Wednesday, July 20th:
Our new guide Killerai picked us up in a big Land Cruiser after breakfast. We drove all day to our camp at the southern end of Tarangire National Park. First we passed along the dusty congested road under construction through Arusha. Turning south from Arusha we joined dust spewing dump trucks full of sand for the road construction project.
Finally we left the trucks behind and continued past dry countryside with occasional corn fields, goat and cow herds with shepherds, and Maasai bomas. The bomas typically had a surrounding fence of bushes with round huts plastered with cow dung with thatched roofs. We seemed to be the only car on the road and all we passed waved to us. Many we saw were Maasai dressed in shukas, some with stretched earlobes adorned with elaborate beaded earrings.
We passed some wells surrounded by people with donkeys and jerry cans to carry water. We also passed a bustling Maasai market with tons of animals and people, but were in too much of a hurry to stop.
Along the way we saw many birds, more 50 species. We also saw grant’s gazelles and a large group of ostrich. Once a swarm of bees flew across the road. Some controlled burns in the park blocked our route and we took a slightly longer route to our tree nest and camp. Once in Tarangire national park, our car was swarmed with tsetse flies and we had to roll up the windows and turn on the AC. We spotted zebra, a lesser kudu and an elephant from afar before arriving at the tree nest.
The tree nest is in a small green tree alongside a pond. At this time the watering hole is large and there are others nearby. The tree is easily climbed and the branches have been pushed down, more sticks added, and canvas laid on top.
After checking out the nest we continued on to the camp Kimambo and Oleseci had set up, snacking on chips and beer before dinner. Beautiful superb starlings ran around our camp.
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After dinner we drove over to the tree nest where the guys had set up our mattresses. We sat quietly in the dusk and watched the moon rise above the watering hole. Unfortunately no game appeared at the watering hole and we drifted off to sleep one by one.
Thursday, July 21th:
I woke many times during the night. The bright full moon was higher each time, but still no animals arrived. We were tossing and turning before dawn and sitting up to the beautiful sunrise over the watering hole. We saw plenty of birds coming and going, but no mammals. A flock of egyptian geese flew right at us, swerving away at the last minute.
Eventually we climbed down and walked the short distance back to camp for coffee and breakfast. After breakfast we had a four hour walk with Killerai and Chris, a park ranger, each armed with rifles. We circled the watering hole and then hiked along the road to another watering hole. We are the only people anywhere in the area. We saw a few animals from afar including elephant, waterbuck, giraffe, and monkeys. It was great to be on foot and see smaller details like prints, scat, feathers, seedpods, beautiful porcupine quills and praying mantis egg sacks. A honey guide bird led us to a big honeycomb covered with bees. We inspected an old hanging weaver nest and found a cute little golden mouse inside.
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After returning, we had a camp lunch. We spent an afternoon sitting in the shade updating our journals or reading.
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After an early dinner we returned to the tree nest. Unfortunately again, no animals showed up to the watering hole. Worse, the breeze cut out in the middle of the night leaving us hot and swarmed with mosquitos.
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It was great to have the entire southern Tarangire park to ourselves – really off the beaten path bush camping. But because there was a lot of rain this year, and the dry season is just starting, the animals were dispersed and hard to find.
Friday, July 22th:
We were already to quit the mosquito ridden tree nest by dawn. After breakfast at camp we drove all day north the length of Tarangire National Park. All morning we still saw no other people. We slowly crossed a large dried up swamp on a very bumpy, faint track. Finally across the swamp, we drove along a ridge through bushy terrain where the tsetse flies were so bad we rolled up the windows. In this area we saw our first herd of elephant.
We descended the hills to another dried swamp with a large herd of elephant, more than 30 including some little ones. Once we got closer we found there were four lionesses in the tall grass in the path of the elephants. There were a couple other safari vehicles, the first we’d seen in days. As we watched the lionesses moved to cut off the elephant. Three continued to the side and one stalked toward them crouching to be invisible in the blond grass. Just then a safari car began loudly reversing cutting the three lionesses off from the elephants and the other lion. The elephants became wary. The lone lioness continued to stalk for a bit, but then sat down sleepily.
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We continued and saw herd after herd of elephants. After a picnic lunch, we drove all afternoon across the park seeing elephant, waterbuck, impala, zebra, gnu and hyrax. What a contrast to the southern portion of the park; there was wildlife everywhere, along with safari vehicles.
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In the late afternoon we reached the fabulous Tarangire Safari Lodge built on a ridge overlooking the Tarangire river. The girls had a swim in the pool and everyone enjoyed delightful and much needed hot showers. On the path along the tented rooms and giant baobabs I saw vervet monkeys, an impala, a warthog, and a dik dik.
Before dinner we had drinks on the patio entertained hornbills, starlings, and weaver birds. After the buffet dinner and putting the girls to bed, Joe, Carrie and I hung around the dying fire on the patio amazed by the stars and milky way.
Saturday, July 23rd:
After breakfast we spent the morning game driving on the river circuits with Killerai. At a water hole a huge herd of gnu (wildebeest) ran noisily and chaotically in to drink and swim.
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Again we saw so many elephants from very close range. One big group in the Tarangire river included a bull digging in the sand for the preferred “filtered” water, and another huge bull had one tusk so large it almost touched the ground. We found groups of olive baboons whose males have large shoulders and a lion’s mane of fur. We continued to spot new bird species bringing the count for Tarangire up to 140.
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We had lunch and spent the afternoon at the lodge. The girls enjoyed the swimming pool after lunch. From the deck we could easily see many elephants parading in the bush below or drinking in the river. In the blooming aloes of the lodge were scarlet chested and violet backed sunbirds.
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We did the “little Serengeti” circuit for our evening game drive with Killerai. The grassy plain was full of elephant, zebra, wildebeest and more. Carrie spotted a cluster of safari vehicles and we were able to see two cheetah when they momentarily sat up in the tall grass. After leaving the cheetah, Killerai accidently took a long turn and our game drive lasted into the dark returning twenty minutes after the 7 PM curfew. The zebra and elephant crossing the road before us were even more thrilling in the dark.
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Family Adventures 