Look! A Zebra!!!

Once we hit the turn off for Tarangire, things started to change pretty rapidly. The heavily grazed land, almost completely barren in places, started to become scrubby bush with Acacia trees large and small puctuated by frequent Baobab trees

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After a short ways, we came to the park entrance, which sported bathrooms, some interpretive displays, a gift shop, and the requisite bureaucracy. One does not simply wander into a Tanzanian park. There are forms to fill out, permits to obtain, and substantial fees to be paid. Julius went off to take care of the paperwork while we freshened up, got oriented, and talked about some of the interpretive displays with David.

I should probably describe our vehicle at this point. It was a converted Landcruiser with a built in thermoelectric refrigerator, inverter (capable of charging camera batteries, etc.), and a pop up roof that was high enough to allow us to stand for game viewing and photography. In short, it was just about the ideal vehicle for our purposes.

Paperwork complete, we headed into the park. We got, perhaps, a quarter mile before someone first uttered the words "Look! A zebra!".

To Catherine and I, seeing a zebra in the wild, especially our first, was a momentus occasion. David and Julius just smiled and indulged us, stopping whenever something new was spotted ("Look! A whole herd of wildebeest!", "There's a black backed jackel!" "Baboons!", and so on...). This made the first three miles or so take well over an hour. Of course, we (Catherine and I) didn't realize yet that zebras and wildebeest were as common as pigeons in Times Square. Nonetheless, many pictures were taken in the first couple of hours, kind of like Neal Armstrong kneeling down to scoop up a pocketful of moondust after Apollo 11 landed, just in case that was the only chance he had to get a sample of the moon.

Eventually, David mentioned that we needed to get moving - we still had a lot of ground to cover today if we were to arrive before sunset, and there was still more and better game viewing ahead. In this he was right, and we were treated to larger herds of zebra and wildebeest, not to mention impala and elephants playing in the mud. Eventually, though, we made our way to the Tarangire lodge, where we would stop for the views, drinks, and lunch.

Here are a few more pictures taken near the park entrance:.

The story goes that when the wildebeest were created, they were thrown together from all the unused parts left over from the creation of all the other animals. In reality, this antelope, also known as the gnu, is well suited for its environment. Its body and legs allow it to run for hours on end, while the air passages and veins in the broad, flat snout serve as an efficient cooling device, allowing the animal to avoid overheating under the African sun.

This critter is a black backed jackal. The jackal is a scavenger and opportunist, much like the coyote in the United States. We never got very close to one, however (this one is about 40 yards away). They are cautious animals with a large "flight distance". The flight distance is how close an animal will let you approach before it starts to run away.

The dwarf mongoose is not the mongoose of Riki-Tiki-Tavi fame (RTT was from India, by the way), but rather his smaller cousin. We saw these little guys all over the place - usually watching us carefully or investigating some hole or another. They are very social in their groups, and great fun to observe.

There are a lot of different types of antelope in Tanzania. This one, the impala, seems to favor cover. We usually found them in areas where there was plenty of scrub acacia, but enough room to run in an emergency. The males have big, beautiful spiral horns, and are usually either found in a group of bachelors or with a small harem of females.

How can you not love a giraffe? On the one hand, it seems so improbable that such a creature should exist. How can the neck support itself? On the other hand, it is a perfect example of evolutionary adaptation. The giraffe can reach parts of the big Acacia trees that no other plains browser can reach, not even the elephant. That the giraffe can browse on acacia at all is surprising. It needs a prehensile tongue and a tough mouth to manage the wicked thorns.

This I just threw in for the "Awww !!!" factor because, lets face it, everybody loves baby animals!

These guys were pretty ubiquitous, and the faster they run the more straight up in the air their tail sticks. Warthogs can be dangerous, though - those tusks are used not only for digging up meals, but also for defense. Catherine, smitten with momentary dyslexia, dubbed them hogwarts, a name that stuck with our little group for the rest of the trip.

The elephants, though, were the star of the early show. This family group was in a hurry to get someplace,

While this big bull walked within a few feet of us and then showed his displeasure at our presence.

When we happened on this watering hole in a mostly dry riverbed, it was remarkable to see so many species of animals peacefully coexisting. They all look out for each other, keeping an eye out for predators.

Farther down the road near the same watering hole we found this family group of elephants having a spa day, complete with mudpack.











All of this happened in the first 90 minutes and five miles. David and Julius indulged us through this initiation, giving us time to take it all in. It was starting to be hard to imagine what would come next.