After leaving our morning birding guide at a roundabout we are ready to start our adventure through Tanzania. And are promptly stopped by the police. Who start asking us if everything is alright and then waved us through. There was in fact quite a few police in strategic places dressed in white and happy to stop you if speeding or whatever but today that was our only stop as we make our way to Tarangire.
While the police didn’t stop us after that first encounter the goats and cows did stop us consistently. There seemed to be an intentional inclination to feed the animals right next to the road and then to pass them back and forth stopping all traffic. This includes the mighty trucks that we try to avoid, because if we have bad brakes, what type of brakes do they have?
We arrive at Tarangire entrance gate at around 2:30PM, enough time to make it to our accomodation at 6:30PM we assume. But then as the ranger starts inputting the info slowly then asks us how much the trucks weights (how should we know?!?) then needs our passports then to prove that we have the accomodation…the time simply passes. It felt like about one hour has passed and for all of this we also have to pay for two nights in the park about $500 USD, quite expensive.
Before entering the park we decide to use the facilities. Also to explore the gift shops and see if there are any interesting birds around.
At the gift shop they have Tanzanite, the well known local gemstone, and the price is what we expect so in the end we buy a souvenir necklace and earrings. Luckily everywhere credit cards are accepted, otherwise we would be out of Tanzanian money soon. Birdwise we see quite a few birds the most exciting being the first of the three endemics we hope to see, the Ashy Starling.
And then it is time to enter the park, no issues here, and suddenly we are in a different world. The park is full of animals and almost immediately we can see them on the side of the road.
Seeing the first baobabs is impressive also with the waterbuck next to them being quite a bonus.
The road at the beginning of the park, similarly to the one from the main road to the park entrance has intentional speed bumps. That look like small hills and sometimes we fear that even our large truck might hit them. Luckily we never do and even better they end after some time and we can focus on the impalas and other antelopes on the way.
Of course we are here not only for the mammals but also for the birds but in the initial stretch most birds are quite common, Crested Guineafowl and Lilac-breasted Rollers, we have already seen them during our previous trips to Africa.
The zebras though, we cannot get enough of them no matter how many times we see them. They are so striking in the grass and always alert for predators.
The savanna here is quite different from the Engikaret Lark Plains earlier, while both are grass here the grass is longer, potentially hiding large predators, and there are also some trees versus none in the Engikaret Plains.
Soon we see also the other common roller species here, the European Roller, there are a few more roller species we hope to see by the end of the trip.
One of the issues we are facing as we make our to the lodge is that….we really don’t know where the lodge is. The only info is the dot on the map from Google Maps but there is no road to it on the map. And the lodge was not that forthcoming with info. So we are going with guesses and hope that there is a sign if a side road goes towards it. This is important as we have to decide on which side of the river to drive, in the end we decide on the side with the dot, hope we won’t regret it. The signs in the park are also useless, other lodges are showing up but not ours which is newer.
This doesn’t impact our happiness to be in this wonderful habitat, with termite mounds and Lappet-faced Vultures on trees. But it keeps us on the toes when Google Maps is directing us one way but the larger well maintained road goes a different way. Spoiler, follow the road not Google Maps :).
One of the things that Tarangire is famous for is the large number of elephants. And just as we get worried if we are going to see them we notice a herd to our right, got them! Nearby a warthog is watching us quite cool.
And then a giraffe here, a bird there we are stopping quite often and soon notice that time is passing quite fast when you stop a lot. And we still don’t know how far we are, if the lodge even knows that we are coming so we decide to speed it up if possible, we are getting close to sunset after which you aren’t allowed to drive officially.
Of course during late afternoon, when it starts to cool down, the birds come out to play so we have to stop for close ups of special birds like Crowned Lapwing.
Spurfowls are also a major reason we are breaking often. There are multiple species here and we are not sure about the differences yet so we photograph everything just in case.
Whenever it seems we are making good time something new makes us stop. But this is why we are here to take photos of herds of elephants, listen to the birds and just enjoy Africa.
And also the Euphorbia, how can we not stop to take a photo of the magnificent Tree Euphorbia?
And then, right at the spot were we predicted the entrance road to be, there is an entrance road. It is also nicely marked, phew. We follow the narrow one lane road to the lodge stopping for a few more birds and a Dik Dik and arriving right at sunset, this is how we like it! Then it is time to check in and dinner and tomorrow we have a full day to explore Tarangire.
