Matriarchical elephant
herd with calves
Young Maasai
The first elephants we saw were at a distance, huddled in the shade
of a giant baobob tree. The baobab trees are so huge that they dwarf
the elephants. In the two days at Tarangire, we must have seen 150-200
elephants. Elephants eating, walking, pushing on trees, tossing dirt
with their trunks, mating, you name it! The elephants are obviously
very social and sensitive animals--fun to watch. They eat 300
lbs per day. Gestation is 22 months and they nurse for two years.
The daughters stay with the mother for life, forming matriarchical herds.
Matriarchical elephant
herd with calves
The African elephant is not friendly like the Asian elephant.
We yielded the right of way to the elephants on or near the road, especially
the mommas with babies. If an elephant looked at us and flapped its
ears or stepped toward us Abu would put the Land Rover in reverse and back
up.
Old bull elephant
in the road
Giraffes amused us with their ambling gait and nonchalant chewing.
They are very cautious when bending down to drink as this is one of the
few times that they are vulnerable to predators.
Bachelor Maasai
giraffes along the river
We saw lots of young animals. The baby giraffes have tufts instead
of horns.
Baby giraffe
We saw several impala harems and bachelor herds. The male is
dominant for only about a month. With all the fighting and mating,
he does not have time to eat or sleep and quickly becomes too weak to fend
off challengers. The bachelors spent their time together jousting
and practicing to challenge the dominant male for the harem.
Bachelor Impala
Vervet monkeys frequent the picnic sites waiting to snatch an unguarded
morsel of food. This monkey snatched the orange from my box lunch.
I had left it unguarded while I snapped shots of him and the other monkeys.
We stayed at the Treetops resort for two evenings. The treehouse
rooms were right out of a Tarzan movie. I loved it!!! The treehouses
stood on stilts under the boughs of huge baobab trees. Individual
firepots on the ground heated the shower water. From my porch
I saw a little steebok in the brush and a scarlet chested sunbird.
Mimi nimelala salama. (I slept peacefully.)
Treetops at Tarangire
In the afternoon, we hiked in the bush with a Maasai warrior named
Tito. Tito carried a walking stick and a metal spear; he continuously
scanned the brush for signs of animals. We encountered plenty of
twigga (giraffe) dung, but fortunately no live beasts on our little trek
to a hilltop with a nice view of the plains.
Tito, our walking
guide
Our second day in Tarangire was highlighted by a pride of four lionesses
at a watering hole just off the road.
Lionesses at the
watering hole
Lioness in the
grass