Tarangire National Park Safari Day 1

More than 300 species of mammals have been recorded in Tanzania, including 80 so called big mammals. Tarangire Park is full of them and we were awed by every sighting.

Gail kept a list of what birds and animals we saw and that included 2 sleeping lions, a mother cheetah and two cubs, lots of elephants and an assortment of zebras, buffalos, giraffes, wildebeest, warthogs, elands, impalas, antelopes, two types of mongoose on the tops of termite hills and more.

There are more than 500 species if birds here. It is not hard to spot them as they are so plentiful - hornbills, woodpeckers, starlings, swallows, and weavers. We saw at least 20 different types of birds. Beside a watering hole, we saw a fish eagle as well as storks, herons, ducks, geese, a pelican and more. Vultures were up in the trees and Guinea fowl on the ground.

Anyways, we spent the afternoon driving around, oohing and aweing. None of the animals are afraid of the trucks and the drivers drove carefully as the some of the animals, including elephants, would walk right up to the trucks and sniff around.

Our jeep has a pop up roof so we can stand up to see things easier. There is a cooler in the truck filled with water, juices and even beer. Extra cushions on the seats for those bumpy parts of the roads and chargers for our cellphones in the truck.

We stayed in a hostel in the park, the Tarangire Rest House, and were the only ones there. We had to laugh. Pat and Gail only had cold water in their room and we only had hot. The air conditioner worked but dripped all night. We had to put a towel in a garbage can to catch the drips.

Dinner was in a park restaurant. We ate a good buffet dinner outside on a picnic table in the dark. Our light for the table was a full water bottle on top of a cellphone flashlight. Haha. It worked but not the brightest.

When we got back to our room, we decided to put on a little uke and puppet show for our driver/guide Norton. He loved it!

We went to bed early as we were pretty tired from all the excitement of the day.Read more