Set off at a respectable 8am making our way through the bustling Arusha into the countryside.
First bit of wildlife was a goat! Then cows and camels.
We passed the Masai markets – Saturday is market day for the Masai – so the markets were bustling with Masai bringing their animals and produce for sale – men with their checked shawls and women in vibrant fabrics carrying enormous baskets on their heads. Goats fetch about 60 USD.
NTerrain on the way to Tarangerie was vast and not dissimilar to parts of Aus. We arrived round 11ish in a sweltering 37 degrees – roof up and windows open we managed to keep coolish but we did drink like elephants!
ITarangerie is an enormous park – over 4000 square kilometres, so even in the five hours we were there we barely scraped the surface. It is a ‘wooded grassland’ which means lots of acacia and baobab (in full leaf) with fairly lush grass (as it’s the wet season). The park is home to over 3000 elephants and they were definitely putting on a show today. The absolute Highlight for us was being totally surrounded by elephants almost within touching distance. Absolutely magnificent creatures and so nurturing of their babies (which are incredibly cute).
The big cats were also about today- one sleeping pride and an alert (and Tony tells us hungry) lioness. She was on the prowl less than 200n from the picnic ground where we had lunch! Tony assures is that lions won’t come near large groups of humans but we sat in the furtherest table so that there would be lots of ‘snacks’ before she got to us!
Other sightings today were warthogs, impala, water bucks and zebra & giraffe in the distance.
We are now sitting on an open deck at sunset in our absolutely magnificent lodge (Eileen’s Tree Lodge in Karatu) waiting for dinner which we have no idea what it is but it smells spectacular.
