On the way to Tarangire National Park

So far we have had perfect weather, cool at night and very pleasant during the day. In altitude, Arusha is located at 1,400 meters (4,600 feet above sea level). Tarangire’s altitude ranges from approximately 900 to 1,528 meters (3,232 to 5,013 feet).

We left our peaceful heritage house in Arusha at 9:30 a.m. to head south to Tarangere N.P. In the Central Rift Valley. This park is a world-class wildlife viewing destination best known for elephants, birds and Baobob trees.

But first, we stopped at the Arts and Cultural Centre in Arusha to look around. It is a lovely and colourful building filled with very expensive crafts and art. We just browsed and were not pressured.

An interesting shop displayed lovely jewelry made with blue tanzanite discovered near Arusha. Apparently, tanzanite stones are 1000 times rarer than diamonds, thus the jewelry was expensive.

Our 2 1/2 hour drive to the park was on a good paved road. A respite from the bumpy roads we were on in the park yesterday!

But, the land is dry and very desert-like at this time of the year, the end of the dry season. The rivers were absolutely dry. The Masai live a hard life in this area in very small huts. Men are seen walking by the side of the road with their walking sticks and watching over their very thin herds of cattle, goats and donkeys as the animals search for food amongst the cast-aside plastic water bottles and garbage.

Gail brought 100 toothbrushes to hand out to kids. Five children trying to sell a rooster to passing motorists were the first kids to get toothbrushes.

In towns, we saw large trees with bright red flowers on the upper branches.
Norton told us they were called Christmas Trees.

By the time, we got to the park, it was lunchtime so once again Norton produced a very filling hot meal. The food that we didn’t eat was given to some workers sitting at another table. They accepted it graciously.

While we ate, we spotted a lot of birds that were new to us. Norton supplied us with names. A little Vervet mother monkey came close and we noticed that a tiny baby was clinging to her. An older baby was close by. It was interesting to watch the interactions between them.

At the base of several trees, we have noticed small cloth banners fluttering about. Norton told us that the fabric contains a poison that kills tsetse flies. We haven’t seen any of these flies so maybe it’s working…

There are huge Baobab trees in the picnic area. We saw a structure with stairs that let visitors check out one of these trees but it was closed off. Elephants come to baobab trees during the dry season because Baobabs store water in their trunks and bark, and elephants eat the bark and chew the woody tissue to access this stored moisture.

At around 1 pm, we entered the park and were awestruck by the number of African birds and animals we saw! See the next blog.Read more