Tanzania Day Seven: Tarangire National Park

Tanzania Day Seven: Tarangire National Park

Tanzania Day Seven Tarangire elephants (14 of 31)
Previous Post
Next Post

We had arrived. After a short stop at the park entrance, we were soon driving our safari vehicles  on the dusty and scenic roads of Tarangire National Park. Our mission was  to  search for wildlife. 

The landscape was dominated by mostly  acacia and  baobab trees.  It was the dry season in Tanzania and the grass was withered and brown. . 

It didn’t take  long for our guides to find the wildlife for which the park is famous. We soon came upon a herd of wildebeest, and 

some zebras  at a watering hole. 

This was my second visit to the park, and my third safari in Africa, so I knew what to expect. It was still exciting to view this wild creatures in their natural environment.  And I enjoyed watching the expressions on some of my fellow safari members who never had this experience before. 

After watching the zebras,

and wildebeest

we continued on the dusty rutted roads and soon sighted the animals that makes Tarangire famous, its many elephants. 

One never tires seeing these massive animals as the roam freely in their native habitat. The memories  will remain the rest of your life.  

We encountered dozens of them on our safari that afternoon.

  Their were many families, huge  bulls to young infants, all being led by the matriarchs of the herd. 

We were fortunate to see both a cheetah and

a pair of lions on our exploration of the park.

Our guides told us these sighting are uncommon in the dry season. 

Here is a link to a gallery with some more photographs of the elephants, lions and cheetah.

Our guides  roamed the many roads trails of the park looking for the many species of wildlife that make these grasslands their home. We saw herds of Thomson’s gazelle and,

impalas running freely throughout the vast grasslands of the park.  

We also encountered some stately giraffes strutting along trails.

Some stopped to feed on the leaves high on the treetops. 

Occasionally we would see some baboons along the trail or in the treetops. 

Our guides also pointed out the many beautiful species of birds we observed on our afternoon of driving through the park. This  ostrich was  easy to identify. 

However some of the other birds, including this horn bill  required help from our expert guides/drivers. 

And, of course, we also saw some warthogs along the trails. This is a link to some more photographs of the birds and animals we  saw on our safari through Tarangire National Park. Tanzania Day Seven:  Animals and birds October 4 2019. 

We drove through the park most of the afternoon. It was nearing sunset when we left the park and drove to our lodge for the night. I was reflecting on what a great day, not knowing that there would still be a lot more wildlife to observe before the sunset.  Here is a link to a gallery with some more photographs from our drive in the park. Tanzania Day Seven: Park drive. 

 

If I have ever seen magic, it has been in Africa.”  John Hemingway

This is my first post