I am staying at the Arusha Giraffe Lodge where I stayed before climbing Mt Meru, and I was picked up there this morning, then transported to the safari vehicle, which was already full except for one seat for me right in the front. We carried on out of Arusha down the highway.
We had about a two hour drive to the park, and along the way we passed many Maasai with their herds.
At some point we began passing young Maasai men who were dressed in black and appeared different than others. Eventually our driver pulled over and explained that these young men are participating in a coming of age ritual, which involves wearing black face, dressing in black, and avoiding women. The driver gave these two a small tip to let us take their picture.
Somewhat like Amboseli National Park in Kenya, Tarangire National Park in Tanzania is most famous for its elephant herds. Piles of elephant bones greeted us at the parking lot at the park gate.
Shortly after rolling through the gate, our guide spotted a carcass in this tree. Apparently a leopard dragged the animal up into the tree to eat it. Sadly we did not get to see the leopard.
We did, however, see a committee of vultures lurking nearby.
It did not take long for us to live mammals, however, as about ten minutes into the park we drove by a troop of monkeys . . .
. . . and then into a great spot where there were herds of zebra and wildebeest and a couple sounders of warthogs.
After a few minutes we pulled around a bend to see some giraffe
. . . and more zebra at a watering hole.
Shortly after visiting the giraffe, we pulled over and the driver pointed out a lion in a bush near the road. It was a young male, and he was resting in the shade. I could see the silhouette of his head, and not much else. Then I was thrilled because he stood up and then began walking towards the road!
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He crossed right in front of us!
So that was pretty cool! After only 50 minutes in the park we had already seen vultures, monkeys, zebra, wildebeest, warthogs, giraffe, and a lion. We had not yet encountered Tarangire's most famous animal, and in fact for about another half hour we saw very little.
. . . and then we drove across the Tarangire River . . .
. . . and just across the river was a herd grazing in the shade. Just as I found in Amboseli, watching elephants is simply fascinating.
Besides elephants, Tarangire is famous for its massive baobab trees.
We had a photo opportunity at one of the largest in the park, one of the few places you are allowed out of the vehicle within the park boundaries.
After the photo op stop, it was time to go for lunch. I met this monkey in the parking lot of the picnic area.
Actually the monkeys are a nuisance and literally raid the picnic tables to snatch food off plates, even with people sitting all around the table! These Vervet monkeys are also noteworthy for the colour of their testicles.
It was very hot in the middle of the afternoon and I did not expect to see much more, and indeed, some of the animals we did see were taking it very easy. For example, there is a giraffe sleeping under the tree below--apparently they sleep with their heads still held high!
It was interesting to see a resting giraffe, but I was even more excited to see a resting leopard! Unfortunately, we never got a very good view of the leopard, it is under the tree in the photo below, somewhat left of the trunk.
Eventually the leopard did stand up and walked away, and I was able to see it somewhat better through binoculars as it traveled through the grass. Since I had seen rhinos, elephants, lions, and buffalo already in the last ten days, the leopard was the last of the "big five" for me to see, and I had not been expecting to see one at all, so it felt like a bonus.
Our last noteworthy encounter with wildlife was perhaps the most incredible. We returned to the Tarangire River where there appeared to be two or three herds of elephants congregating. The sheer number of elephants, was quite something
What was most interesting here, though, was watching a male elephant engage this herd. As you can see, the herd was initially spread out, apparently relaxed.
Over the next couple of minutes, however, the matriarch appeared to be moving them off to the right, until a bull elephant began making a ruckus over to the left. The herd gathered up as in the photo below, but were clearly intrigued and began approaching the male.
I took some video, but it is too large to upload. The male proceeded to kick the dirt, throw a log around, make a racket, and eventually charged a bush on the riverbank. His ridiculous behaviour seemed successful in attracting one of the females away from the herd, but our driver obviously assessed the situation as no longer safe once the bull was on the riverbank crashing around in the bush, and we had to leave so I never go to see how the scenario resolved. It was certainly very interesting to watch while we could though!
By now it was 16:00 and time to work our way back to the park gate. There, I switched vehicles and was taken back to my hotel in Arusha.
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