Lake Manyara

From Tarangire, we made our way through a tropical rainstorm - heavy, brief, refreshing - towards Lake Manyara, stopping to buy a small gas stove on a cylinder before arriving at Migombani Camp.

Stop at Mto wa Mbuu for a gas stove

Drying the bedding after the enroute rain

Morning at Migombani

Our tent just visible in the right of the picture

 Perched on the side of a hill overlooking the lake, the camp is one of the best we have ever stayed at. Lush green Kikuyu grass to pitch a tent on, super clean toilets and wash places in makuti bandas and an infinity pool with the most beautiful view across the Rift Valley.

Swimming as bee-eaters dived to collect water from the surface, African pied wagtails chattering along the edge, while black kites, tawny eagles, augur buzzards and vultures took turns at soaring above our heads, using the thermals which kicked through the site every few minutes.

Quiet, relaxed, a place to unwind after hours of driving...and play countless games of Monopoly Deal...

The stay at Migombani has been wonderful: what’s not to like about the peace of the campsite perched on a hill, views of Lake Manyara from the infinity pool? It has been a welcome respite from the constant bumping on the dusty roads of Tarangire.

The lush green kikuyu grass is thick and springy, providing the ideal surface for pitching tents and lying underneath Jonny’s car to check out the mechanics...

Adele and I find excitement of a different kind. As I open my tiny, carry-on suitcase, a small, grey, rather elegant mouse scuttters into hiding beneath the clothes. Ah.

We had heard mouse-like sounds in Tarangire, but we realise that this mouse had travelled all the way from Usa River with us. There had been a mouse in the house we were staying in, evident by the hole chewed in a cotton bag and the droppings it consequently left on the sofa. Where I thought it had disappeared into some convenient hole in the wall, it had found refuge instead in the suitcase and come along with us. Some hitchhiker. Slowly unearthing it – eventually found hiding in a shoe – it hopped out and dashed to the shrubbery. Our gift to Migombani.

After that, time to relax: swimming; endless games of Monopoly Deal; gazing down at Lake Manyara. We meet a super-friendly, young German couple, Christians working for Help for the Maasai, a small German-run charity. The expat world is small: they have mutual acquaintances in common with Jonny and Adele. They run an orphanage, he on the technical side (with an outstanding devotion to all things Toyota and extensive knowledge of planes, trains and automobiles) and she an accountant. We enjoy their conversation.

 It is New Year’s Eve, so there is dinner at tables set under the stars, with a variety of expatriates, all working in different sectors of industry and aid in and around Arusha. As well as Dirk and Sarah, there is a South African couple working in tourism and conservation; a semi-retired Swede, looking for investment and business opportunities; two Dutch men who work for a company producing airport security doors; and a sweet young French couple, with Moroccan/Madagascaran ancestry, working for the French embassy and teaching in Kampala. An interesting evening...