Now comes the easy part, sitting in a land cruiser for five days and finally seeing and appreciating Tanzania.  So much of the trek up Kili was focused on being able to make it through the days without any problems from the hike or elevation that it was easy forget to relax and enjoy the moment.

We started the day by meeting our driver Swai, Ben and Marcus (our new companions from Australia) and loading up the Toyota.  This was followed by a 4 hour drive to Lake Manyara with a short stop for lunch in Karatu.  The drive over was neat in that we got to see the bustling city of Arusha as well as numerous smaller towns.  One of the highlights of this part of the trek was seeing the Maasai people in both the cities and open pastures.  The Maasai are immediately recognizable draped in their red and purple cloth or shuka.  It was interesting to watch them in the cities on cell phones and then in the expansive pastures with numerous cattle and or sheep.  We saw many young Maasai that were going through the circumcision rite of passage of becoming men.  These boys were dressed in black with ornate white decoration on their faces, some with deep black feathers.  It was a breathtaking visual of set against the expansive arid plains.

At 127 square miles, Lake Manyara was a good introduction to the safari.  This lake was described by Ernest Hemingway as the loveliest in Africa..  In the few short hours we spent here, we were introduced to zebras, giraffes, impalas, hippopotamus, elephants, flamingo, stork, and many many other animals.  One’s intial encounter with these large animals makes it nearly impossible to move on.  The first animals we saw were the baboons, a very entertaining species.  Another highlight aside from the big game were the dik dik.  They were full grown, but appeared to be the size of a just born small fawn.  It was obvious who the middle school teacher was when we saw the male vervet monkeys (the bright blue in the photos is a giveaway).  We saw our first giraffe here in the distance and it was almost as tall as Kate.
After Lake Manyara the Highview Hotel in Karatu was very luxurious and relaxing, thanks again MAcon.  We played with some stray dogs, drank some Safari beer (was there any other option?), and watched some traditional dancing in the hotel lounge after dinner.  Day 1 of the Safari was off to a great start and an amazing experience.