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Published: September 16th 2016
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We woke this morning to the sound of laughter...not from a human, but from a bird thats call sounded exactly like it. Naturally after a, "what is that?" We started cracking up ourselves. We had breakfast and then Babenga, our guide, joined us to give an overview of what to expect and the "dos and don'ts." Babenga is from Bukoba, Tanzania and has been a guide for 22 years. He is known as "the wise one" and is proving to be!
We loaded up the Land Cruiser and hit the road traveling out through Arusha which has a small monument acknowledging the middle of Africa, as it is midway between Cape Town and Cairo. There was a lot of construction as there is a project to construct a highway that does stretch from each of those points...I can't even imagine how long that trip would take as most of the main roads we were on had a speed limit of 50 km.
Now I read recently in a book that one should never imagine what their trip will be to someplace they have not been. That imagination and expectations can trump reality and leave you feeling disappointed. Well in
this case that suggestion was completely wrong! Everything I imagined is what we experienced today. We honestly didn't know what to expect as I can still remember arriving at the Great Pyramids of Giza. We imagined them out in a vast desert and arrived to find a huge parking lot literally feet away, and a strip mall with a Pizza Hut on the other side!!
The drive to our first destination, Tarangire National Park, was everything I think we wanted it to be. Babenga talked to us almost the entire 3 hour drive and told us of the deep rooted traditions of the Maasai Tribe, whose lands we were driving through. I can say their traditions do not fall kindly on female ears, and I will share more in a few days when we visit a village and experience them up close for ourselves. However, there we are hearing about this tribe and we are seeing them...their homes...their cattle...their ways right there in plain sight off of the highway. Traditional tribal life right before our eyes!
We arrived at Tarangire around noon, and after Babenga purchased our tickets we had our picnic lunch of roasted chicken, an apple,
cheese, crackers, mango juice, and Cadbury milk chocolate. Tarangire has the second-highest concentration of wildlife of any Tanzanian national park (after Serengeti) and reportedly the largest concentration of elephants in the world. But this is one place where the wildlife tells only half the story, the epic baobab trees dominate the park's 2850 sq km. (Baobabs are massive trees that overtake the landscape and can live 600-900 years)
Babenga opened the roof of the Land Cruiser and we were off, each standing with our heads poking out of the roof as we literally began our 4x4 drive. These unpaved roads are an off-road experience with deep craters and crazy terrain that has us bouncing all over the place. I am sure we will wake up tomorrow morning with some bruises and bumps!
So again in not knowing what to expect, I think we thought we would be driving in this wide-open terrain looking far into the distance trying to spot the wildlife. Nope! Here they are all up close and personal...starting with Zebras and Wildebeests in the thousands! We learned that they stick together because the Zebras have a great sense of hearing, and the Wildebeests smell so
they help each other avoid predators. Speaking of which, not less than 10 minutes after entering the park we came upon a fresh kill at a scarce watering hole. Lions had just taken down a Zebra, and we got to stay there a good 10-15 minutes and watch them drag it out of the sun, begin "working" on it, and saw even some playful banter between a couple of the cubs. Some Warthogs (Yay Pumbas!) came about the scene as they just wanted to sneak in a drink of water, but the youngest cub wasn't having it and chased them away....it was "his" spot!!!!
We spent the next 3 hours 4x4ing straight through the park (52 km) towards our camp and saw every animal I think we all wanted to see.....Elephants, Giraffes, Gazelles, Mongoose, Baboons, Warthogs, Ostrich, and Amazing Birds. I think we were all just in awe honestly! I guess I didn't really expect to look out from the roof of the car across the vast plains of the park and see Elephant silhouettes everywhere I looked....for the Africa experience I think we've all dreamed of as a child (or since Out of Africa with Robert Redford) to
be actually real. Now. Here. In 2016....
We learned so many fun things from Babenga today that we didn't really know. The animal kingdom is truly amazing (Do you hear the "Circle of Life" playing in your head right now?? I do!!!). We exited the park around 5pm and made our way through even crazier terrain to our home for the next 3 nights, Camp Kikoti. This place is the real deal!!! It sits at a higher elevation with a beautiful view of the park (and a great sunset). Our rooms are cabins on stilts that are completely "open" meaning that they are just screened in outside of the roof and half wall/door structure. Since we are so close to the park, we cannot walk alone after dusk on our own and have to be escorted by armed rangers carrying rifles. If we want to leave our cabins, we simply wave our flashlights in the air and they will come and get us. Can I tell you how excited I am by this?!?!?! Crazy I know, but this is as close to camping in freaking Africa as you can get!! For those of you thinking we're lacking in facilities,
you can relax! We have full power and completely operational bathrooms. They run on 80% solar here, and 20% generator. We actually have the whole camp to ourselves tonight with a group arriving tomorrow. It was a great evening! We enjoyed dinner with Babenga (food has all been good but A LOT!) and then sat by a fire before the two boys wimping out and wanting to go to sleep before 9pm, LOL.
Fun Facts for the Day:
*a lion's pride is is referring to the females in the group as the dominant male may change, all females are related
*a group of zebras is called a dazzle, and they can't be used for riding or packing because their backs are very weak
*black ostriches are male and cover the eggs at night, female are gray/tan and cover during the day, this is for camouflage to protect from predators.
*elephants are eating 17 hours a day, sleep for 3.
*termites are amazing! They don't eat wood (they eat fungus that they produce that destroys wood, they build ventilated huge structures, the queen can live 25 yrs and be 4 inches long.
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