Southern/East African Trip 2019

Day 28 & 29 – 6 th & 7 th Jully 2019 We left Same (the town just outside Mkomazi NP) early morning for Urusha.   We planned to make our bookings for Serengeti at the TANAPA Head Office and to do some shopping in this up-market supermarket other travellers had told us about.    It was a Saturday and we thought that  the TANAPA Head Office would close at 13h00 - no such luck, they only operate from Mondays to Fridays.  As they say in Tanzania, “Hakuna Matata”.  We were told that we don’t have to book Serengeti, be it for public or special campsites, at the offices as one could now do it at the gate.  (Wrong!) The traffic in Arusha was horrendous.   Motorbikes are a law unto themselves and the taxi’s don’t differ much from those back home in terms of road rules! We eventually arrived at the supermarket, stocked up on fresh veg and some meat, and enjoyed a 500ml tub of Dairymaid ice cream on route to Meru Mbega Lodge, our digs for the next two nights. Meru Mbega L

Day 26 & 27 – 4 th and 5 th July 2019 Our next treat was the Mkomazi National Park, not particularly known for its animals other than the Geranook (a long-necked buck), but definitely its birds.  Here we hoped to see the Vulturine Guinea Fowl.  There was an abundance of African Orange-bellied Parrots and White-bellied Go-Away-Birds from the moment we entered the park. White-bellied Go-Away-Bird   We did some serious 4 x 4’ing on some of the routes, but it was totally enjoyable.   We thought we had escaped the Tsetse flies in Zambia, but alas, here there were areas totally infested - and of course one of those happened to be where I had to get out of the vehicle to see whether the road was passable.  Needless to say, we were being bitten like crazy by those that got into the car when I opened the door.  Just look at the size of these buggers catching a ride on the bonnet of the vehicle! Tsetse flies on the car, just waiting for us to open a window!