Times in Tanzania: Tarangire National Park: Trip III

Ol Donyo Sambaa in back of the elephants grazing the swamp.

This past weekend we took our first "self-guided" safari to Tarangire National Park (Trip I). We had visited there twice before, both occasions when our respective families visited and did a long safari. However, the normal safari route only schedules a half day in Tarangire so we were curious to see what else the park had to offer.

We left on Friday evening and drove straight to Makuyuni, a dilapidated junction town that sits on the main highway from Arusha. I say we drove straight but we actually spent over an hour in traffic in Arusha. They are widening the highway there and we also ran into some esteemed government representatives (rumor had it the prime minister was there). When big wigs from the government come through cities, the traffic police close off the roads for about a half hour. Because of the construction and lack of direction (as well as lack of compliance following rules), we somehow ended up in the middle of six lanes of standstill traffic. We thought we were in serious trouble when a mini bus next to us started to offload passengers and goods but eventually we made it through.

Without traffic the drive to Makuyuni was only about 2 1/2 hours, with another half hour to the park. We were able to find a very decent local guesthouse for $15.

The next morning we headed out early and started to explore the park. Because most tourists come in the afternoon, we basically had the park to ourselves the entire morning. We enjoyed driving along the river taking numerous "river circuits" that looped around back to the main road. The morning was overcast, which was nice, and we saw huge herds of elephants, wildebeests, buffalo and zebra. The short rains must have passed not long ago because the entire landscape was green.

Around noon we reached a drier part of the park as we continued to head south. I wanted to reach a place called Silale Swamp but the map we had was not too good and gauging how long it would take to drive is not easy on poor roads. Compounding confusion was the fact that the park is signed, but a bit inconsistently and lacking details such as how many kilometers remained. As we hit the dry patch the wildlife decreased and the sun broke through, changing the cool breezy drive with several stops for wildlife to a hot and speedy cruise as I tried to get us to the swamp.

We got to a junction that had a sign towards "Silale Swamp Picnic Area" and one towards "Silale Swamp". We turned towards Silale Swamp and immediately the road began to narrow from disuse. There was suddenly a bit of animal life but the elephants we encountered were hostile, likely a result of their VERY small babies and also their negative experiences with poachers and those driving them away when they raid crops. We've seen skittish elephants before and it always gives us an appreciation for the tame ones that we do see. A scared elephant is no fun to see, especially when it's you as a human that is scaring them.

We finally decided we'd gone far enough and turned around. Our spirits were a little low and it was past lunchtime but I told Ana that we'd try to go to the Silale Swamp Viewpoint and if we didn't reach in 20 minutes we'd just eat lunch at the side of the road. Luckily, we reached Silale Swamp (+ the picnic area) in about 10 minutes and were greeted with an unbelievably picturesque view. We set up under a tree and watched the wildlife for about an hour before packing up and heading back.

On our way back we met a big rainstorm that was a welcome relief to the dry conditions we met in the south of the park. We encountered a big herd of elephants crossing the road and I let them pass about 10-15 meters ahead of us. They had some tiny tiny elephants with them and the last elephant, a big bull, was not too happy with our positioning. He kind of turned and jogged backwards facing us, and then trumpeted a warning shot. My heart just about dropped out of my pants as I instinctively shifted the car into reverse and floored it. Just a warning, nothing serious, but I learned something about elephants and space!