Tarangire River Camp

Massai goatherders.  We shared our lunch with them.

Dee and I left Bagamoyo on Saturday, 10/9, for Arusha and our safari.  Kiki, our driver, picked us up at the airport in a sturdy Toyota Land Cruiser and we started with a three hour drive to Tarangire River Park.  This is Kiki and me at the Tarangire River Camp Lodge doing the required pose with the mzungu.

On day two we all discover that Kiki and Zik (the program director at CCS) are neighbors.  In all of Tanzania, how do we make travel arrangements that have us in two different cities with neighbors taking care of us?  Serendipity!

Our tent is on a wooden platform right on the outskirts of the park.  There are Massai who walk us to and from the main lodge for the evening meal in case a lion or elephant happens to be lurking about.

The tent is quite luxurious compared with the living conditions in Bagamoyo.  And YES! we have hot water and really, REALLY comfortable beds.  Our squeals of delight brought the Massai running to see if we were okay.

A few minutes after we arrived while sitting on the deck, a parade of elephants, giraffe, and zebra crossed the dry river bed right in front of us.  Pretty special!

The next day we drove through the park.  I have no words for what it feels like to see these magnificent animals up close and personal in the wild.  It is a mystical experience.   I won't bore you with all 300 pictures I took but will have to share just a few.  Of all things the zoom on my camera wasn't working properly but they're not too bad.

This is Wild Dee, not a wild animal.  But it gives a flavor of the Tarangire River Camp.

The first animals we saw were a lion and lioness.  Kiki said they were traveling together because it's mating season.

I guess it was good.  This is how we found them later.

The poser

Mama and her nursing babies

Oh, those kids eat everything in sight.

Gotta pack up and get to the airport.  We leave Dar es Salaam at 5pm and arrive in Rome at 6am Saturday with a four hour layover in Addis Ababa.