The road from Dodoma to Singida is again good, passing through lots of picturesque rocky outcrops, we made good time, so had another lunch stop and had the time to look at the various accommodation options in singida - none of them were inspiring, so we opted for the Stanley Motel Annex which is close to the lake. On the way we met our first crooked cop in Tanzania - of the many roadblocks that we've been through, all had been pleasant and courteous, this guy was just full of himself as he swaggered around the front of the truck, he opened the drivers door and demanded to know "what gifts have you for me?" We understand that these guys don't earn much money, they probably have families to support, but to take such a high-handed attitude was too much - he got a curt reply that "We don't carry gifts" - he seemed disgusted, slammed the door shut and we left.
Singida Lake is a Rift Valley lake, very saline and is sometimes packed with flamingos - we walked down to have a look - there were a few very bright lesser flamingos, quite a few waterbirds and clearly almost no foreign tourists around. The lake is quite scenic with hills in the background, white boulders in the middle and a large beach in the foreground. As we waited for the heat to subside a bit before walking further a football team started to slowly assemble on the beach - some were running up and down the beach warming up, others just standing around chatting, a few people greeted us, no-one bothered us in any way. We watched the sun setting along with terns quartering the lake, some storks passing overhead, then as we slowly left the whole football team (who had started some serious group training) gave us a cheery wave!
We had a picnic supper in the room with the a/c on full-bore, then migrated into the truck parked just outside to sleep as the room was clearly not mosquito-proof and we were a little concerned about the number of people close to the truck due to the bar becoming gradually more and more busy and lively. The music played until way after most people had left - it seemed to be more for the benefit of the barman than anyone else, Sue slept with her earplugs, I kept at least half an eye (ear?) open. We were woken several times in the night by mozzies in the truck - they were obviously getting in somewhere - I've seen reports that it's the window design that's at fault and had made a small mod to one of the windows back in Zambia, but hadn't done the rest....
Singida Lake is a Rift Valley lake, very saline and is sometimes packed with flamingos - we walked down to have a look - there were a few very bright lesser flamingos, quite a few waterbirds and clearly almost no foreign tourists around. The lake is quite scenic with hills in the background, white boulders in the middle and a large beach in the foreground. As we waited for the heat to subside a bit before walking further a football team started to slowly assemble on the beach - some were running up and down the beach warming up, others just standing around chatting, a few people greeted us, no-one bothered us in any way. We watched the sun setting along with terns quartering the lake, some storks passing overhead, then as we slowly left the whole football team (who had started some serious group training) gave us a cheery wave!
We had a picnic supper in the room with the a/c on full-bore, then migrated into the truck parked just outside to sleep as the room was clearly not mosquito-proof and we were a little concerned about the number of people close to the truck due to the bar becoming gradually more and more busy and lively. The music played until way after most people had left - it seemed to be more for the benefit of the barman than anyone else, Sue slept with her earplugs, I kept at least half an eye (ear?) open. We were woken several times in the night by mozzies in the truck - they were obviously getting in somewhere - I've seen reports that it's the window design that's at fault and had made a small mod to one of the windows back in Zambia, but hadn't done the rest....