Tarangire National Park is a slow drive (111km to the gate) from Arusha, but we arrived in plenty of time for our first game drive. Tarangire has Baobab trees and is known for its plentiful elephants. We saw zebras, lions, giraffes, wildebeest, hartebeest, impala, dik dik, warthogs, vervet monkeys, and banded mongoose. Also, we spotted beautiful birds like herons, ostriches, the vibrant blue Superb Starling, the lilac-breasted roller, red-billed hornbills, and a crowned plover.
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| Wildebeest |
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| The baby's brown stripes will become black at 9-18 months old |
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| Pachyderm Mud Bath |
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| A young elephant getting swatted by his elder |
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| Dik Dik a small housecat sized antelope 3-6 kg/6-13 lbs in weight |
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| Red-billed Hornbills |
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| Lilac-breasted Roller |
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| Sunset and Acacia Tree |
For our first night in the bush we stayed at the Tarangire Balloon Camp. The rooms were separate luxury tents in the park. Because the lodging was in the park, there were no fences, and we arrived after the sun had set, the employees guided us by flashlight first to our beautiful tent room. When it was time for dinner, we flashed a light outside and our escort appeared to take us to the restaurant/lounge.
During the night some thirsty elephants broke apart some of the water pipes and then went on to drink the swimming pool water.
The next morning we were trawling the park at sunrise searching for animals.
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| Sunrise and Baobab Tree |
We watched a large herd of elephants milling about and displaying defensive positions in protection of their calves. We couldn't figure out their behavior until three lions ran across the road between the two vehicles and in front of us. After upsetting the elephants, they were now stalking a zebra.
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| Our group and the staff at Tarangire Balloon Camp |
We returned to Tarangire Balloon Camp for breakfast and to pick up our box lunch for the second game drive of the day on the way out of the park. We headed to our next night's lodging at Ngorongoro Farm House Valley in Karatu a town very near the Ngorongoro Conservation Area's entrance gate.
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