Taragire Treetops

I'm chronologically skipping to our check in at Tarangire Treetops because it was so magical, I can't wait to write about it!

We drove from Arusha to Tarangire, which wasn't too bad - about 2-3 hours. After an afternoon game drive we headed to our next lodging. I wish we had thought to take a video of the ride from the park to the Treetops because it is the BUMPIEST 45 minutes you can imagine. Literally tossed around like a sack of potatoes through what is known as the wildlife management area. The wildlife management areas are a way for locals to profit from conservation.

Upon our arrival it seemed like the entire staff was standing in the driveway waiting for us. We were greeted by Steve, one of the property managers, as well as Lillian who had our hot towels and a crew of Maasai to carry all our baggage. The main lodge is just stunning. It's built around a large baobab tree. As we stepped into the lodge another staff member waited with a drink of baobab juice. It was a pale green, and tasted a little sweet, but unlike any thing else I've ever had. We thought it was delicious!

Chris in the main lodge

Steve sat us down for our safety briefing. After dark we would have to be escorted to and from the treehouse due to the animals wandering around the camp. Around sundown, the colony of bats that lived in the tree would start coming out, so we shouldn't be alarmed (It was pretty cool). We'd also need to be escorted down to the viewing area if we wanted to get closer to the animals.

On our arrival there weren't any animals at the watering hole, so we weren't sure what to expect and were a little dubious when he said around this time the elephants came. (Really. Elephants? Right there? We'd believe it when we saw it). Steve introduced us to Lillian who would be our butler for our stay (Butleress? We debated the whole time what to call her...) and then we sat and finished our baobab juice.

After drinking down the juice, we were off to the treehouse. We were led down a dirt path that sloped downward until we turned off to our own pathway. We rounded the corner and were greeted by THIS:

Holy. Moly.

We stood and watched until Lillian beckoned us forward. On the porch, a Maasai warrior took each of us and wrapped a cloth around our head and shoulders. Blindfolded we were led into the room and sat on the bed while they continued to sing. Then they pulled down the fabric and explained that it was a Maasai greeting for newlyweds.

Chris and I were grinning from ear to ear. Never in a million years did we think we'd have special touches like this on our trip. We'll never forget it.

Us with the Maasai warriors

After everyone left, we were still in complete awe. When we finally had calmed down some, we realized that our treehouse was pretty darn cool in and of itself! 

View from the sitting area

Our bathroom - two sinks, a shower, a flush toilet, robes and slippers!

Dual showerheads and ostrich egg holders with shampoo, conditioner and body wash!

Chris loves Africa :)

We decided to head up to the main lodge to relax. As we walked up we realized...there were animals at the watering hole!!!

Of course, I went down to get a closer look!

Me and my new friends

Two male elephants and a waterbuck

Main lodge from the viewing area

Waterbuck

I was impressed this elephant walked along this ledge

The waterbuck had been standing on the fringe, but decided to try to get a little closer. The one elephant immediately noticed...

"Oh where do you think YOU'RE going Mr. Waterbuck?"

The elephant turned around and started flaring its ears while walking towards the waterbuck. Unnerved, the waterbuck scampered away. However, it seemed that the elephant needed to get out some of that aggression...next thing I know, the two male elephants were tangled up, trunk to trunk!

Squaring up 

Trunk Wrestling

I have a video as well...but I have to figure out how to post it without sound since there's a running commentary from Chris about the elephants' endowments... *sigh* boys.

Arusha National Park

Breakfast at Arusha Coffee Lodge (That's watermelon juice I've got there)

After a delicious breakfast at Arusha Coffee Lodge (with some truly SOUR fruit on our fruit plates), we were met by our local tour company for a briefing: Ranger Safari's. First, we were presented with a gorgeous honeymoon gift of a Maasai blanket and two beautiful wooden carvings. Then we reviewed our Tanzania itinerary. We would spend the first week with our private guide, Godliving.

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.

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. 

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.

Reading About the animals and people of Arusha National Park

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.

Fake

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.

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:

Zebras - Photograph so well! 

A group of zebras is called a zeal or dazzle!

Baby Zebra - So cute!

I was so excited to see these warthogs - gnarly looking!

We got to see 2 of them fighting!

Flamingoes - Lesser and Greater

This lake was lined with flamingoes - all those light spots...flamingoes!

Lotta flamingoes in this akaline lake called Big Momella

I didn't realize (seriously) that flamingoes flew!

Flamingoes in formation!

Baboons in the road

 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.

This picture gives you a sense of the distance we were from the baboons

This small baboon was right next to me as I sat in the car!

Here's a full length

Chris took this portrait of a baboon

Mama and baby baboon!

Sometimes they seemed so human like!

Grooming 

We witnessed a little bit of a brouhaha and then the alpha male came out to really nip it in the bud!

Male waterbucks

Who's watching who?

Giraffe

Blue monkey

Rather Yoda like!

Blue monkeys wrestling. It cracks me up that one of them has the other by the ear!

Blue monkey eating

Wow that gaze!

Black and White Colobus

Spot that busy tail!

A great first day!

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!!!