monkey Archives – Our Extraordinary Ordinary Life

This morning was another early rise. Peter, from Agama Tours, picked us up promptly at 7 am. Our vehicle, an extended Toyota Land Cruiser outfitted with a removable top and plenty of sliding windows for proper wildlife viewing. These Land Cruisers are the only vehicles tough enough for the rugged terrain of the Serengeti.

After a quick stop within the city of Arush to pick up some bottled water and other provisions, we headed out toward Tarangire National Park. The drive was a little long so we passed the time by sight-seeing, writing, sudoku and napping.

Driving west on a well paved, asphalt highway we began to see the vast open spaces of the Tanzanian grasslands. You might expect a lot of green, but because we are in the dry season all of the ground cover is a light yellowish tan broken up by sage colored shrubs and small trees. At this point, since we are still a distance from the parks, we have not yet seen any wild animals. Only frequent herds of cows usually led by a Massai teenagers.

On this first day of our safari we were joined by a good looking young couple who are out for just a 1 day excursion. Minel (Spain) and Bruna (Portugal) were a couple of medical students who are spending a month volunteering their time in local villages.

As we entered the Tarangerie National Park, the nations sixth largest national park, we were all brimming with excitement to see some real wildlife. The first animal we happened upon was a lonely old wildebeest. Wow! We took nearly a hundred pictures and joked that he had a rope holding him there just for our viewing. Peter must have been laughing inside for he knew better of what was to come.

And yes, there was so much more to come. I really was expecting most of the wildlife to be elusive and difficult to find, but that is furthest from the truth. For the next several hours, we were inundated with new and exciting scenes at every turn.

Here are some of the notable pictures of the animals and scenery as we saw them: