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| Breakfast at Arusha Coffee Lodge (That's watermelon juice I've got there) |
As a funny aside, Chris had the HARDEST time with Godliving's name - between calling him "Goodliving" or "Godlove" or something else (thankfully never actually to Godliving) - it was pretty hilarious.
As we waited for everything to be set, Chris and I toured the coffee estate. There was a Tanzanite Experience shop. Tanzanite is a gem that is only found in one mine in Tanzania and I had first discovered it when I was younger on a Caribbean cruise. It typically comes in a blueish-purple hue, but at this store I learned that sometimes it comes in other colors like greens, pinks, and yellows. I was bound and determined to get a some tanzanite in Tanzania and ended up buying some little studs as my souvenir.
They also have a shop (Shanga) which employs people with disabilities to make items for sale by upcycling, whether it be beading, sewing, glassblowing, etc. Here's more information.
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| Sign in the Shanga |
Of course I'm going to support a cause like this so I got some earrings here too!
Then we were off to what was billed as a "half-day safari" at Arusha National Park. I wasn't sure what to expect and admittedly had low expectations. I knew of the big parks like the Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater, but hadn't really looked into Arusha.
Then we were off to what was billed as a "half-day safari" at Arusha National Park. I wasn't sure what to expect and admittedly had low expectations. I knew of the big parks like the Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater, but hadn't really looked into Arusha.
First, at each park we would come to learn there is always "paperwork." This entails paying park fees and I'm imagining some kind of registration of us, our vehicle and our guide. Always the guide does this business while we're left to wander. Arusha had a model map that might have been geologically to scale, but the animal models clearly weren't as the giraffe was the same height as an elephant.
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| Reading About the animals and people of Arusha National Park |
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| Prices |
We didn't actually have to pay for anything, that was part of what we paid for upfront, but the picture above shows the prices in both Tanzanian shillings and US dollars. We never exchanged or withdrew any of the local currency (to my annoyance - I wanted to see the local money!) and it wasn't any problem because dollars are not only accepted but often preferred.
We also played around with a giant fake elephant until it was time to head in to the park.
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| Fake |
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| Proof that it's fake... |
Our first sight was an open area that was called "little Serengeti." There we would see our first animals: warthogs, zebras, and Cape buffalo.
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| Little Serengeti |
The Cape buffalo is one of the "Big Five," so named as I recently learned from Wikipedia because they were the five hardest to hunt. The Big Five are:
1. Cape Buffalo
2. Elephant
3. Leopard
4. Lion
5. Rhino
They seemed to be the most feared of all the animals we saw from those who took us out on our game drives. The males have these funny looking horns that meet in the middle to best protect their heads when they fight. Somehow (which I can't figure out), they grow straight up until they mature during which the male's horns turn downward and grow in that distinctive horn. Every time we'd pass herds of buffalo, it'd be a little unnerving because no matter where you were, there was always several of them just staring at you. It was like the Mona Lisa - from any angle a buffalo was eyeballing you. I have better pictures of them from other sites...so awkwardly...no buffalo pictures here!
Some of the other animals we also saw in Arusha National Park included:
Over time we'd come to realize that baboons in or along the side of the road was quite common, but what a sight it was to see it for the first time. You'd see a couple and then suddenly it seems like more and more would just come streaming out of the bushes and trees.
Oh remember that fake elephant we saw at the entrance of the gate? We didn't see ANY ELEPHANTS! They are actually really hard to find in Arusha National Park because of the dense foliage. It's amazing to realize that such a large animal would be so hard to spot. I was worried I wouldn't see any elephants!
This half day safari was a perfect way to start our trip. It gave Chris and I time to play around with our media equipment and get a measure of our guide. I had impulsively bought a new camera the weekend before we left and rented some lenses. I was packing a Olympus OM-D E-M1. Its a 3/4 mirrorless and allows for interchangeable lenses. My lenses were a Olympus Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 and a 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO. I also had a Olympus 300mm f/4 IS PRO. Chris had our Canon Rebel and his own lenses (a 25mm prime and a telephoto). We also had our GoPro with a stick and a POV headband mount. I definitely got much better at taking pictures as our trip went on and now I'm hooked on this fancy camera stuff!
We also had 2 binoculars, but mostly we used Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 10x 42mm Roof Prism Binoculars that I had impulsively (seeing a trend here?) bought. They were an AWESOME investment. One of our guides even commented on how good our binoculars were. Between my telephoto lenses and the binoculars, we could get some great views of the animals. Although as you'll see later, we often got pretty darn close to the animals and definitely didn't need binoculars!!!
Some of the other animals we also saw in Arusha National Park included:
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| Zebras - Photograph so well! |
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A group of zebras is called a zeal or dazzle!
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| Flamingoes - Lesser and Greater |
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| This lake was lined with flamingoes - all those light spots...flamingoes! |
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| Lotta flamingoes in this akaline lake called Big Momella |
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| I didn't realize (seriously) that flamingoes flew! |
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| Flamingoes in formation! |
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| Baboons in the road |
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| This picture gives you a sense of the distance we were from the baboons |
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| This small baboon was right next to me as I sat in the car! |
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| Here's a full length |
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| Chris took this portrait of a baboon |
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| Mama and baby baboon! |
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| Sometimes they seemed so human like! |
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| Grooming |
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| We witnessed a little bit of a brouhaha and then the alpha male came out to really nip it in the bud! |
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| Male waterbucks |
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| Who's watching who? |
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| Giraffe |
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| Blue monkey |
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| Rather Yoda like! |
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| Blue monkeys wrestling. It cracks me up that one of them has the other by the ear! |
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| Blue monkey eating |
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| Wow that gaze! |
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| Black and White Colobus |
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| Spot that busy tail! |
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| A great first day! |
This half day safari was a perfect way to start our trip. It gave Chris and I time to play around with our media equipment and get a measure of our guide. I had impulsively bought a new camera the weekend before we left and rented some lenses. I was packing a Olympus OM-D E-M1. Its a 3/4 mirrorless and allows for interchangeable lenses. My lenses were a Olympus Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8 and a 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO. I also had a Olympus 300mm f/4 IS PRO. Chris had our Canon Rebel and his own lenses (a 25mm prime and a telephoto). We also had our GoPro with a stick and a POV headband mount. I definitely got much better at taking pictures as our trip went on and now I'm hooked on this fancy camera stuff!
We also had 2 binoculars, but mostly we used Bushnell Legend Ultra HD 10x 42mm Roof Prism Binoculars that I had impulsively (seeing a trend here?) bought. They were an AWESOME investment. One of our guides even commented on how good our binoculars were. Between my telephoto lenses and the binoculars, we could get some great views of the animals. Although as you'll see later, we often got pretty darn close to the animals and definitely didn't need binoculars!!!
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