Arusha City Tanzania
Day 12 – September 15: Arusha City Having stayed a night near Ngorongoro crater, it was time to start to our final destination city in the East African Tour. What a scenic and fantastic drive it was through well laid out roads ( for once). On the way did some shopping of Tanzanite ear rings. 'Tanzanite' is the blue and violet variety of the mineral zoisite, caused by small amounts of vanadium. Tanzanite belongs to the epidote mineral group. Tanzanite is only found in Simanjiro District of Manyara Region in Tanzania, in a very small mining area approximately 7 km long and 2 km wide near the Mererani Hills. We passed through the Lake Manyara. It is a shallow, alkaline lake in the Natron-Manyara-Balangida branch of the East African Rift. The northwest quadrant of the lake (about 200 sq, km.) is included within Lake Manyara National Park and it is part of the Lake Manyara Biosphere Reserve, established in 1981 by UNESCO as part of its Man and the Biosphere Programme. Our van