Tarangire to Doha: Week 3 / Day 17 / Jan 27
Tarangire National; Park, Tanzania: Up and out early again this morning. Had to hit the road early to get in our safari before heading to the airport and leaving for Doha. Ukadi had told us previously that Tarangire is mainly known for its elephants, so we are hopeful of seeing some up close here. As we entered the park to begin our safari we saw a couple of new and interesting birds we had not seen before.
We also saw a cute, little deer / gazelle like creature that we have seen a lot of previously, but I do not believe I have shown before. The Dik Dik is fairly timid and darts away quickly if scared. Below is the obligatory Dik Dik pic pic:
In addition to the elephants, Tarangire is also known for its baobab trees. Although not as bizarre as the type found in Madagascar, the baobabs in Tarangire are still quite impressive.
Driving further along we encountered our first clear sign of elephants within the park, an old elephant skull. The size of its skull and the massive teeth are really amazing.
In this same area we ran into the usual collection of wildebeest and an impressive example of a sausage tree.
Continuing our drive, we also saw a pair of grey crowned cranes – the Ugandan national bird.
We saw several more impressive baobab trees and one that was large enough to step into.
The one that could be stepped into had been used previously by poachers. Up within the hollow core of the tree, multiple pegs had been driven into the walls to provide spots to hang hides to dry.
The scale of this tree is really difficult to convey, but a couple of Hartsoughs have been added to aid in the comparison.
We drove along the meandering river for a while hoping to catch signs of animals moving around in the park.
After driving for a while we happened upon a large termite mound that was housing several dwarf mongoose.
At this point I was starting to think that this was the safari I expected. Animals mostly not seen, and the few that are seen are either small or way off in the distance. Although I was not disappointed, I thought we had already seen all of the big animals that we would see on this trip (Narrator: They had not seen all of the big animals that they would see on this trip).
This group of elephants was spotted from a bit of a distance. As we got closer we could see a couple of baby elephants in the group, one that Ukadi estimated was no more than several days old.
Although a little hard to see because it stayed so close to its mother, the baby elephant can been most clearly in the first and last pictures in the gallery above. As we continued our drive we could also see multiple elephants crossing the river that runs through the park.
Turning away from the elephants we quickly ran into a mother wart hog and her litter.
After seeing the one wart hog family we soon ran into several more. The piglets from this new group were constantly pestering the mother wart hog to nurse and would climb on her to get her attention.
Moving on from this area we soon came across another elephant. This one was not shy at all about being around us and passed just between us and another safari vehicle. After he walked by we followed him until he crossed a river and clambered up the opposite bank.
Leaving the river and elephant behind we happened upon a pride of female lions and their accompanying cubs. When we first pulled up they were all lounging in the shade and relaxing.
One of the cubs wandered off on his own for a bit, but eventually came back to be with his mother.
After sitting for a while longer the entire pride decided it was time to get up and move.
Some of the lions got up and began to move quickly, while others stayed behind yawning and taking a while to build the motivation to start moving.
Eventually, they were all on the move and crossed the path of our truck many times.
A couple of the younger lions stopped at a puddle to get a drink of water before continuing their walk.
The whole pride finally found its way to a large grassy mound in the shade. All but one of them took up spots on this mound, with most of them lounging and relaxing.
The one that had not joined the others on the mound went to a different mound and appeared to be in “hunting” mode.
Three of the other lionesses had taken up positions on the main mound and were scanning the area for potential meal opportunities.
This group of lions attracted quite a crowd of vehicles. Even some of the other guides who were in the park without clients came out to this display to take some pictures. They were also noticed by some nearby baboons who could be heard making quite a racket as they sent out the warning about the approaching lions.
Unfortunately, our time in the park was drawing to a close and we needed to head out to the airport. Shown below is a good indication of how we had spent the past five days.
As we left the park and headed through the city of Arusha on our way to the airport, I shot some pictures out of the vehicle showing what a typical street in Arusha looks like.
A few things to note from these pictures. The women in this area must have amazing posture in order to survive – the size of the loads they carry atop their heads would crush them otherwise. Also, men walking with machetes and / or sitting in the shade in large groups on motorcycles was a fairly common site all throughout the urban areas. Finally, it is striking again how well many of the people are dressed as they walk about the streets.
We made it to our flight in plenty of time and boarded for departure to Doha. Although it was shrouded by clouds during our entire visit, we finally got a good look at Mt. Kilimanjaro after we climbed above the cloud layer on our flight.
Overall, I would have to say that the safari was an amazing experience. If I can find anything to quibble about, it is the fact that I may have screwed up by doing this so early in the trip. I cannot imagine that anything else will compare to this. So, take it as a given from now on that if I say, “X was wonderful”, it should be understood to mean, “X [while not actually as good as a safari] was wonderful.” If something ends up being better than the safari, I will let you know. And if something does qualify, book a ticket for that immediately, because it will have to be pretty darn amazing.
