Cultural blend in Manyara bushes

For most travellers, a combination of warm days with glorious landscapes, comfortable stay with finger licking food menus are the great passions and inspirations.

At a dinner party, I found nearly everybody sharing their day’s experiences in the wilderness, wild animals they saw and liked, landscapes and sceneries.

Others had conversations about how they fell in love with the bush, day trips around the lodge and their recent experience in Lake Manyara, Tarangire national parks including Ngorongoro crater.

I shared a table with a Chinese group of five who had just visited the Ngorongoro crater and spoke highly about the infinity tapestry of nature.

Each time one of their own mentioned a certain wildlife, the whole group celebrated in style. That happened when we were being served our first drinks.

Such was my recent introduction of Burudika Manyara Lodge in the Baobab restaurant.

Over seven months since my first visit I could see the lodge has become more popular prompting the owners to build more bungalows.

According to Ms Alice Kessi, the Operations and General Manager, they are happy with the support from the tourism stakeholders particularly the tour operators including booking.com and TripAdvisor.

I met Joseph Sumari, a tour guide from the Kilimanjaro Bliss Company based in Arusha who said their clients are happy with the services at the lodge.

His group of Canadian tourists was heading to Serengeti national park. Boehm Reil, one of the tourists commended the lodge. She said they consider the lodge, which is solar-powered, a spectacular one, fascinating, and enthusiasm for fauna and flora.

Burudika Manyara Lodge is a really treat for nature lovers. It is a timeless eco-lodge, virtually untouched by humanity and its destructive forces.

Here, it is the weather and winds that have carved the imposing, towering skyscrapers.

The lodge is located in a warm climate with a cool weather which is truly unique. And it has an architectural style that envelops with nature and local textures. It is within the Mto wa Mbu wildlife corridor. The corridor is used by migrating animals between Lake Manyara and Tarangire national parks.

The seven bungalows, luxuriously and uniquely appointed, all face out towards the wildlife corridor and are completely private.

Ms Alice Kessi commonly known here as Mama Burudika says wildlife moves up and down the corridor just beyond the lodge.

“Visitors get the feeling that they are on game viewing safari as they watch and sip their sundowners, overlooking the expanse of the wildlife corridor,” Alice said.

The Maasai people that inhabit the area still maintain their semi-nomadic lifestyle. They are hospitable and offer a friendly welcome to visitors, often inviting them to see their homestead and lifestyle.

Their rich culture and heritage are intrinsically woven into the history of this amazing area. Hikers can enjoy the tranquillity of the boundless empty spaces and explore the cultural insight of the Maasai to discover their traditional lifestyles and the many other spectacular treasures this vast wilderness holds in-store. A holiday in this area, Alice said, takes visitors to Mto wa Mbu popularly known as a melting pot of cultures.

Visitors have a chance to gain an insight into this unique countryside, by exploring villages, sourcing local handicrafts, tasting local cuisine, and watching cultural performances. Because of its location bordering the Great Rift Valley, Mto wa Mbu boasts of many food and cash crops.

The land is fertile and lush vegetation sparsely occupies most of the agricultural fields where rice, maize and bananas, among many others grow in abundance.

Every village supports vegetation of some kind with banana plantation’s, maize and rice thriving in small, sparse land areas, fostering the growth of agriculture and making it one of the food baskets in the surrounding areas.

For the energetic and adventurous, a visit to see the stretching farm is just a rewarding experience. The lodge is part of the flavours of the northern Tanzania which offers diverse tourist experiences, including adventurers. It is close to the authentic and popular Tanzanian wonderlands packed with wildlife and bush experiences.

From the lodge, visitors take day trips to visit Lake Manyara and Tarangire national parks as well as the Ngorongoro Crater. Away from the hustle and bustle of city life, the Northern Tanzania offers an escape route to the real Africa.

It has extraordinary biodiversity which is inextricably linked to remarkable, diverse and complex landscapes.

Nature has blessed this area with breathtaking scenic beauty, rolling fields of open landscapes, and vast plains of the African bush. Visitors enjoy the wildlife theatre when they discover in all the amazing national parks this zone has to offer.

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