Tarangire National Park

Baobab tree with an elephant-sized hole in the trunk!
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First day of safari. Picked up at 8 to load up the land rover.  Five of us, plus driver/guide and cook. Quite a squash, but we were all very excited about our five day adventure.

The drive to Tarangire National Park took just under two hours and, after five days of urban life, it was wonderful to escape the city again!

The landscape changed quickly out of Arusha and the concrete buildings gave way to mud and straw huts and then Maasai bomas dotted around the savanna hills through which the road passed.  All along the way were herdsmen in their bright red shukas keeping their cattle in order as they moved from pasture to pasture.

Group of female Impala
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We arrived at Tarangire at around 10 and were served a very early lunch at 11 before heading into the Park itself.  We left our cook and bounced of in the land rover with our knowledgeable driver guide.  The first thing you see upon entering Tarangire National Park is the baobab trees. The park is famous for them.  They were all in full leaf - bright green.  Enormous and imposing, although the leaves hide the twisty, twiggy branches visible in the dry season.

The first animals we saw were impala - lots of them, quite a few little dik-diks (smallest antelope) and then many giraffes (Twiga in Swahili).  The giraffes are so dignified and graceful. Huge yet dainty.

Giraffes!
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We drove around for several hours across the landscape of rolling hills dotted with trees and scrub.  Saw lots of baboons, sitting in the grass under the trees, or resting or playing in the branches.

Eventually we found what we were hoping to see - Elephants!  Some quite large groups by a small river, some drinking and others grazing.  We watched elephants for quite a long time before continuing on our drive around the park.  As the afternoon wore on, the sky changed colour and large storm clouds gathered.  We departed for Jambo campsite near Lake Manyara (not far away) where we cooled off in the swimming pool before dinner.