Day 55 and 56

 Day 55

Today we left Mambo View Point and travelled to Saadani. Sarah and Wes, the South African couple, are coming with us for the first part of the journey. Ally is driving us in the safari car which is great.

We have breakfast and then a group photo with some of the staff before leaving Mambo at about 8.30. Abdul takes the photo so we have a separate one with him.

We will be sad to leave Mambo. Ally, Abdul, Joseph and all the staff are lovely and have worked really hard to make sure we and everyone else staying here have a great time. The whole set up is quite rustic but for those who don’t need “luxury” and are happy with locally sourced and cooked food and a communal atmosphere and like to support the local community, it is an excellent place to stay. We have loved the views and the local walks and would happily return.

Today Ally uses a different road to the one William used for our drive up the mountain a week ago. This road is wider and generally better so means we have a much more comfortable drive. It takes about 2 hours to reach Lushoto where the tarmac road begins and about another hour to reach Mombo where we join the main Arusha to Dar road. Again the scenery and views are fantastic. 

As we get lower down the clouds roll in.

Once we get down nearer to Mombo we see numerous stalls selling jack fruit. They gave us some to try at the lodge one evening. Peter quite enjoyed it but I have to say I wouldn’t rush out to buy any.

We drive another 1.5 hours to Muhaza. On the way we stop at a market stall to buy some oranges as a snack. 

We get some lunch at a bar in Muhaza and then Sarah and Wes leave us as they are staying at a camp near here.

We continue on to Pangani where we have to catch the ferry across the river. This is a small ferry and a short crossing, only taking about 5 minutes. 

From here it is now just over an hours drive to reach the Simply Saadani Camp where we are staying for the next week.

Once we arrive at the camp are welcomed by John and Tino. We say goodbye to Ally as he wants to make sure he can get the ferry back across the river this evening.

We are taken up to the bar area and given a cold towel and a juice while Tino gives us a welcome talk. We are then shown to our tent which is lovely. The camp is very quiet as we are the only ones here, how fantastic to have this amazing place all to ourselves.

We unpack and then take a short walk along the beach, before showering and then heading up to the bar for a pre-dinner drink. 

Dinner is lovely and includes king fish for our main course - a nice change from beef. After dinner we sit on the decking outside our tent . The temperature here this evening is so much warmer than in the mountains. Tonight I am sat outside in a sleeveless dress. The night before at Mambo I was sat inside wearing trousers and a long sleeved fleece!!

Day 56

This morning I wake up quite early and can see the sunrise through the tent windows so get up and watch it. The sunrise over the ocean creates some nice reflections. 

We get up and go for a bit of a walk along the beach before breakfast. It is before 8 o’clock so a nice pleasant temperature. We see some fishermen, some baboons and of course, more birds. 

Terek Sandpiper

Nice Reflection

Common Sandpiper

Green Wood Hoopoe

Crab Plover

White Throated Bee-Eater

Ruddy Turnstone

Our Room

Breakfast is excellent. They clearly have a really good chef here. 

This morning we spend some time chatting with Tino, the barman. It turns out he is related to Ayoubu, the driver we are friendly with at Mdonya Old River Camp in Ruaha and he also knows Ali, the driver we use at Lake Manze in Selous........it’s a small world!!

The rest of the morning is spent relaxing around the camp.

Lunch was good, but quite large so we did mention to Tino that he could tell the chef that a light lunch would be fine.

This afternoon we met Tiso, the camp guide and Hamisi who is the turtle expert. We arranged to do a game drive in Saadani National Park with them tomorrow.

We spent this afternoon swimming in the ocean and relaxing on our balcony. If you look carefully you may be able to see me in the top photo below!! We cannot believe how lucky we are to be the only guests staying somewhere like this......amazing.

Dinner this evening is again great and tonight we are visited by a bush baby.