Today we took a trip to Lake Challa. This was about 45 mins away and the weather today is glorious! Back in the Dalla Dalla we go. I think we are all getting used to the rocky roads now as everyone seems to just go with the flow!As we were approaching Lake Challa we saw a family of baboons sat in the middle of the road ahead of us, this was really exciting as it is the first wild animals we have seen so far, apart from cows and goats, so this just got everyone even more excited for safari.
When we arrived at Lake Challa, we were greeted by one of the guides and a sign that stated that they take no responsibility for injury or DEATH while at Lake Challa! As you can imagine this was a little disconcerting for everyone but by now we are pretty hardened Chaggas, and so in true Tanzanian style we pretended not to be bothered by this!
It is hard to describe the view but the lake is in a crater and so we were starting out at the top and needed to work our way down! The Lake was the bluest water I have ever seen surrounded by the greenest scenery. It is hard to describe how stunning the view was.
Now our thoughts turned to how on earth we were to get down this near-vertical drop to the Lake. Of course, we walk! The guide pointed us in a rough direction of where to start and we had Margaret, one of the Mamas, with us to follow. Let's just say this walk was a bit like an extreme sport. There were vertical drops, slippy rocks and tree roots to contend with. The sign we saw at the entrance was all becoming more clear now.
It took a good 25 minutes to make our way "pole pole" to the bottom, but when we got down there it was well worth the climb. At the bottom was a huge pile of rocks and a single wooden boat. Dilly and Dave had both made us promise not to swim in the lake as there have been sightings of crocodiles, and apparently there have been croc attacks in the past. They warned us that the locals will encourage us to swim (which they did) and it is extremely tempting when you are that hot and sweaty, but we kept reminding ourselves that we all value our limbs and quite want to make it to safari and so we refrained.
We had a picnic that the Mamas had prepared for us which was interesting! Tomato sandwiches, a boiled egg, half a carrot and half a cucumber.
We spent some time here taking in the scenery before heading back up the vertical hill.
Back to Marangu for a sneaky stop off at Mama Mlay's for some fresh coffee.
Dinner at Chem Chem, and then a pitch-black walk back up to the Palace. Another dry bed ahead which is a novelty out here!
Tomorrow is a well-earned day off, so a later breakfast and then some free time!
Kwerhari (goodbye) for now!
Team Tanzania! Xx
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