Traversing Tarangire by Rachel Burns

Today dawned cool and crisp, and we ate a delicious breakfast at the OutPost Lodge before dividing into two groups and loading into safari trucks, a converted pick-up truck with a roof that pops up and out for our time within each national park we will visit. 

One professor sat shotgun in each truck, which was the driver’s side for us, a habit we still have to break. Anyone who has ridden in the front has made the mistake of trying to go to the “passenger” side and finding the guide sitting there.

On the two-hour drive to Tarangire National Park, the guides shared their knowledge and answered questions, expanding on topics such as home ownership, home building, culture, politics, and even their career as a guide. In our truck, we asked a lot of questions about the Maasai people, an indigenous group in Tanzania, and we learned about cultural practices surrounding circumcision, impotence, barrenness, and surrogacy. We learned that when a Maasai child has to choose between working at home and going to school, they might tend to choose to work because they see it as more beneficial to their future.

Once we entered Tarangire Park, we had a slight delay because the paperwork didn’t precisely match the “registration” or license plate number on one of the trucks, but TIA - This is Africa. We spent the waiting time using a Wild Birds of Africa book our guide lent us to identify the beautiful birds we saw everywhere.

Once on our way, the first animals we saw were impalas, and a family of warthogs—a momma and six babies—that crossed the street right in front of our truck. After turning a corner, we saw a single elephant in the distance under a tree, then realized there were six others enjoying the shade not far away. Our guide was as familiar with the twisting roads in the park as he knew “his own fingertips,” and he took us closer to the elephants—so close we could see their eyelashes. The elephants throughout the park were gentle giants, looking majestic, eating vegetation, or throwing dust onto their backs to cool off and protect their skin.

We had a lunchbox break and were warned not to feed the monkeys or birds or they would become a nuisance to future visitors. In the afternoon, we saw tons more animals including giraffes, using their tongues to pull leaves between the inch-long thorns that grew on their favorite trees, more impalas, a water buck, a dik-dik (a tiny deer with beautiful eyes and a pointy nose that quivered as it stared back at us), ostriches, and more colorful, unique birds. As we left the park, we saw two skinny monkeys crossing the street, and we said goodbye to Tarangire.   ///// Rachel Burns