Tanzania, Lake Manyara

LAKE MANYARAn I had my own private safari through Lake Manyara National Park, the park to visit if you wanted to see leopards or lions up in the trees.x I was told they did that because of all the underbrush.x It was the only way to find their prey.x Well, I wanted to see that.x Yep, I wanted to see that.x Nope, I didn't see it.x We drove all around the place and there were no cats to be found anywhere.

What did I see?x Of course, there were the normal elephants, zebras, and giraffes.x (Could they ever really be seen as normal?)x Then, I saw about 30 mongooses? (mongeese?) running in a pack.x I also saw at least one hundred olive baboons and most of them were in single file.x

Probably the most unforgettable discovery was that tsetse flies could bite through clothing.x Yeah, I got a lot of tsetse fly bites.x They could cause sleeping sickness (whatever that was, and I sure didn't want to find out first-hand.)

After the very unsuccessful safari, I traded my last 8000 Tanzanian shillings ($10.00) and a dirty shirt for a Maasai necklace.x I hadn't bought much in the line of souvenirs throughout the trip so I certainly didn't mind this splurge.

`Copyright 2001 by Phillip Martin All rights reserved.`	World	Tanzania	E-mail

seen only in postcards a garden of Eden		LAKE MANYARAn I had my own private safari through Lake Manyara National Park, the park to visit if you wanted to see leopards or lions up in the trees.x I was told they did that because of all the underbrush.x It was the only way to find their prey.x Well, I wanted to see that.x Yep, I wanted to see that.x Nope, I didn't see it.x We drove all around the place and there were no cats to be found anywhere. What did I see?x Of course, there were the normal elephants, zebras, and giraffes.x (Could they ever really be seen as normal?)x Then, I saw about 30 mongooses? (mongeese?) running in a pack.x I also saw at least one hundred olive baboons and most of them were in single file.x Probably the most unforgettable discovery was that tsetse flies could bite through clothing.x Yeah, I got a lot of tsetse fly bites.x They could cause sleeping sickness (whatever that was, and I sure didn't want to find out first-hand.) After the very unsuccessful safari, I traded my last 8000 Tanzanian shillings ($10.00) and a dirty shirt for a Maasai necklace.x I hadn't bought much in the line of souvenirs throughout the trip so I certainly didn't mind this splurge.