Manyara

Now it's Franziska's turn in off-road driving and no longer me who's supposed to curve around the puddles. Unfortunately, as we have to reach the public campsite for our wilderness overnighting before dusk, I get a bit stressed. The perfect situation to drift into first-hand communication problems 😬! Before every more challenging pond of mud we hold for a short briefing. By indicating our possibilities of which track to choose and which not in front of the car, I feel pretty confident that I communicate my idea of how to avoid getting stuck profoundly. But after the first round, I realise that our interpretations of "that puddle there" and "that other puddle there" seem to differ to an extent that does result in the exact opposite of what I intended to explain as "the drivable path". Still, we don't gets stuck. In front of the next muddy pothole, we again weigh our odds for getting through successfully. "With the left wheel you try to take this edge and with the right wheel try to stay on that side. Better avoid that big puddle on the left there." And off we go straight into "that big puddle on the left there". What has happened? Apparently there must have been two different "big puddles on the left" and each of us must have meant "the other left one" 😂. But, we don't get stuck. Wonderful! Yet again I learn that life offers multiple valid paths to success. And, that simply switching places with the one next to you might indeed change the perspective you take on things ahead of you.

We follow the wide riverbed of Tarangire back northwards and enjoy the now lower sun. Great colours!
"Where should we go next?"
"I don't know, maybe back to the lions?"
"Yeah, it's 4 in the afternoon and still hot. They most probably haven't moved their asses yet."
When we arrive at the dry riverbed of the sidearm, the three lions are still under one of the bushes. We stop the engine and watch them from the opposite bank with our binoculars. No other tourists far and wide. This is our private moment. After just a few minutes a wildebeest appears down there, crossing the riverbed in a lazy trot from our side to the lions' bank. Once the wildebeest is less than hundred metres away from the bush, one of the lions rises and observes it curiously from behind the shrubbery. This wildebeest is so very determined in holding its course that it directly walks towards where the lions are snoozing in the shade. Unbelievable! I take out my cam with the telephoto lens. Fifty metres. I switch to video mode. Twenty metres. Is this really going to happen? **BAM!** All three lions jump up and pounce on the beest! A moment of just a few seconds. Cats are quick. Even dozing ones. Wahoooo, what an excitement! We watch for a looong time how they play around with their prey like kittens playing around with tiny mice. Interestingly, this whole hunting and killing process doesn't look cruel at all. No furious slaughtering. No squealing. As if this was the most natural thing on earth just happening. One lion even affectionately licks on the wildebeest while the others concentrate on suffocating it. As if to calm it down. After a while they drag the gnu to where they have been chilling out and finally start to tear it into pieces. Yum! 🦁

In orange-yellowish rays of sunlight, herds of elephants are escorting us the last mile to our campsite. Friendly staff shows us a free spot next to a big tree from where we can overlook the soft hills. Such a beautiful landscape around Tarangire river here! While setting up our camp, more elephants walk by closely, throwing curious looks at us intruders. Franziska is beaming with joy 😃. But just until night falls in when we huddle together by the fire for our dinner cooking. Blinded by the flames we are unable to see anything around us when at the same time we hear branches breaking and elephant bulls grumbling with their deep voices not more than 20 metres away! It's the third time this day that elephants make me almost shit my pants. Later that night Franziska is woken up by howling hyenas but is too intimidated to also wake me up.

Before sunrise we wake up by crackling branches again. Cuddling, we watch a baby elephant passing right next to us from inside of the car. What an exciting dawning of the day! Unfortunately, we have to hurry because our permit is about to expire. There was a miscommunication at the gate and we got issued just one instead of two days. How stupid! I am really pissed and deeply disappointed about that. All the romance of a lazy wilderness camp breakfast stolen by stupid bureaucracy. But anyway, 150 USD per day for just my foreign-registered car is way too much and we are not willing to support this system. We've seen and experienced more than enough during our short visit here and take it as it is. A sweet jackal leads us the way back to the gate and we spot a pair of honey badgers ending their night shift before the rising sun turns Tarangire river into a glistering golden beauty again. Good morning life!Read more