Night Game Drives In Lake Manyara & Wild Dogs!
 

http://www.wildwatch.com/sightings/sightings.asp?lid=12

It appears as if the Wild Dogs are feeling quite at home in Lake Manyara! :)

Also, it is great news that night game drives are now allowed in the park. So glad I chose Lake Manyara Tree Lodge rather than a camp/lodge outside the park. This should allow for near exclusivity on the night game drives.

Less than five weeks to go and ATR and Africa Serendipity have been paid in full! Now I can start concentrating on paying for my November visit to Botswana and Zimbabwe. :)

Rocco
They know you are coming so they are just teasing you. They were probably 'bat earred foxes' having a bad hair day.

Robbie,
That's hilarious! :))

It is quite a coincidence that suddenly there are all these wild dog sightings, all right in Rocco's path. Hmm...

Yes, Rocco, the wild dogs are currently on vacation in Tanzania, but they need to be back for work in Botswana by next Monday.

Five months or so to my next safari, and I'm still trying to squeeze in Honduras and St. Petersburg before that.

My new idea is to book a trip through the Stans in November (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan). I've done a bit of research and I think I can overland the entire trip. I'm leaning towards end of November, and I'm about 50/50 on whether to go to the Stans, NZ or Philippines at the end of November.

Perhaps I should offer my guide a big fat bounty if he can find wild dogs? I don't care if he gets some domesticated dogs from the villages and paints them the same way that Tijuana donkeys are painted into Zebras! ;)

Night game drives at Lake Manyara will only be on CCAfrica vehicles, at least while staying at Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, and will cost $85 per person per drive, payable at the lodge.

Ouch.

The above is according to ATR. Eben or Sandi or anyone else out there able to confirm this?

If the vehicles are open, I definitely will pay the extra money, but if they are not open, then I may pass.

Thanks.

Hi rocco, I think night game drives in Manyara would be quite interesting.Since u are spending sooo much 85$ is not tooo much.
Hope ur trip proves to be very good,
Sonali

That's generally how it works - night game drives operated by camp vehicles (or limited to one operator) rather than tour operator vehicles. I don't think they want a bunch of different tour operator vehicles driving around at night.

Personally, I'd much rather spend $85 on a night drive than $385 on a balloon ride, but that's just me.

What you see all comes down to luck but we've been very lucky on night game drives and saw several species that we've never seen during the day (aardvark, aardwolf, zorilla, among others).

In the grand scheme of things, $85 is just a drop in the ocean, so I agree that it will be money well spent.

Anybody know whether or not the vehicles will be open?

I have attached an e-mail recieved from Green Footprints. Why don't you e-mail tree lodge?

As for the Night Game drive, a first for Tanzanian National Parks.from an open game drive vehicle view nocturnal animals; leopards, hippos porcupines, genets, civets, bush babies and lots more. The night game drive is also an experience for the senses; listening to the night sounds and learning more about the African stars. You will be the only vehicle in the whole park since Green Footprint Adventures is the only company allowed to do night game drives in Manyara National Park!

We offer an excellent bush dinner next to the park entrance that starts at 19.00. Around 20.00 we will leave for the night game drive.


Meeting place: Between 19:00 and 19.15, Manyara National Park gate
Departure time: Around 20.00
Duration: Approximately 2,5 hours


Rates:
$55pp + Bush Dinner $25pp to be paid to Green Footprint Adventures.
$25pp Park Fee to be paid at Manyara National Park gate before 17:00pm
$50pp Night Game drive Fee to be at Manyara National Park gate before
17:00pm.

If you've got any questions please feel to contact me.
Land line: +255[027] 250 2664 0r + 255 [027]0748 455171.

I've not seen a closed CCAfrica vehicle in Manyara so I am 99.9% its an open vehicle night drive - pretty cool, they do the same at Klein's!

Open vehicles in Manyara can be a bit of a pain due to tsetses (there are some bad tsetse patches north of the springs), but the night drive looks promising.

Green Footpints run theirs from the park gate and CCA will come from the south. The Green Footprint option was never a good match for CCA clients so this new option was much needed!

Net Warrior and Eben,

So, Green Footprints AND CCAfrica's vehicles are the only vehicles allowed in the park on night game drives?

I would probably elect to pay the $30 extra for the convenience of doing it right from the lodge and from an open vehicle.

Are the Green Footprint vehicles open or closed? Would Green Footprint pick me up at the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge, and if they did, would the staff at the Lake Manyara Tree Lodge be instructed to spit in my soup? ;)

I don't speak for them, but my sense is Green Footprints don't mind CCAfrica doing their own drives! The logistics are tiring:

For GF to take CCA clients, GF has to drive 2 hours into the park to meet the CCA clients, then do the long night drive (most animals are in the northern area of the park), then return to CCA to drop the clients, then drive all the way back to the gate (another 2 hours)!!!

Eben et al, hi.

Is there a link for Green Footprints anywhere - I understand they are based in Arusha - are they the same group that operate the canoeing safaris in Arusha NP?

I am particularly interested in the night drives in Manyara bearing in mind that I will be based around Mto Wa Mbu in September and the excursions I'll be making from my time with the Maasai will probably be limited to this park.

Have I read that pricing right - will it be 155 USD PP? I wonder if having spent the day within the park and already paid the 25 dollar park fee whether an extra would have to be paid? Sorry, I'm hopeless with money and figures and stuff.

It could really be a good end to the day.

Matt

http://www.greenfootprint.co.tz/

Yup they do the canoeing according to their web site.
My understanding would be $155 -minus your $25 park entry that you paid already. It's the $50 night park fee that stings. To think I paid about $50 total to do a night game drive in Kruger!

Well the website is all very well but does anyone have any experience of the services they offer? And yes you are right, for a couple of hours it seems a tad high - being how I seek to get max value for money I'd rather put those funds to doing a few more full day drives in the park.

Matt

Matt,
I don't know if this will help you at all but for the life of me I can't seem to keep my mouth shut. :)

bat, who is currently in TZ, had booked a day trip to Arusha NP with Green Footprints. While certainly a vastly different experience than a night drive in Manyara, she may be able to at least give an idea of the the quality of the guiding the company offers when she returns.

I'm waiting to hear from her before deciding about the canoeing myself.

Net Warrior,

The $155 pp rate sounds like a fair price considering that I am paying about $300 per day for a private guide & vehicle, excluding meals. This is the approximate daily rate of a private vehicle and guide through a company such as Africa Travel Resource (ATR), my tour operator for this trip.

I have high hopes for these night drives and I only hope that the other people in the lodge will skip this activity so that I have the vehicle all to myself! Then again, given those tree-climbing lions, I may want another guest to shield myself under should a lion pounce from atop! ;)