Arusha and Tarangire National Park

Shortly after leaving Nairobi, we were out of the city and driving through African countryside. We passed many Maasai villages along the way, and near the villages there were men or boys (sometimes very young children) herding cows and goats. As we neared the Tanzanian border, we saw zebras, donkeys, and camels from the road! Apparently camels in East Africa are domesticated, but when we saw them they appeared to be roaming freely. The area we drove through was lush, green, and mountainous on both sides of the road.

There is only one Australian word to describe the Kenyan/Tanzanian border crossing: chockas. Buses were parked everywhere haphazardly and people were in unorganized lines waiting for immigration agents. It was not clear where we were supposed to go, but luckily our bus driver was helpful and essentially put us in the correct line. There were also heaps of Maasai women trying to sell things and they were very forceful, even putting jewelry directly onto our hands as we walked away from them. After getting our departure stamp from Kenya, our driver helped again, walking us across the Tanzanian border and showing us where to go to get our Tanzanian visa. For some reason, even though there were hundreds of people at the Kenyan border, there were only about 10 people trying to get in to Tanzania. The process was quick and easy and way less chaotic than the Kenyan side. It took about an hour for everyone on our bus to cross the border, then we were off to Arusha. 

The company I chose for our safari is Base Camp Tanzania. I compared about 20 different companies, looking at itineraries, prices, and reviews, and Base Camp seemed to be the best value for the money. Also, I wanted to use a company based in Tanzania, not one based in the US or Europe with an office in Africa. Included in the cost of our safari was 2 nights accommodation before and after the safari, plus Achmed, who owns the company, arranged our transport from Nairobi to Arusha and from the bus stop in Arusha to our accommodation at L'Oasis Lodge. As we were driving to the lodge, I was a little worried about what it was going to be like, because we were not in the best part of town. The road getting there was unpaved and had about a million potholes and we were driving in a 20+ seat bus, which made our entrance interesting and entertaining. When we arrived we were very pleasantly surprised, as the place looked awesome. We checked in easily and took a few minutes to admire our little "hut".

Achmed, the owner of Base Camp, was in the restaurant so that he could brief us on the next few days and answer any questions that we had. Also there were two other couples who had similar itineraries to ours, so we got the chance to meet an Indian couple who live in San Franscisco and a couple of pilots, one who is from Hungary and the other from Germany. Dinner was included, so we ordered food and enjoyed chatting with our new acquaintances. 

The next morning, we had an awesome buffet breakfast (also included) before leaving L'Oasis around 8am. We stopped at an ATM in downtown Arusha, where we saw the town in "action". The most noticeable thing was the women carrying ridiculously full baskets on their heads! Town was bustling with activity and it seemed like everyone was out either buying or selling things that morning. On the way to our first park, we drove past coffee plantations just outside of Arusha, then passed many Maasai villages with mountains in the background. The surroundings were beautiful and different than I expected. Along the way we chatted with our driver/guide, Lawrence, and our cook, James, trying to get to know them a little bit.

The first park of our 6 day safari was Tarangire National Park. Tarangire is known for large herds of elephants and for its baobab trees (think "Tree of Life" from The Lion King). We dropped James off at camp and headed into the park. The first animal we encountered was in the parking lot, and it was a blue-balled monkey! Lawrence warned us that the monkeys are very smart and told us to close our windows to ensure they did not get into the truck. 

Very strange feature, don't you think?!

Cheeky monkey trying to break into safari truck!

Once we entered the park, we started to see elephants. SO MANY ELEPHANTS!!! This park is amazing for elephant watching. We got very close to some, even a bit too close to one, who trumpeted at us and let us know to back off (elephants have been known to do damage to safari trucks who get too close, so we backed away quickly). We saw elephants fighting with their tusks, little ones playing with their trunks, and others cooling themselves with water (it was HOT in Tarangire). 

Elephants flap their ears to keep cool.

A herd walking along the dry riverbed.

So.Many.Elephants!

Keeping cool in the hot Tarangire sun.

A little late afternoon playtime for the little ones!

We had an awesome view for lunch, where unfortunately a sneaky monkey got into our truck through the roof and broke into our trail mix that came all the way from America!! Can't say Lawrence didn't warn us! In addition to elephants, we saw many giraffes, a few buffalo, ostriches, impalas, and zebras. We also spotted a kill, but the lion who we presume made the kill was nowhere to be seen. Overall, it was a great first day on safari.

Our view during lunch. Can you spot the elephants down below?

Giraffe hanging out in the shade.

A male impala

Two female ostriches watching over their young.

We caught up with the San Fran couple over dinner and they in fact did see the lion that made the kill. We were a little jealous, but hoped that we'd have luck seeing lions at some point over the remaining 5 days of the safari. Erik and I were SO tired by the end of that day, still adjusting to the time difference, so we went to bed early and had our first really good night's sleep of the trip under the stars in Tanzania!