Tuesday is our last day and there were mixed feelings from everyone this morning over breakfast. We have the excitement of our morning of safari at Lake Manyara, sadness for leaving this beautiful country, excitement to get back and see loved ones, and despair at the thought of a 17 hour flight!
Everyone was still on fantastic form though and we started with high hopes that we might get a glimpse of a Giraffe.
As we entered Lake Manyara, we started the search for animals. Twenty minutes later, and nothing. We all began to get a little disheartened, we were all still smiling on the outside but I knew that on the inside everyone was feeling like we might be out of luck today.
It had rained heavily overnight and we wondered if the animals had decided to have a lazy day at home in front of the TV instead of heading out for food. But then, from the eerie silence came a little shreek of excitement from the 'pocket rocket' (Louise) “Giraffe Giraffe!”
We all nearly jumped out of our skin but the shock was worth it because as we glanced to our left there he was, Mr Giraffe, munching on a tree for his breakfast. They are very curious animals and he spent a while staring at us trying to work out what us 'Mazungus' (foreigners) found so interesting. If only he knew!
Mr Giraffe was the first of a stream of animals. Next we met a family of baboons who were playing and grooming each other. Then a huge elephant wandered out on to the path in front of the cars, followed by her whole family including two babies. These were incredible to see so close up, we could almost touch them from the roof of the vehicles.
Everyone was back to being excited now and things just got better. We came to an opening near the lake and it was like all of the giraffes and zebras had been hiding out here, because as we came out of the forest there were hundreds of zebras and a herd of giraffes with their babies. Amazing.
Now at this point, our guides stopped the cars and opened thee doors so we could get out. Correct me if I am wrong, but are we not in the middle of a safari? We have all made it to the last day, it would be a nightmare now if one of us was to be eaten by a lion or charged by one of the elephants wouldn’t it? But in true Remit Tanzanian style, we all hopped out of the vehicles to have our pictures taken!
We survived! No limbs lost and not even any close shaves. Phew.
It is time to head out of the lake now. We have a four hour journey ahead of us back to Kilimanjaro airport and the guides weren’t sparing the horses! They were determined to get us there on time. We had a brief stop to eat our packed lunch, which consisted of carrot and orange sandwiches, rice inside what looked like a Cornish pasty (very misleading), chocolate spread, a chicken leg (cooked, luckily) coconut biscuits, an orange, a banana, a fairy cake of the driest variety and a fruit juice. We weren’t going hungry!
We screeched up to the airport with time to spare. Now the really long journey begins. First flight is seven and a half hours, then a four hour stop at Doha, followed by another seven and a half hours to Heathrow. Oh, and not to mention another couple of hours back to Nottingham. Yay!
See you on the flip side xx
And then from nottingham to middlesbrough for one poor soul
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