Tanzania, Tuesday September 9, 2003, trip from the Kirurumu tented lodge to the Ngare Sero Camp by Lake Natron

This trip was all along the East African Rift valley, from Mto-Wa-Mbu to Lake Natron.

The most accurate map of the region that we could get

08:11: Our luxury tent at the Kirurumu

08:12

08:12: The staff were (or were dressed as) Maasai

08:50: Lake Manyara, this is another closed basin of the rift valley. The lake is very salty, the vegetation lives from the water that flows from the top of the rift.

08:50

08:51: The dead trees are due to el Niņo which submerged the treed areas for a very long period.

10:18: The rift valley, besides the wildlife there is quite a bit of cattle raising

10:19

10:19: This was the dry season, clearly.

10:24: The village of Engaruka, where the "good" road ends (bifurcation to the Engaruka ruins)

10:25: A small stream of clear water gives life to this village and forces some maasai to get wet feet...

10:25

10:25

10:27

10:38: Notice that most of the time the giraffes are looking at us, they did not approve our presence.

10:39

10:39

10:39

10:40

10:41

10:42

10:48: First view of the Ol Doinyo Lengai, far on the right

10:59: A Maasai village

11:04: The secretary bird. Its name comes from the feathers on the back of its head which ressemble the quill pens worn behind a secretary's ear in the last century.

11:04: Our guide told us that the name comes from the way that they kill the snakes with their feet claws, just like typing.

11:04: The Ol Doinyo Lengai, a south view

11:21: The Kerimasi from the east

11:29: Another Baobab tree, which can get to be thousand of years old

11:32: Not exactly an Autobahn...

11:45: The white stuff is not snow, it is not ash, they are some crystals derived from the natro-carbonatites

11:52: This part of the Rift valley is littered with volcanic cones.

11:52

11:58: In the absolute middle of nowhere, a Maasai warrior would appear walking around, always carrying a spear.

11:58: A very wide, and completely dry, river

11:58

12:13: The Lengai from the East

12:17

12:17

13:20: The Engaresero international airport. The arrivals terminal (on the right) and the departures terminal (on the left, which has lost its walls). The white stones mark the runway. In this case the doctor flew in to treat a kid who was injured playing in a ravine.

The tented camp at Ngare Sero (or Engaresero) is the only inhabitable place around lake Natron. Its life comes from the Ngare Sero river, which flows even during the dry season. It also gives life to a Maasai village close by. The Ngare Sero river comes from the Empakaai crater on the upper part of the Rift.

14:04

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16:30: We went up the gorge of the Ngare Sero to see some waterfalls

16:30

16:30: Some basaltic rock on the gorge

16:31

16:36

16:46: First falls

16:46: The second, larger, falls could not be captured in film

17:35: Back at the camp, the shower, toilet and sink

17:35: The dining room and porch

GPS data for the trip from the Kirurumu lodge to Ngare Sero camp. We accidentally left the GPS on for most of the trip, which costed the batteries and the recording on the Lengai.

Last updated on Sat May 1 05:54:12 EDT 2004 by GhG.