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.

Day 53 and 54

Day 53

Today we got up and had a leisurely breakfast. Abdul joined us for a chat and then asked what we wanted to do today. We decided to do the walk down to Mambo Caves with Joseph.

We left at 10 and took 4 of the dogs with us, Banana, Norak, Were and Wotek. These dogs belong to Dagmara who now manages the lodge with Ally. She comes from Lithuania so I think most of the names come from there.

The walk is pretty much downhill all the way to the caves, and therefore uphill all the way back.

When we started the lodge and the village were pretty much still in the clouds. To start with we walk through the outskirts of the village and then through some agricultural land.

One of the dogs, Norak, had her jaw broken when she was a puppy, before Dagmara rescued her, but she is actually the most active.

As always Joseph points out various plants as we walk, including a large cactus. 

After about half an hour we stop at a place where we get some good views down the valley and across to Mtae village. The black clouds in the distance should have been a warning for later.

The path continues on down the cliff. Banana, the biggest dog finds in hard going at times!!

Further on we get to a “hanging rock” and again stop for a rest and some photos.

Soon after this we reach the caves. These caves were formed over a million years ago during an earthquake. In ancient times the Usamba people used to live in them and then more recently during wars people have hidden inside them.

It is a bit of a squeeze to get into the caves and in some places the rocks are quite low so you have to crouch to get under them.

There is even a burial chamber.

Today the caves are used by natural healers and again we see the flag marking the spot and the dishes for money, food and water for the spirits.

Inside the caves there is a tree and a rock that you can climb to get good views, I leave this to Joseph and Pete.

Then as we start the walk back up to the lodge it starts to rain. To begin with it is a bit on and off but for the last half an hour it pours down. By the time we get back to the lodge we are filthy and completely soaked. Luckily it is not cold.

Joseph has called ahead to the lodge to light a fire to heat some water so we can have a hot shower on our return.

After our shower we have a late lunch. The guys have also lit the fire pit in the dining room so we stay there for a bit.

Mid afternoon Ally our safari guide, arrives back at the lodge with some new guests. We catch up with him and arrange to go out bird watching with him early tomorrow morning. 

This evening we get some nice views from our terrace.

Tonight we have dinner with the couple from South Africa, a guy from Estonia and a family from the Czech Republic. Dinner tonight features beef stew. I think we have had this every night since we arrived but with different accompaniments. I would say that the food and communal areas at the lodge are more like a hostel than a hotel. Tonight there are chips, lentils, cabbage and cucumber salad to go with the stew.  We have a good evening chatting with the others.

Day 54

Today we are up early and down to breakfast at 7. There is a slight delay with breakfast as the lady in the kitchen needs someone to change the gas canister. However pancakes and eggs soon arrive.

We meet Ally just after 7.30 and set out on our walk. We start off along the cliff and then climb back up to the lodge through some agricultural land. We see a few new birds for us. I have included a few photos below. 

Baglafecht Weaver

Malachite Sunbird

Black Saw-Wing

Common Stonechat

Common Waxbill

African  Grey Flycatcher

Streaky Seedeater

As we came to the end of our walk the cloud started rolling in and out, making it harder to see the birds although we still got some clear views from time to time.

At this point I also notice how some people decorate their houses.

We get back about 11 and again, one of the guys at the lodge tells us he has lit the fire so we can have a warm shower so we take advantage of this as although it has been quite cloudy, we have got quite warm on the climb back up to the lodge.

We spend the rest of the afternoon around the lodge. The sun comes out so it is really very pleasant just sat on our terrace. Later we do some packing as tomorrow we are moving to Saadani. 

This evening we have dinner with Sarah and Wes (the South Africans) and the Czech family. Everyone has had a good day. During dinner we arrange that Sarah and Wes will travel with us for part of our journey tomorrow as we are all going the same way.