travelswithalice

July 11, 2019

Arusha

We leave behind mysterious Zanzibar and set off for the wilds of mainland Tanzania.

*****

Outside Arusha National Park, Michael, our driver/guide bids us wait in the car while he goes off to buy entry tickets.

I’m getting hungry so I dip into my packed lunch and quickly down a samoza.

“Good idea,” Stuart says as he proceeds to dig into a bowl of pasta from his lunch pack.

Michael, back with the tickets, smiles indulgently as he informs his hungry wards that there’s a picnic spot nearby. I start to put the lid back on my pasta bowl.

“But it’s okay,” he says, “Carry on!”

Bad idea.

The car rocks as something heavy swoops down onto our open roof and into the car. A blue monkey, huge, big as a man, is gate-crashing our hotel packed picnic lunch!

Plastic forks, foil wrappers, food boxes, penne pasta, and lovely grilled red and yellow peppers are sent flying up in the air, splattering all over the car, on the seats, on the floor, sticking onto the windows, and getting plastered all over Stuart’s hair and clothes.

Michael tries frantically to frighten the creature away but only succeeds in frightening me even more. A man gets off a jeep next to us and joins in the fray.

With all three men bellowing and beating King Kong into finally retreating, I’m bent over the front seat bleating, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”

Panic stations over, not much harm done apart from the ill-fated lunch boxes, we’re laughing as we drive on. The guy who came to our aid is visibly annoyed, pointedly ignoring my repeated attempts at thanking him.

It’s a manifest breach of wildlife etiquette on our part of course, not the monkey’s.

Atop a hill overlooking Small Momella Lake is a lookout point officially designated as a picnic place. Here, amid lush greenery and birdsong, we finish off what’s left of our lunch.

Fed by underground volcanic streams, Small Momella Lake maintains high levels of sodium making its water extremely alkaline and allowing for the profusion of algae blooms. All this makes for the ideal habitat for the pretty pink flamingos that we’ve come here to see.

Flamingos are equipped with thick-scaled legs that enable them to withstand the lake water’s corrosive elements as well as its nighttime freezing temperatures. Also uniquely equipped with the ability to desalinate water and to drink from boiling geysers, these seemingly puny yet strangely hardy creatures thrive in this harsh, highly toxic environment with little competition for food or water from less fortified animals.

Thus is the balance of nature maintained.

Although its diverse habitats host a variety of wildlife, Arusha is not terribly big on big game. There are no lions or rhinos here; and elephants and leopards are hard to find.

Dotted with lakes and bays, this lush green valley features forests, grassland, and moorland. There are views of the extinct volcano Mount Meru and, on clear days, but unfortunately not on this particular day, also of snow-capped Mount Kilimanjaro.

It’s a peaceful bucolic setting that launches us gently into our weeklong safari.