We had the morning and afternoon to wander around Arusha before we left at 2pm. I stayed in the room to Skype Jason while my parents had breakfast. I joined them shortly after and then we checked out of the hotel and met up with Kimberly, Marcella and Ida. We started walking towards an open market but took a wrong turn at some point. We got hand written directions from a large hotel and made our way to the market. It was…interesting. I found a few trinkets right away and bought them after some bargaining. This is their low season so things are a little cheaper. All of the stalls are very close together and pretty much sell the same trinkets. Each person stands outside their shop and calls to you to come in. “Sister! Karibu!” (Welcome) “come see my shop rafiki” (friend). Its quite overwhelming! I didn’t enjoy the hustle at all, although I did buy a bracelet made of giraffe hair after the guy bugged me enough.
We left the market and headed back in the heat to the hotel. We loaded the Land Cruiser and started the 2 hour drive to Lake Menyara. Nothing too exciting on this part of the trip except seeing the different towns and Masai villages. Some people get mad if you try and take their photo and will even flip off the camera or chase after you. Mostly they want money. I kept my camera to myself most of the drive. Just before we reached the lodge we came across a family of baboons! They were sitting just off the road. We got out of the car but that scared most of them off. I got some awesome photos though!
We got to the lodge around 5:30 and it was stunning! It overlooked Lake Menyara and had the most amazing infinity pool! We got out suits on immediately (ok after taking some photos around the property!) and drank a beer in the pool. The staff came down to the pool and performed some African dances for about 30 minutes so that was cool to watch. The light over the national park was beautiful. We got cleaned up and met everyone for dinner. We went back to the room to make it an early night.
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