We checked out of AMEG Lodge in Moshi this morning around 8:30. We drove to Arusha and saw more fascinating city sights! Men were lined up sitting in the shade early in the morning / hoping to get hired for casual work at the tanzanite mine. Tanzanite is a precious stone that is somewhat purple blue and is mined only in Tanzania.
We stopped at a bank again to withdraw Tanzanian shillings. I love that the currency have animals on them. 10,000 shillings is an elephant. 5,000 shillings is a rhino and 2,000 shillings is a lion.
Tom our driver made a point of telling us to exercise caution in taking pictures with our cell phones out the window when driving through Arusha. We heeded his advice!
Arusha is the big centre where people will take flights to various destinations to go on safari. We are in the driving only camp where we will travel by land cruiser driving everywhere while on safari.
We think the prize for the most overloaded motorcycle goes to the fellow who was balancing a loveseat on the back of his motorcycle and had it topped with a rolled up foam mattress!
We had a boxed lunch in a lovely picnic area with washrooms and local crafts for sale.
At a stop just outside the park gates I captured a fabulous photo of a superb starling.
We continued on our drive to Tarangire National Park and we started seeing birds and animals in droves.
As we we waited at the park gates for our drivers to sort out paperwork to get admitted, we enjoyed watching Vervet Monkeys. They were so fun and so active.
After about 20 min we entered the park. We saw an amazing array of birds. Chris Fisher, author of the guide book, Birds of Alberta - said his favourite siting was of the secretariat bird.
Suzan’s favourite bird she hoped to see was the Lilac Breasted Roller and we saw it in a variety of places with beautiful sunshine on it. It is gorgeous!
We see the kingfisher malachite, the hornbill, superb starlings and white headed buffalo bird. We saw lots more birds but I only mentioned the ones that I saw!!
And then we saw the amazing herd of elephants. We counted 17 in all directions around the trucks. We were so close to them we could have pet them, but of course we did not!! Just fascinating watching them eat grass! One was pregnant and about to give birth in a month or two.
I really benefited from the expertise of Chris in the car identifying everything we asked. Kristin is an advanced birder so she spotted some great birds and asked Tom to stop and back up the truck on a few occasions. We were fortunate enough to see a lilac breasted roller and a hornbill sitting side by side on the same branch. Neil Zeller said that was his hi light of the tour so far!
We arrived at Tarangire Safari Lodge that will be home for two nights. It overlooks the Tarangire Valley and has a spectacular view. After dark we are required to ask a guard to escort us to our tent as we are in a wildlife park and there is no fence around. They will keep us safe!!
Pictures to be uploaded tomorrow. We have inconsistent internet service in our tent away from the main lodge!
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