A lion cub, thieving monkeys, many elephants and a MOR peckerhead in Tarangire, Tanzania

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Tanzania day 5

A lion cub, thieving monkeys, many elephants and a MOR peckerhead in Tanzania

Sunrise isn’t always interesting and today was one of those days. The sun limped from behind the horizon, made no use of the low lying sky and plopped unceremoniously into the sky. Only the look on Claire’s face when someone played ‘Here Comes The Sun’ was worth getting up so early for. Oh and the horror when she noticed a young woman wearing socks and sandals....and then when she saw the pasty white guy who ith an Arab headscarf.... Yes, my wife is always worth watching and infinitely more interesting than a sunrise.
We were looking over Lake Manyara national park though, so the view was pretty good. Our campsite is called Panorama and it certainly lives up to its name.
There was no eggy bread for breakfast thankfully and the bread, watermelon, pancakes and omelette were okay. A driver was coming and, to be fair, he wasn’t too late. Avoiding baboons crossing the road he then drove us to meet our safari vehicle. I guess we are still hoping that we will be on our own again today as we head for Tarangire National Park. If I don’t like any of the people we end up with I’m sure I’ll let you know later....
Our lunch was given to us as we left. To stay safe(r) given my predeliction for getting ill I have decided to eat vegetarian and never was I so thankful as today. The meat eaters had chicken in their lunch....which had been sitting in hot safari vehicles for hours on end.... If I’d had that I may as well have just gone straight to hospital!
It was a long drive to a junction where we met our next driver and our companions for the day and maybe the next five days. They are called Chris and Edyta, are from Poland and have been great companions today. Our guide Bori has been quiet and not very informative but has hoofed us round a lot of the park.
Tarangire is home to over 700 lions and we saw....one cub but hey it’s one cub. It was predominantly hidden in a bush and hard to spot let alone photograph but it was great to see. It’s mother must have been there as well but was so well hidden we couldn’t see her. There was a hell of a lot of cat food about so why we didn’t see any more big cats we don’t know. And by cat food I mean zebra, wildebeest, impala, kudus and gazelles. No Kitekat in case that’s what you were thinking. And yes I know big cats don’t hunt in the heat of the day...honestly you must think I have the IQ of a glass of water or, even worse, a Trump voter...
I don’t think even lions would take on a lone elephant let alone one of the many we saw. At one point I counted at least 50 that I could see at one moment. Incredible.
The park is very open and the watering holes are obvious attractions for many animals at the same time which is a fantastic sight. The competition was to see how many different animals you could get in one shot! Giraffes were abundant, there were a few warthogs, a smattering of mongooses, some distant buffalo, a few ostriches, the ubiquitous baboons and some very naughty vervet monkeys.
On arrival at the picnic area Bori warned us that the vervet monkeys may try and take our food. He wasn’t kidding! Claire opened her cardboard lunchbox at one point and a monkey was soon leaping onto the table and making off with her banana. A bit later one attacked her box while she wasn’t watching and made off with her cake. (no innuendo intended) One lady was just biting into her sandwich when a monkey stole it from her. The stories we have to tell eh!
It was a good day despite the lack of big cat action and sometimes you had to gasp in wonder at the sheer numbers of animals surrounding you. Some animals were incredibly close to us with one mammoth sized elephant (did you see what I did there?) with just one enormous tusk walking within a few feet of our vehicle. Some things you can’t put into words but I couldn’t put this into pictures either as it was too close for my zoomer boomer lens! I had to use my phone instead.
Maasai update. We have seen a few young boys in black robes and white masks and found out why they are dressed so today. After their circumcision they have to go and live and survive on their own for 3 months and then they become warriors. This doesn’t mean get a hostel and steal cheese from Tesco but actually live outside in the wild with no money in this heat. Fancy it? No, nor me.
We are now on our way back to camp so time for some pointers as it’s a long way. Now Claire agrees with me on this, so it might not be right, but I find walking round while cleaning your teeth, well, just wrong. It’s something to do at a sink where you can spit even if you are using your own water. It’s a private thing, keep it so.
The second thing Claire didn’t experience, but she knows is definitely wrong, happened in the men’s shower and toilet block. Someone went for a shower and had an ipod with speaker that he played music on really loud while he was in there. I’m trying to have a poo in peace and this numpty is blasting out drivellous MOR pap at what felt like 1m decibels. He was definitely a peckerhead. I can’t call him my new insult of Trump-voter as he wasn’t white enough to vote Trump.
As a point of incredible interest I noted recently that the word peckerhead is used in the film The Blues Brothers. Bet you’re glad you read this far now!
Tarangire also has some birds. I’ve already mentioned ostriches and there were some vultures too. And some others of no interest to me. Not a fan, sorry.
Bori drove us all the way back to camp and continued his stoic silence. Chris and Edyta are on their honeymoon ao well done for choosing such an adventure. Not sure they’ll be happy with the two single beds later though....which are built in stone so no you can’t push them together...
A quick personal note. We had some terrible news last night that one of our cats has been run over and has died. We didn’t have Astra long but we have some great memories and stories from the short time she was with us. She will be greatly missed. RIP Astra.
When we got back to camp we were introduced to our new chef, Maurice, who says he’ll be with us until the end of the tour. We told him we are both vegetarian. We shall see on both counts!
Later....
Dinner was indeed veggie and very nice. After came the entertainment which started with some tradional drums, singing and dancing. That was followed by some fantastic tumbling and balancing which, on a concrete floor, was even mote impressive. A good end to a grand day.

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