons of birds as we approached the Hippo pool. Just an amazing spot!  

 

 Yellow-billed Storks

 African Spoonbills

 Yellow-billed Stork coming in for a landing

 African Spoonbill

 Yellow-billed Stork

 Marabou Stork

 Collared Pratincole

Warthogs

 

We drove back through the park and stopped at a place for lunch. We had our boxed lunches, but we were able to buy drinks here. They also had a nice place for souvenirs.  

House Sparrow 

 African Pied Wagtail

 Speckled Mousebird

Red-backed Scrub Robin

Refreshed, we finished the drive to Ngorongoro Crater, a 2000-foot-deep caldera created by the collapse of an extinct volcano. We stopped at a lookout and it was cold and windy. We quickly got back in the vehicle. 

 entrance to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area

 Baboons were in the parking lot

 

We arrived at Ngorongoro Sopa Lodge for our next 2 nights. Here is the link to their website: http://www.sopalodges.com/ngorongoro-sopa-lodge/overview

The room was large with a nice sitting area where you could look out over the crater. We unpacked a bit and then walked around the grounds. There were a lot of pretty birds to attract our attention.

 Tanzanian Flag

 sitting areas in the main lodge

 two-story Rondavels (we were on the upper level)

 main lodge and Greg

 where the guides stayed

 Maasai boy sitting on a hill

 Streaky Seedeater

 White-eyed Slaty-flycatcher

 Tropical Boubou

 

 Speckled Pigeon

 Baglafecht Weaver

 

Unlike the other lodges so far, this one was not all inclusive and being one of the lower end lodges they really were pushing the selling of drinks and there were a lot of kids. It was buffet food and the steam tables weren’t working well as much of the food was cold. The view and the sunset were worth it, but it really wasn’t a fantastic place to stay. Greg and I both whined….can we go back to the Treehouse? 

We watched the sunset from our sitting area and it was quite beautiful.

 

Before dinner we showered. I turned on the shower and the water just trickled down the wall. It was hard to get water pressure or even temperature of the water. The tile floor was freezing. There were radiators but they were not working. They did come turn down the bed and put in the fur covered hot water bottles. However, as we got ready to get into bed, Greg noticed one of them had leaked and the bed was wet. Luckily there was a second bed, so we just switched beds taking the remaining hot water bottle with us.

There was some entertainment of a local tribe performing, but I hadn’t brought my camera to dinner since it didn’t seem like the kind of place to have entertainment.

Tomorrow a full day game drive on the crater floor.

As a reminder, none of the videos have been edited, but are on the Picasa Web Albums site with more pictures than you'll care to look at. LOL

The link to the web albums is: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/myphotos