Safari at lake Manyara

I actually went on Safari last weekend to Lake Manyara which is about 45 minutes from Karatu, which is about 45 mins from the children's village. The lake is a soda lake and has been dry up until this past month when the long rains have now helped fill it up. The lesson I learned from this safari is that sometimes you DEFINITELY get what you pay for....

Three of the volunteers and myself wanted to save money and so instead of hiring a safari company to take us to Lake Manyara we decided to hire Freddy, a driver from around here who said he was a guide. HA! Well, he was cheap and we did make it home alive and that is about all I can say on a positive note.

I had my first clue that there might be an issue when we stopped in Umtuwambu to shop and had to have the truck jumped so we could go to lunch. We were shopping at the local Masai market, which was very cool by the way...side note...I found a great necklace that I wanted but it was 35,000 shillings, the guy who owned the little store/whole in the wall, liked my socks so I told him I would give him my socks and 15,000 shillings for the necklace and he took it! NOW that is a deal! I pulled off my dirty anklets, gave him the 15,000 shillings and got a gift, (pronounced jift) of a coke on top of it. What a bargain.

Anyway, Freddie asked me to borrow 22,000 shillings to get the car fixed and we could deduct it from his fee...so I am fine, give him the money and we move on. He came to pick us up at the hotel the next morning, and we are off for our safari. The first three stops we made in the park to look at the baboons, elephants and cape buffalo, we had to pop the clutch to get the car started i.e. roll down the hill or push! After seeing the cape buffalo I advised Freddy to PLEASE not stop the car again as I didnt want to get stuck with Cape Buffalo all around. So...he proceeds to the Hippo pond where the car dies with the river to the left of us and the dense bush to the right of the road. We are on this little narrow strip of road and Freddy is trying to turn the car over and I can tell the battery is totally dying so I advised him to stop, lets push and pop the clutch again. I am in the front seat and Freddy with mild alarm says get out of the car...I notice smoke wafting out from under the truck and then next it starts pouring out from under the hood. I yelled at the girls to get out of the truck! I open my door to a huge Acacia bush go to the left and I have massive thorns in my body, to the right i could blow up. Mean time, Freddy is now standing on the hood of the car jumping up and down trying to get the hood unlatched. I made a dash through the acacia thorns got the girls out of the car and am screaming at Freddy asking where an emergency number is....(as he is jumping) he says we no need number I have a radio! I said if the freaking car blows up, the RADIO wont work...HELLO. Oh, Pole (sorry) he says, no emergency number.

The girls meanwhile have their backs together in a triangle watching their section for wild animals as Freddy and I are pouring water on the fire in the truck. We put the fire out, however I am not really sure the car is safe, however figure it is safer than being eaten by a hippo or charged by a cape buffalo. At this point the girls started screaming because they heard a low growl, which luckily turned out to be another car :) They gave us a push and we were off.

I told Freddy he was DEAD if he stopped the engine again.

We had a wonderful day, saw lots of elephants and then stopped to look at a huge herd with several babies. At one point we are literally surrounded by elephants. I am a little wary having been charged by a mother elephant in Kenya 25 years ago, so I am looking in all directions. Freddy however, has opened the door, propped his leg on the window and is texting someone, totally unaware of any danger. Unbelievable.

I am watching the Matriarch of the bunch as she is about 8 feet from our car and giving us the evil eye, meanwhile, Taylor is in the back of the truck watching a mom and baby walk towards our car. The next thing I know taylor is inside the car in a panicked voice saying "should she be stomping her feet like that??" I look back and the mama is giving us the initial fake charge warning and is literally 2 feet from our tailgate. I, once again, screamed at Freddy to get his ass moving....NOW!!!! As the mama elephant is charging towards us we leave her in a semi cloud of dust. I could go on and on, but those are two of the highlights, other than the massive bruises I have on the side of my body from hitting the top hatch while driving and standing up everything turned out well and we are alive.

Moral to the story is that SOMETIMES it is better to pay a little more when your life is on the line :)