Times in Tanzania: Tarangire National Park: Trip IV

Everyone loves a super cute baby elephant.

Two of my co-workers have been here in Tanzania for six months and they haven't gone to a national park yet. I thought back to when we first arrived and how inaccessible and difficult it appeared to go on a self-guided safari. The alternative to that was a hired safari which carried a hefty cost in both time and money that most people working in the non-profit world can't readily afford. This weekend we arranged for a one day trip to Tarangire National Park (Trip I, Trip III).

To force Tarangire into a normal weekend takes some effort but it's totally doable. You can leave Moshi at 5pm and make it to Makuyuni, a tiny junction way-point with one of the best "local" guesthouses we've stayed it, by 8:30pm. Although the drive seems long and navigating through Arusha traffic can be a challenge, I still think it allows you to get a good nights rest. From there it's only a 15 minute drive to the park gate and if you get in early enough the registration process goes quickly.

Everything was very smooth for us as we arrived at Tarangire at 8:30am. It seemed pretty crowded with a few large buses full of Tanzanians mixed in with the typical safari cars and tourists. We registered quickly and hit the river circuit.

Going with first-timers was really a great experience from the beginning. One tends to forget their first moments; when your eyes scan wildly for any type of movement in anticipation of..well, anything. Any log starts to take the appearance of a sleeping lion, or long branch an elephant's trunk. The sight of a warthog half obscured by grass 50 ft away gets you scrambling for your camera and giddy with excitement.

We spotted some relatively common ungulates in the first hour in the park with some great views of waterbuck, gazelles, and zebra. But the real excitement began when we explored a river. We were lucky enough to find two large groups of elephants with some giraffes and zebra nearby. There weren't any other safari cars nearby and it was the quintessential setting with great views over the plains and intimate views of the animals.

The rest of the day was likewise full of good wildlife spottings, though we only saw a solitary lion lazily relaxing under a tree. No cheetahs or leopards but the other wildlife was numerous and densely located along the routes we drove. One of the real highlights was seeing a dead elephant corpse and hundreds of vultures coming in for the feed. The numbers of vultures in Africa has been decreasing rapidly so it's always a treat to see a large group.

We exited the park around 430pm and made it back to Moshi by 8pm. It was a very successful trip but doing it one day can be tiring! Totally worth it though.