Safari Day 3: Tarangire National Park

 We got on the road early so we could get to Tarangire and see all the things. This park was the most like I had pictured Africa in my head. Brown, dry and very hot. It was similar to the crater in that there were animals everywhere. It was filled with lots of excitement as we had a chance to see so many cool things.

There were so many wart hogs. It was hard to get a good picture because their heads were always down.

A huge herd of elephants. So cool!

We saw a mom and three baby cheetahs. This is what a traffic jam on a safari looks like. The guides talked over the radio and told everyone where the cheetahs were and all came to see.

You can only see two of her cubs in the pictures. The other one was hiding behind the termite hill. We watched them for a very long time. They were so cool.

After a while of watching them the mother left and went about 100 yard up ahead. We followed her on the road and got to see the best show of our lives. We got to watch her hunt an impala. it was so crazy. She just snuck up on three of them grazing in the grass. Once she made her move she got the slowest one. It took a good ten minutes for her to take it down. Then she called her three cubs over to come eat. It was wild!

An elephant up close!

The watering hole in this park was magic in the afternoon. So many animals all just hanging out. Giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, wart hogs, gazelles, impalas. We even saw a family of mongooses close by. It was so cool to just sit and watch them all hang out together.

African Impala

The blue ball monkey. Named blue balls because they literally have blue testicles. Like bright blue. So weird. They were all over at lunch trying to steal food.

The male ostrich.

The famous baobab tree.

The acacia tree.

We also got to watch another herd of lions. This time they were very close to the road. Seriously so cool! There were four or five female lions all with one male. One of the females was in heat. We learned that the female in heat and the male will mate every 20-30 minutes for a 24 hour period. We got to see that in action a couple of times.

The male.

Ostrich just cruising along.

Tarangire was so cool. We saw so much and had a great day. The only down side was that there were tons of tsetse flies. I actually got bit by one on my foot and so now I have to watch that bite for the next little while. It hurt and now it itches like crazy. Super annoying. It bit me by my ankle right through my sock. . . lame.

After we finished in the park we had a long drive back to Arusha. The drive was very long. I was so ready to fly home at this point. I was tired of traveling. We got to the hotel and crashed for the night. Then we had to hang out at the hotel the entire next day because our flight wasn't until the evening. We also had to get a COVID test on the way to the airport. Such a pain. The testing building.

Take a selfie and pray you get a negative test!

The flight home was better for my body than the flight there. I tolerated the one 10 hour flight and one 9 hour flight ok. I was just so happy to finally be home. The first thing I did was unpack my bags and make the nasty dirty clothes pile. I started my laundry before I went to bed!

Traveling is so weird because after a few days it almost feels like you never even went. It is so cool to set a goal and have a dream and then to finally accomplish it. This one is extra special because it was delayed by COVID. I am grateful I still got the opportunity to go and experience Africa.