Arusha National Park

Today was our first of seven game drives, and I couldn’t be more excited! As much of my time over the next week will be from a car, photographing anything that moves, I anticipate that my blogs will be more photo based as opposed to the novels that I’ve written so far on this trip.

Our safaris throughout the national parks here have been planned superbly, at least as far as I can tell after day one. This is because we started in Arusha National Park which is majestic and forest-rich, but also one of the smallest parks here with the fewest predators. We will make our way toward the Serengeti as the week progresses.

Jessica and I are in what is called a 4x4. It is a four wheel drive vehicle perfectly equipped for viewing wildlife with a top that pops up, allowing us to safely view from inside the vehicle.

Arusha National Park is home to the second tallest mountain in Tanzania, Mt. Meru with views of Mt. Kilimanjaro (the roof of Africa) in the distance. It is quite forested, so the monkeys thoroughly enjoy it. There are a few leopards in the park, but very few, so the animals feel safe and free to roam.

We saw zebras, buffalo and warthogs upon first entering the park. If you know the Lion King, you already know the Swahili word for warthog… that’s right, Pumba!

We went for a walk with a ranger through a part of the park (I don’t think we will have this opportunity at any other park later on in the week. Remember, I said that this park had very few predators.). He was able to guide us close to the warthogs who were not spooked because we were down wind of them. We got a little closer than I expected to one of the big five. The big five are categorized as such because these are the five hardest animals to hunt. This is because if you miss when shooting at the lion, leopard, rhino, elephant or the buffalo (just ten yards away from us), well, you’d be the one six-feet under as opposed to the animal you’re aiming the gun at. (The reason the hippo, truly one of the most dangerous animals is not on this list is because there is nothing on the hippo that is monetarily valued as the other five have in common.)

Our guide also told us about the African fig tree. If planted on its own, it only grows into a bush. But, when a monkey processes the seeds from a fig and “deposits” them somewhere high up on the branches, the fig tree slowly takes over the other tree, sucking its nutrients and turning into a tree itself.

We happened upon several different kinds of poop on our walk, and the ranger asked us to identify one. It looked like the pellets created by rabbits or goats. While the pellets themselves were larger, perhaps the size of grapes, the pile was extremely small (like the size of what a goat leaves behind). Any guesses? A giraffe! Apparently they drink very little water (it’s a long way down!), and so, they process less, and it is much dryer.

The giraffes eluded us at first, and I must admit that when our guide pointed toward one, I looked to the top of the trees as I did in Jurassic Park when I knew the tyrannosaurus rex was entering the scene. Giraffes are tall, the tallest land mammal, but they don’t tower over trees. In fact, they blend in remarkably well. Their heads poked up from the undergrowth, somehow reminiscent of prairie dogs. We were able to get within about twenty yards or so of them. Like llamas, they looked at us curiously, with skepticism and just kept chewing. They were truly majestic, these gentle giants. The ones we saw today were Masai giraffes (I did not know until today that there is more than one type of giraffe!). Later, back in our car after a delicious meal, we continued to spot these stunning quiet giants, and they continued just to stare at us with equal amounts of curiosity.

Did you know there are 200 types of antelope? We saw two types today! We saw the Waterbuck, with impressive horns, and the red duiker (I think!) which stood about as tall as the house cat I left at home.

This park is especially known for their monkeys, as they, too, feel very safe here. We loved watching, just feet from the truck as olive baboons groomed one another, climbed trees and even suckled at his mother. The blue monkeys had bodies and features that reminded us of our cats, and faces that crossed somewhere between a wise old man and an adorable kitten.

We did not see the black and white colobus monkey that the park is famous for, but I’m not all too heartbroken as I didn’t even know that creature existed until yesterday!

I can’t wait to see what the coming days have to offer!