Tarangire National Park

Is that an elephant or a termite mound? Wait, how did that elephant disappear? These are sentences I never thought I’d need to utter.

Tarangire National Park is our guide, Lou’s, favorite park. It is much larger than Arusha National Park and much more vast and expansive. The word Tarangire means river of the warthogs, although, we only saw a few of them upon our departure.

While the park is famous for their lions, the cats have eluded us. However, we spotted our second of the big five, so my hope is that we will continue to progress in this way!

We saw an impala, another type of antelope. We saw a male ostrich with three female escorts. There was an adder snake safely spotted from the height of the truck. He was not terribly long, probably only measuring two feet or so, but he moved in a very unique way. Rather than slithering back and forth, he moved forward as if he was propelled by dozens of tiny feet.

This park is also famous for its baobab trees. These trees are massive, living hundreds, possibly thousands of years. They provide food and shelter to animals, and in the dry seasons, the bark even provides water to elephants.

The baboons and black-faced monkeys were so entertaining. Like rambunctious school children, they scurried about next to the road, on and over trees, eating flowers and grooming one another in between. At our picnic spot, Lou had to keep the monkeys at bay. They eagerly watched picnickers, hoping one would share a morsel or perhaps glance away leaving an opportunity for a cheeky monkey to steal a meal.

We did see a few giraffes, but the highlight of our day in Tarangire were the zebras and the elephants. The zebras were running about by the hundreds. They were playful and curious, and didn’t really seem to mind us. Although they reminded me of horses, the more time we spent with them, I realized it is actually donkeys they most resemble, mostly because of their high-pitched cries.

And unicorns, I guess!

We spotted elephants from a distance several times, often across the river, but they were kind enough to come down and drink in front of us so that we could see them more clearly. Who knew that the shrubbery the elephants eat can even hide them? We saw many young ones, usually scurrying about, but never very far from the parents that protected them. As Lou explains it, though, the creatures in these National Parks really don’t fear people. Sure, they have a safe hesitation, but they are hunted only in game reserves, not the parks which is why they feel comfortable enough with us snapping photos of them!