Saturday, October 4, 2014 - Tarangire National Park - Day 10

We had a "wake up call" at 6 am.  Our Maasai guide came to our cabin with coffee on a tray. 

I had a bit of a sleepless night "hearing things" in the dark.  Early this morning there was "knocking" on our cabin - I woke Tim up and he told me to go back to sleep.  Ends up it is a Maasai man that comes early in the morning to start a fire in the water heater so we'll have hot water for the shower.  I thought I smelled kerosene when I heard the knocking.  At least now we know.

We got up, dressed and went to breakfast at 6:30.  A Spanish omelet with toast and sausage.  We left with Godson at 7:30.  We headed west and then south to what Godson called "the swamp".  This is where the animals go to get water.

It was hardly a swamp as it was all dried up and dusty.  The animals are waiting for the rainy season.  There were long lines of zebra marching in single file to the swamp.  There are very small areas with water that they drink from.  Godson told us they only need water every 2-3 days whereas the elephants need water daily. 

Birds roaming through the brush for food

"Dazzles" of zebra - they eat the taller grasses, leaving the shorter grass for the wildebeests

Beautiful panoramas - beautiful weather

Tim using his binoculars to spot animals on the plains

Our long, long road through the "swamp" - hard to see but tons of animals in the distance

Cape buffalo hanging out by water near the swamp

Zebra grazing in the swamp - water isn't too far from here

Another landscape - the trees have been pushed over by the elephants

At times they push over a tree just to get a single branch to eat and then leave the tree to die!

We drove around the entire swamp.  It was beautiful with large groups of animals out grazing where water will be in a few months.  There is a lot of tall grass and this is ideal for the lions to hide in for the hunt.  We watched 3 lionesses "hunting" for about an hour, laying in wait for animals to come close.  There was only one warthog that got close but then he sensed them and ran away from them.  Only to return a little later to eat in the same spot, but he got away again.  Godson pointed out lots of birds today including the pelican, buzzard, "go away" bird, quail, and many others.   We drove all around the swamp and it took 5 hours. 

We arrived back at Kikoti at 12:30 and had lunch.  We then rested during the heat of the day, so I took a short nap while Tim read and played solitaire.  We had some coffee about 4 pm and updated email, facebook and the blog. 

This experience was much different than visiting a zoo for many reasons:
-  There are no fences - we are in the wide open spaces
-  Humans are in the minority
-  Sightings are by chance
-  The animals for the most part are not concerned with our vehicles and they are not attracted to us
-  We are seeing them in their natural element and they are all "doing stuff" like:  the giraffe were eating and and one was scratching on a tree, the warthogs were digging, the lionesses were resting in the shade, the lion and lioness were mating,  the elephants were drinking water, seeking shade, scraping bark from the trees and leaving dung everywhere, the baboons were playing and seeking water,  the zebra and wildebeest seemed to be wandering aimlessly in herds, the termite had built incredible mounds – huge and different shapes,  the zebra and wildebeest were in long lines headed to the watering holes, and herds of zebra and wildebeest were in the distance on the plains – all trying to find much-needed water, and more and more and more.  We saw animals that were new to us and our guide, Godson, was a great spotter and explained the animals and their habits.  This was such an educational experience.

We left with Godson at 5:30 to go back to Pumpkin Rock to look for the baboons.  There were no baboons tonight climbing up the rock for safety.

Godson took us to a beautiful lookout point and gave us a history lesson about Tanzania and the parks.  Tanzania was formed when 2 countries, Tanganyica and Zanzibar merged.  They took the first 3 letters of each country to form Tanzania in 1961.  We were able to view 3 of the areas where water will collect when the rains come.  All of the locals say that the rain is near now, and the animals need it badly.  We could see a huge basin, now dried up, that flowed into another basin, now dried up, that flowed into the “swamp” that we saw during the day.  Only a little water remains in the swamp.

Tim and Godson at the lookout point in Tarangire National Park at sunset

The sunset hitting the mountain peaks in the distance

Sunset - although cloudy - was beautiful

We then returned to Pumpkin Rock to view the sunset – only a cloudy one – and to see if the baboons were going to climb up the rock, which they didn’t.   So back to camp we went!  We got back to Kikoti Safari Camp and had a great dinner with Godson. 

The "sundowner" - a fire, sunset, and drinks!  A great combination

Our dining hall at Kikoti Camp - we were the ONLY guests so we had it all to ourselves

Then we packed up in an open air vehicle for our “Night Safari”.  A Maasai man in his robe was seated on a tiny little seat on the front of the vehicle.  We had a driver and a guide.  The guide had a gun – just in case.  It was actually fascinating to drive through the forested areas and plains at night this way.  The Maasai man was able to shine a large light into the brush and see “the eyes”.  We saw a lot of animals this way including bunnies, zebra, giraffe, dik-diks, impala, spring bucks, bush baby (it flies from tree to tree – actually jumps really far!), a van dyken, and a few others.  I was amazed how the driver would just take off into the brush at night chasing an animal that the Maasai man had seen.  It was great fun.  Thomas was our guide, Ali was the driver, and Kitumbo was the Maasai spotter. 

L to R:  Kitumbo, Mr. John (Camp Manager), Tim, Thomas, and Ali - our Night Drive Staff

Kitumbo was on a small seat on the front of the van - shining his light in the bush - FUN!

Kitumbo's light shining in the bush - he looked for the glow of the eyes of the animals!

He was an excellent spotter and we saw lots of night animals!

At one point we thought we saw a lioness behind a tree.  But it ended up that it was a stump that looked like a lioness.  Thomas was going to shoot it and we begged him not to do it!  We all laughed.

It is amazing to see all of this dried up grass and trees that appear to be dead.  Godson tells us that as soon as the rains come everything will turn green again all over.  They are anxious for the rains to come.

We were out about an hour and a half and then returned to camp.  We were escorted to our cabin, showered, and then went to bed.  Tim’s plan is to get up at 4 am to see if the moon has set so he can see the stars.  He’s dying to see that.  But he’ll have to do it from our raised deck around our cabin as no one is allowed to walk around the camp at night.

A short lesson in Swahili:

Hello                                    Jambo
Thank You                           Asante
No thank you                      Hapana Asante
Good                                    Nzuri Sana
Good Night                         Lala Salama
You are Welcome              Karibu
Sir                                         Bwana
Madam                                Bibi
Goodbye                              Kwaheri
Excuse me please               Nisamehe, Samahani
It's okay - no problem!      Hakuna Matata

We laughed when we heard a lot of Americans saying "JUMBO, JUMBO", instead of "Jambo"!

We have had such great service at the safari camp.  Mr. John is the Manager and Mr. Steve is the cook and waiter.  They took great care of us.  A great adventure