September 26th

Originally we were going to spend this day in Speke Bay and then fly
back to Arusha on the 27th for the evening KLM flight back. Speke Bay
was full however, so we drive back to Ndutu Lodge and spend the night
there. On the way out I was concerned about all the driving, but it
turned out wonderfully. For those two days we got to relive parts of our
safari as a perfect ending to a great trip.
The drive back to Ndutu Lodge was not as long as on the way out,
probably because we were birding a bit less. We still managed to pick up
good species, including early migrant EURASIAN SWIFTS and a BLACK-BILLED
BARBET at riverside that Anthony was quite pleased to find. We find
WHITE-HEADED VULTURE perched and soaring.
That night at Ndutu Lodge, I hear an owl hooting at dusk. I try to find
it, but it stops, and I decide to respect the signs warning guests of
the lodge not to go wandering into the bush.

Best Birds SOUTHERN GROUND-HORNBILL. A small group just off the
road
AFRICAN HOOPOE. Very impressive, even for non-birders
Hardest Bird BLACK-BILLED BARBET. Riverside in the western
Serengeti

September 27th

Our last day in Africa. We are ready to go home to our families, but sad
to leave. We pass our last lion of the trip, a lone female surveying the
Serengeti from a kopje. We drive back via the Ngorongoro crater rim,
and have a lovely lunch at Gibbs Farm. Our last baobab tree is on the
descent of the rift valley escarpment down to Lake Manyara, and my last
lifer is a MOTTLED SWIFT flying nearby. Anthony and Geitan have
thoughtfully arranged for us to have a shower and changed of clothes in
a tented camp in Manyara before the long trip home. I still have the
image of the camp with its manicured lawn, the yellow acacia trees with
AFRICAN GREY HORNBILLS flying through the branches, and Vervet Monkeys
foraging below. There is no place quite like Africa.
It is dark by the time by the time we reach Arusha, and on the way to
the airport we have to pull over for a police motorcade with lights
flashing. It is the defendants in the Rwanda genocide trials Geitan
tells us, being escorted from the courtroom where the trials are taking
place to their quarters. We reach the airport, and after an emotional
farewell with Anthony and Geitan we are off.