Tarangire National Park, Tanzania
My first night at Ndovu Tented Lodge there were hyenas in the camp. But more on that later. After arriving at Kilimanjaro airport and spending the night in Arusha, my driver and guide, David, picked me up and we drove to Tarangire National Park- this park is not as famous as Ngorongoro Crater or Serengeti National Park, but it is known for its elephants and abundant Baobab trees. There are 500 species of birds in the park and the landscape is STUNNING. It was the Muslim holiday, EID, the day David and I left the mountain area so we were able to see the holiday celebration as we left the town. Although only 30% of the Tanzanian population is Muslim, EID is a national holiday.
I stayed at the small camp that had only eight tents, and a very nice swimming pool, although it was way too cold for me to use it. On the first day of the safari I saw large families of elephants and giraffes. It was no unusual to see 10-15 giraffes or 20 elephants at a time. I also saw a pride of lions kill and eat a zebra. The female lions are the hunters, but on National Geographic shows, the adult males eat first. There was no adult male at this kill. The terrain of this park changed as we drove through, forests, - plains, desert-like all within an hour's drive. On day two in the park, I saw a leopard sitting in a tree, minding his business. I knew it was a male because David told me so. I must say the knowledge that a safari guide has is astounding. David was expert at interpreting animal behavior, he knew when a bird was going to fly or a lioness was going to yawn before they did it. We watched an African Marsh Eagle dive for prey and glimpsed a cheetah playing with her cubs in the river. We helped a research team track a lioness to tag her. They were going to let me see the process, but she eluded us.
Tip for Roaming
I usually arrange my own trips, but with the safari, I chose to use a small, local tour operator in Tanzania. He was able to tell me that some of the places I wanted to stay, based on my online research, were hours away from the parks and I would get to the parks when it was already crowded. The local operators are who U.S. based travel agents use, so why not develop a direct relationship with them? They are the ones who really know what's happening on the ground.
One night I did a night game drive with a park ranger, armed with a rifle. There are many animals that can only be seen at night because that's when they hunt- hence the gun. We happened upon an elephant eating that night - an elephant has to eat 18 hours a day to maintain its weight.
Back to the hyena. Unlike Kenya, in Tanzania, the camps have no fences so animals can wander wherever they choose. That’s why there were hyenas in the camp my first night and they are LOUD. I didn't know what animal was making the sound outside of my tent. When I told David about it the next morning as we headed out, he asked me to mimic the sound. As soon as I did, he said it was hyena. The last morning at camp, during breakfast, I saw a warthog strolling around the main tent. Anyway, off we go to the Ngorongoro Crater. and Conservation area.
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