Well as promised, today was Day One of Safari – which in Swahili means Journey. After three and half hours of driving, we arrived at Tarangire Park. We stopped for a quick lunch, got our park pass and headed into the park. Within 10 minutes we were rewarded with a procession of zebras and wildebeest making their way to a small watering hole. At the watering hole there was also a very spooked giraffe that really wanted to drink but everytime it made it’s way to do so, something (usually a bird) scared it off. Finally, it got the drink it wanted while the zebra and wildebeests were playing on the other side. Once everyone had their drink, they moved off into the same direction from which they had come. At this point, a line of elephants came out of the bush – big ones, small ones and middle sized ones walking single file. It was quite the sight!! They just walked past the vehicles as if we didn’t exist and carried on in a straight line. And this was only the first few minutes!! We travelled around the park for about 4 hours in total. We saw herds and herds of zebras but I still couldn’t tell you if they were white with black stripes or black with white stripes. Ha, ha. WE also saw more elephants. Most if these were standing in seperate herds in the shade of the Baboa tree. Our guide, Ephata explained the elephants lived as families with the grandmother as the head of the family. She could live up to 60 or 70 years old. When she felt that she was dying, she would pass along her knowledge to one of the younger members of the herd and then she would die. We also saw a few teenage males hanging out together. Not really sure what the deal was with them. They were probably smoking and talking about girls….One large male decided that he needed to be on the other side of the road so he just walked right by us. I probably could have reached out and touched him. How cool is that?!?!

We saw a number of deer and gazelle. Some warthogs – man they are UGLY!! A couple more giraffes but they were terribly shy. More zebra. More elephants. But where were the cats?!? Finally, a call came through on the two way and off we went. We found a number of vehicles and a dead zebra. Then after a few attempts with the guide’s binoculars, we saw three lions sleeping under the tree. They had obviously finished their zebra lunch and were having a bit of a siesta – the guide said up to 10 hours. We watched them nap for quite a while and then decided to move on. We drove around for a little while longer but decided to call it a day and head to our lodge for the night. Tonight we are staying at Tarangre Safari Lodge. We are in a tent much like the one at Dashir but our view is amazing!! It looks over the entire park which looks just like you would imagine it should. We had a wonderful dinner, met a couple from Calgary and are calling it a night as soon as this is complete. Tomorrow we head north into the Serengeti.  Looking forward to seeing more cats!!

The following is from me, Richard…..

The WiFi like Col said is not the best and I am having a hard time uploading pictures and video so I will get them on as soon as I can.  Other than that, this whole thing seems a little surreal. We are in our second country while visiting Africa and sleeping in a tent that is surrounded by monkeys, small deer and who knows what else.  Definitely a good supply of bugs and the dreaded Titsie Fly, not sure of the spelling, but what I do know is that they bite like the horse flies from back home. As a famous poet once said A Picture is worth a Thousand Words so I will get those pics to you ASAP.

A CUMA MA TATA…….  What a wonderful phrase…..   Until next time. No Worries…