Now that we were well rested, the first full day of our safari dawned bright and early (the animals weren’t on vacation even though we were, so they did not sleep in and to catch them you have to wake up early too). Obedi picked us up at 7:30 and we head into Arusha proper for our in-briefing. Here I appreciated that we were given guidance on when to tip and how much. It is also a funny reflection of the things that tourists care about; our in-briefer mentioned there will be bathrooms every few hours but if we need to we can “mark our territory” in a bush.

Sufficiently warned of what was ahead, we started the drive to the park. Along the way I spotted all sorts of things I thought were cool, including a shop named “Kalambo Falls Mini Market” (notable as it we were at least 500 miles from the falls themselves), railroad tracks which Obedi told us were from the ‘30s, the Arusha clocktower (apparently the halfway point of a Cape-to-Cairo journey), the Arusha Regional Library, and a number of busses that said “Atomic Energy” which I couldn’t tell if that was an energy drink or the bus company or what. On the outskirts of town were lots of coffee plantations, with nice big shade trees. Obedi told us most of the coffee was for export as Tanzanians drink tea. Obedi also described to us the impact of climate change as he saw, saying how he thought the dry season these days was warmer and drier than he remembered from his youth. When we were firmly outside of town the view opened up and we were firmly in big sky country with dramatic clouds and mountains in the far distance and incongruously, camels. They are residents of Meserani Snake Park, which, right, of course.

Eventually we arrived at our very first safari park: Lake Manyara National Park. At the gate we were greeted by olive baboons (we kept our distance) and visited the gift shop while Obedi took care of the paperwork; I picked up a lapel pin for Ngorongoro Crater (foreshadowing) by there were no Lake Manyara pins. As soon as we drove into the gate proper BAM, elephant up on the hill in the forest munching on leaves. I was the one to see it so Obedi told me “good spot” but I am sure he says that to everyone (later he tried to point out a giraffe to my super amazing wife and I, and we were very confused about where it was, but it was in fact only 30 feet away in full view and we were just looking in the exact wrong direction). I was happy because I was worried my super amazing wife wouldn’t be able to see any animals but here was an elephant very kindly wasting no time in showing off so that was perfect. We stayed for a while watching this elephant enjoy his brunch.

Lake Manyara is famous for its tree-climbing lions. We did not see any lions in this park, let alone in trees, but that is okay. They have apparently scooted off to some other locales due to Lake Manyara flooding. Obedi told us the lake has been expanding since at least 2020 due to heavy rains, and the levels surprised even him. When we eventually stopped for lunch the picnic spot we were going to use was flooded, though when he was there only in March it was still entirely useable. He told us park management is clearing the brush from some of the land to recreate the open land which used to be by the lake (now in the lake) which some animals need. Some brief googling tells me that Lake Manyara flood levels fluctuate a lot, as it is fed by underground streams and has no outlet. Obedi was even more worried about agricultural runoff into the lake. He blamed that, along with the rising lake level, for changing the pH so that it no longer supports the same food chain meaning the lake has lost its flamingos.

But I put that all there just to get out of the way some of the downer information about what was a pretty amazing park. Obedi was extremely knowledgeable about just about everything, pointing out to us quinine, tamarind, and wild mango trees, along with yellow bark acacia. He spotted for us impalas and bushbucks and vervet monkeys (with very bright blue balls), blue monkeys (without blue balls), southern ground hornbills (especially awesome looking), dwarf mongoose, black bishops, and everything else the park had to offer. My super amazing wife had never been on any safari of course but I had never been on one in a forest, so this was interesting. Especially like, the giraffes. I realize eating treetops is their whole thing but kinda weird to see giraffes not out on the plains.

The most exciting part of the day was when we stopped by some elephants. One of the elephants I think clearly did not really like us hanging out there. He got real close to us and flapped his ears which was great for photos but not so great for my confidence we weren’t going to be tipped over so we scooted on along. Elephants man, they are big! And so quiet. We drove as far into the park as we could until a road was finally too flooded for Obedi to be comfortable driving across. Up that way we saw a monitor lizard and a hippo, along with some more birds.

Our first game drive under our belt, we left the park around 3 and zoomed off to our lodge. Along the way were South of the Border-esque signs for The Tanzanite Experience, where we did not stop. There was a separate sign (not for the Experience) that advertised “wood caving and antics” which sounded a lot more fun than whatever they actually had, but we did not stop there either. At the lodge we partook in the juice ritual before settling into a very lovely evening and delicious dinner (the buffet used hot coals in the table to keep the food warm). Our first full day in Tanzania was a complete success.