:Arusha:     :Tarangire:     :Ngorongoro Crater:    :Serengeti:     :Balloon Safari:     :Cat Gallery:   

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Once we drove out of the urban areas of Arusha and hit the road to Tarangire, we started to see African wildlife almost immediately! The landscape began to evolve from lush jungle/ coffee plantations to the savannah of Maasailand.  Robert, our senior guide, was with us in the Land Rover today.  Giraffes and zebra and ostriches shared the land with herds of Maasai cattle. This was our first glimpse of zebra by the side of the road, about ½ hour out of Arusha.



We felt like we suddenly abandoned being adults and just became kids in one great big zoo. We just never got tired of jumping up and shouting, “Look, a lion! Look, a zebra!” Even after the 100th time! Giraffe were everywhere, just grazing roadside:



This baby giraffe got nervous when it saw us coming and “hid” behind this bush. We pretended that we could no longer see him:



Ostriches were also fairly common:



After about 1 ½ hours, we reached the gate of Tarangire Park, where our vehicle underwent compulsory deflying because of reports of increased sleeping sickness.  All vehicles entering Tarangire are sprayed with an insecticide that specifically affects tsetse flies, the bite of which is known to transmit the disease.  Apparently, they use an insecticide that has a very short residual effect and is not thought to pose a danger to the environment or people.

Tarangire National Park is at a fairly low altitude, so the baobob trees grow immensely here! The park is known for its baobobs and its elephants.

The drive to the lodge was beautiful, with Maasai Giraffes peeking out at us everywhere.

We arrived at the Tarangire Safari Lodge, which was set on a hillside with an expansive panoramic view of the Tarangire River below. We just set ourselves up here with our binoculars, a pint of Safari Lager, and enjoyed watching a parade of giraffes, antelope, gazelles, waterbucks, and elephants coming to drink at the river.



This was lazy-man’s (lazy woman’s?) version of game viewing!

  On to:  More Tarangire

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