We arose for an unhurried 9:15 a.m. departure in three Land Cruisers with Ronald and our driver guides Samson and Joseph.  Toyota Land Cruisers (generally referred to as jeeps by the guides) are much more prevalent here than Land Rovers which our guides said were much more comfortable but not as rugged.  After bouncing all over the tracks in Tanzania we understood their choice – bad to break down next to elephants or lions – but sure would have loved better rear suspension for the back seat occupants.  It was a couple of hours’ drive to the entrance of Tarangire National Park, which is renowned for elephants and baobab trees.  We wanted to enter the park late in the afternoon, so dawdled along the way at an art gallery where we had a short talk by the proprietor Robert and then some time to browse and, perhaps, spend some money with the locals.  Indeed, we bought a colorful painting and a rhinoceros carving.  We followed this with a leisurely picnic lunch complete with cold Tanzanian “Tusker” beer at the park entrance before opening the jeep tops and heading into the park.  (According to the bottle “Tusker” is named after the elephant that killed the company founder.  It seemed an auspicious way to start the safari.)

Straightaway we saw large groups of impalas (nicknamed “111” because the dark stripes on their rumps and tail line up to look like those numbers) and warthogs with faces only a mother could love.  Both of these seemed quite exciting, although as the trip wore on we found they were “NBD”, guide talk for “no big deal.”  There were more animals out than we expected in the hot afternoon sun.  Samson, our driver, had a good eye for picking them out of the bush, and we passed close by herds of Cape buffalo, then saw lions, ostrich, gazelles, and elephants in the distance.  Up close again were tortoises, banded mongoose, and Abdim’s storks.  Baobab trees were everywhere, as well as many kinds of acacias.  The baobabs are well loved, abused really, by elephants, who gnaw and rub against the tree trunks for the moisture they contain, rubbing the bark raw.  There are no baobab saplings to be seen because the elephants eat them all when just young sprouts.  Fortunately this tree lives for several hundred years, but one wonders what will happen someday when all of the big ones are dead.  The signature look of this park will be no more.

We roll past more animals, for example the common waterbuck with its rump looking for all the world like a target from the rear, more impala and leopard tortoises, and then a Big Deal, a cheetah family.  These are not as commonly seen (in fact, cheetahs are considered endangered), so we were fortunate to see a mother and cub lolling about on a termite mound.  (Termites here do not eat wood like those in the U.S., they eat plant matter and build huge dirt mounds in which they grow mushrooms to feed their queen.)  During the middle of our drive, a thunderstorm produced a driving downpour which made observing more difficult but still productive.

In addition to the mega fauna and assorted minor fauna, we see numerous bird species including the 3-foot tall marabou stork, tawny eagle, red and yellow barbet, yellow neck spurfowl, and helmeted guineafowl (with bright blue helmet).  For birders in the group, it is great opportunity to knock off lots of birds on their life lists.  Towards the end of the drive we come across golden jackals, more Cape buffalo, and a couple of male lions close to the road.  The drivers know the roads within this park so well, they wheel and detour all over the place looking for targets of opportunity, and they are usually successful.  We had a heck of a first day on safari.

Hot, dusty, and bruised from bouncing around in the jeeps, we leave the park and drive for an hour to our home for the next couple of nights, the Lake Burunge Tented Lodge on the sandy shore of said lake.  We each have a bungalow composed of a wall tent set up on a platform with front deck and thatch roof, and solar powered lights and hot water for showers.  Like the Olasiti Lodge, the beds are all equipped with full mosquito netting, and it seems more necessary here than it was in Arusha where we rarely saw a mossie.  The bungalows are scattered along a path and we return to the open-air reception/ bar/ dining area overlooking the lake for our meals.

We were told that due to several dangerous life forms in the area (i.e. hyenas, black mamba snakes, and zebras – really, zebras??), we must be escorted by lodge staff (Maasai warriors armed with bows and arrows or spears) along the paths after dark.  This seemed pretty safe at the time, though later we had reason to doubt.  In addition, our room key chain has an emergency whistle on it to call for help or a night escort from our bungalow, if needed.  Kind of like a telephone but less precise.  Despite the isolated setting, we had a fine meal on the lodge deck and were ready for dessert when a torrential downpour began so we retreated back under the roofed area.  After it stopped, we were all escorted back to our wall tents and tucked ourselves into the mosquito netting for a pretty sound night’s sleep.