Matete Picnic Site is presented like a highlight both for birding and views and a must stop. However in our opinion especially at lunch time it is better to skip it, if on your own. It is chock full and there are basically no open places to picnic, even though it is a large picnic area. It is also very busy with loud tourists, difficult to hear birds but you can still see the birds that are looking for crumbs from the lunches.
The view is magnificent, but you can see similar views near the bridge without the crowds. And at least today there are no mammals by the river.
But there are mammals and birds in the picnic area looking for scraps. The Vervet Monkeys especially scare us as they pass behind us just as we were relaxing. And then we decide to skip eating here, better at the entrance gate where the picnic tables seemed empty last time.
And so we start on the last stretch in Tarangire. First on the main road where we already see some interesting birds like ostriches, first ones close this trip, and calm zebras, a rarity.
There is still time so we decide to take a detour to the main river loop. It is not really marked so we just follow the roads and our GPS and hope that we can return via a different entrance than where we entered.
Following the GPS we finally reach the river via a scary descent. But we saw another safari truck make it so why wouldn’t our car be able to do it? The views are great and we enjoy the many birds in this stretch of the river.
There are some palm trees also, native as far as we can tell. We enjoy the time here but tick-tock the time is passing so we return to the main road and drive to the gate exiting half hour before our alloted time. Great planning!
We are quite hungry by now so we go to the picnic area near the entrance gate which is, as we expected, empty and we eat in peace while looking at the many birds around us. Then we enter a gift shop to buy a few more souvenirs before exploring a bit more the area around the entrance gate.
It seems that is was more developed at some time, with an overlook highly recommended in the guidebooks being closed due to missing steps. Also the exhibits, while readable didn’t seem to be that maintained. But they were interesting to us.
And now it is time for a two hour drive to the Lake Manyara area. We drive slowly and carefully avoiding being stopped by both checkpoints and speed gun police. The village right next to the Lake Manyara National Park is the longest and the busiest but we make it through it, avoiding even the baboons. Then it is a five kilometer ascent where we are stuck behind a really slow truck and finally we are at the turnoff to Lake Manyara Serena Safari Lodge, our accomodation for the next couple days.
