GIGI & BORIS' GREAT ADVENTURE: Safari Part 1: Tarangire, Lake Minyara, and Ngorongoro Crater

Driving in the safari truck.

We are splitting the safari into two parts, but we'll say as little as possible and let the photos speak for themselves. The safari really was wonderful. We began by checking into the entry gate in Tarangire and stopping there for lunch. I’m sure our guide Willy was shaking his head as we were immediately enamored with the black-faced vervet monkeys and superb starlings. We were all snapping photos, not realizing just how much more we would see and how ordinary the site would become. Willy spent much of lunch trying to scare the monkeys away as they are more of an annoyance than anything else at picnic areas.

Tarangire is famous for elephants. While we sighted zebra, impala, giraffe, and many other animals in the park, the elephants certainly stole the show. We saw them play in the water, throw dust, eat, scratch, and much more over our two days in the park. They seem to have very playful and often protective personalities.

Our lodge, Osupuko, was an amazing surprise. It was stucco-finished cottages in the round shape of the huts used by several of the Tanzanian tribes. Each had an indoor and outdoor shower (with solar heated hot water) and floor-to-ceiling windows and a deck facing the national park. The dining area was also open air. Dinner featured a Maasai welcome dance (Abby, Adrienne, and Tammy were convinced to participate). It featured lots of shoulder bumping and jumping. We are not sure, but those three might have been married off during the festivities. Dinner was amazing both nights. During dinner, Willy enthusiastically imitated lion chuffing sounds so that we might identify them from our rooms. Little did we know how useful that would be. We did indeed hear lions both nights.

Sunset from our room.

Our third day on safari was a little different. We began with a walk lead by a Maasai man who lived just outside Terangire. He helped us identify prints, scat, and explained the medicinal uses of many plants. This was a great complement to the animals we’d viewed the prior two days.

Our guides for the walking safari.

Our Maasai exposure continued with a visit to a village. We were welcomed with a dance, got a demonstration of fire-making (by spinning sticks) from the young men, a visit to and explanation of a Maasai home, and a chance to view (and purchase) some of their crafts. This was eye-opening and felt less packaged than many other Maasai interactions.

Dina sharing her photos.

The true highlight of the visit was the children. They were adorable and loved having their photo taken, provided they could look at them afterwards. Once you turned around your camera you were likely to be mauled by children grabbing at the camera and giggling over the photo.

Evidently we were very lucky to see a leopard on a night safari.

The day ended with a nighttime game drive at Lake Minyara. This was in an open truck with tiered seats that also had a seat for the spotter located over the front bumper. It was fun to bundle up and breeze through the forest along the lake. The highlight of the trip was a sighting a leopard (chui in Kiswahili). It was very cool and we heard repeatedly how lucky we were to have seen it.

The next morning we descended into the Ngorongoro Crater.

We had heard that it had the largest density of animals due to the confines of the crater walls. It was true. We saw lions, flamingos, hyena, gazelle, cape buffalo, and much more (see photos and list).

Female lion in Ngorongoro with zebra in the background.

Species List (those that we actually got down on paper)

Animals: African Cape Buffalo, Banded Mongoose, Black-Faced Vervet Monkey, Common Baboon, Dik Dik, Dwarf Mongoose, Elephant, Giraffe, Impala, Leopard Tortoise, Lion, Rock Hyrax, Warthog, Water Buck, Wildebeest, Zebra

Birds: African Black Crake, African Fish Eagle, African Jacana, Ash Starling, Bateleur Eagle, Blacksmith Plover, Brown Snake Eagle, Cattle Egret, Crested Francolin, Crowned Plover, Egyptian Goose, Gloss Ibis, Guineafowl, Gray Heron,

Southern Ground Hornbill

Hooded Vulture, Knob-Billed Duck, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Long-Toed Plover, Lovebird, Magpie Shrike, Maribou Stork, Morning Dove, Ostrich, Red-Billed Hornbill, Red-Necked Francolin, Ruffled-Tail Weaver, Sacred Ibis, Secretary Bird, Southern Ground Hornbill, Spoonbill, Superb Startling, Tawny Eagle, White-Backed Vulture, White-Faced Whistling Duck, White-Headed Buffalo Weaver, Yellow-Necked Francolin, Yellow and Red Bobbitt

Trees: Baubab, Ebony, Flat-Topped Acacia, Sodom Apple, Tamarin Tree

Kiswahili

· Ready: Ty-eri

· Thank you very much: Asente-sana

PHOTOS (this is down from hundreds, so bear with us)

Animals seemed unfazed by the trucks and came quite close.

Water brings giraffe, zebra, and wildebeest together.

Cape buffalo

Tarangire was all about the elephants.

Here they are itching. This process destroys trees. Thankfully, they are also very good at distributing and fertilizing new trees. There seemed to be plenty of trees, so things appeared to be in balance.