Braving the Great Rift Valley
The escarpment that marks the border of the Great Rift Valley looms on the horizon |
"Oncoming car!" we warn each other every time a dust cloud appears on the road in front of us. Oncoming cars warrant immediate action on this unpaved road to Lake Manyara: we need to shut the windows quickly if we don't want to suffocate on the red dust. And even with the windows closed, enough of the fines sneak into the car to sting eyes and clog noses. Yahaya has to let up off the gas on several occasions, simply because for a few brief seconds he can no longer see where he's going. Our only consolation is that without a doubt we throw up as much dust as the next person does.
The cliff offers an 80 degree plunge to the eastern half of Africa
The various habitats of Lake Manyara National Park are clearly visible
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This road won't be a dust bowl much longer. People are hard at work with preparations to pave the road and several times we have to slow down due to road construction. To our stressed, overworked western eyes, it is amusing to see how Tanzanians build a new road beneath the heat of the equator sun. Every few kilometers a single truck or shovel is at work, moving back and forth at a snail's pace (anything faster will cause such dense dust clouds that work becomes impossible). In every patch of shade construction crews are lounging. At one point we approach a deep pothole with four men standing around it.
The baobap's swollen trunk stores water for dry spells |
As we pass, we notice a fifth man on the bottom of the hole, actually digging. It'll be a while before the road is done.
Other than the dust clouds and the roadworkers, the drive from Arusha to Lake Manyara appears uneventful.
That changes when we approach the National Park. A dark shadow turns into a sheer cliff that looms on the horizon; it is the western wall of the Great Rift Valley, the deep cleft that separates eastern Africa from its western
This is the tree that in the Maasai language that gave the area its name: manyara |
counterpart. The rift extends from Syria to Mozambique, over a distance of more than 4,800 km. The Valley evolved some 20 million years ago through a continental slide. The eastern part of the African continent is still sinking, and Frits mentions he has read that around the year 3000, it will break off.
The hotel beds are surrounded by large mosquito nets to keep the bugs out |
Once we have crossed the Valley, we have to ascend the cliff. The road is steep and narrow. Even in first gear the car has trouble climbing the wall.
When we reach the top, we stop for a look and some pictures. The view is magnificent, and exactly the way I pictured Africa: yellowed fields, dotted with trees and shrubs, and blue hills in
Sausage tree fruits can each weigh up to 12 kgs |
the distance. The lake that gave the Park its name glistens deep below to our right in the late afternoon sunlight. The air is hazy and filled with dust, casting everything in soft, golden light.
A young boy shyly asks me if I have a pen. I don't, but I know that Helma has several dozens in her purse and I walk back to the car, waving the boy over. With this success to bolster him, he grows bold and asks for a few more. He even offers to trade the pens for his dirty T-shirt. However, I have plenty of shirts to wear and I thank him politely before we continue on to the lodge.
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