Ranking as the 6th largest National Park in Tanzania and covering an area of 2,600 square kilometers, The Tarangire National Park is most popular for its large elephant herds and mini-wildlife migration that takes place during the dry season which sees about 250,000 animals enter the park. I spent from 15-17 September going through this park, and it's environs, driving clear to Kenya to see The Great Migration.
This map gives an idea as to where I was in/near this National Park
September 15
started off as very foggy and very hot. The hotel was only had hot water from 6-10pm
Here's a list of what I saw today:
Squirrels
Baobab trees
Tarangire hill
White backed vulture
Dead elephant with lots of vultures on it
Reed buck
Lilac breasted Lola
Grants gazelles do not have stripe- Thomson does
Water buck- type of antelope
Lion stalking ostrich
Two old lions
saw 106 elephants in one day
The late sunset was so wonderful/romantic and I really wish I was with someone I love!
September 16
Started early at 6am and saw a ground hornbill, a lion with 4 cubs. We ran across elephants again - mother elephants protecting their babies and others that were trumpeting their displeasure.
We saw a baobob with a "poacher's hole", a hole in the trunk used by poachers to hide their kill. We also found a pride of about 20 lions on a riverbank lounging around in the shade. We came from the river side and could see them on the high bank in front of us. The best part of the trip to date was watching the water hole from the hotel - elephants and different animals came and went and was very entertaining. Below my chair a beautiful brightly colored lizard came to visit.
September 19 - last day in Africa. Drove from The Tarangire Sopa Lodge to Arusha. Along the way we saw some Love birds that were green. Along the way we've been seeing Sisal which is the same as Agave - even in Ouldavai Gorge. In the morning while waiting to leave I saw lions from the porch - a nice omen. We saw coffee trees along the way - mbuni. We also saw amarula fruit which is made into a local liqueur. Elephants eat this fruit and get drunk. We saw ostriches with red necks - these are males that are looking for a mate. I was driven to a coffee plantation to await transfer to the airport and was finally able to get rid of my driver Prospero. There were some mosquitos and, quite frankly, I was ready to leave. I got to the airport rather early and didn't have much to look at and no place for a coffee; although, lots of formality to get airside - x-raying the suitcases, waiting in line to check in, security, etc. The flight wasn't direct - there was one stop in Dar Assalam after about 50 minutes - big city on the coast and very brown. Am looking forward to the next adventure in Nepal and glad to move on.
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