Another early morning game drive – up at 5:15 and on our way shortly thereafter. We drove back into the park and set off to see lots of wildlife. We stopped for a picnic breakfast at spot overlooking the Tarangire River, or what's left of it in the dry season.
Animals: Warthog, impala, Thomson’s gazelle, Grant’s gazelle, black-faced vervet monkey, common waterbuck, wildebeest, zebra, African elephant, Kirk’s dik dik, black-backed jackal, Maasai giraffe, tree hyrax, unstriped ground squirrel, and lion.
Birds: Yellow-neck francolin, ground hornbill, white-backed vulture, speckled mousebird, northern white-crowned shrike, blacksmith lapwing (plover), yellow-bill oxpecker, Fisher’s love bird, bataleur eagle, Rueppell’s griffon, brown parrot, gray starling, common stilt, and ostrich.
Morning highlights:
Sausage tree - Huge sausage-like fruits hang down from the limbs on long, ropelike stalks; a favorite hiding place for leopards.
Termite mound – Communicating solely through pheromones, millions of blind worker termites raise tons of soil, particle by particle, into an enormous structure (sometimes nearly 10 feet high).
Tarangire River – animals drinking – giraffes, elephants and female waterbuck
Male waterbuck – Medium-large antelope with lyre-shaped horns.
Ground hornbill – Turkey look-alike with big bill and bright red wattles.
Another magnificent baobab tree, this one with impala grazing beneath (or as David says, undertheneath)
Kirk’s dik dik – One of the dwarf antelopes, less than two feet tall.
Fisher’s lovebirds – a type of parrot, noisy and brightly colored!
Black-backed jackal – type of wild dog whose eerie call can be heard at night.
Black-faced vervet monkey - lives in troops up to 75 individuals, easily identified by its black face.
More giraffe close-ups, just because ..
Tree hyrax – A seldom-seen rodent-like mammal resembling a guinea pig.
Zebras with young
Wildebeest
Ostriches
First sighting of lions – Africa’s largest predator; lives in group known as a pride; more to come! The first group was pretty far away, but you can see the male’s mane and some females lying around. The second group was closer, but obscured by the brush. The cubs were in the water – having a fine time while the adults snoozed.
In late afternoon, we went on a walk with David and a couple of Maasai guides/guards. As we made our way down to the lake, they told us about various plants and pointed out the hole-in-the-ground ‘home’ of the lion ant, another member of the Little Five. We saw a few animals/birds, as well as termite hills and an aardvark den. Lake Burunge, which is only about 10 feet deep, is even more beautiful at close range, with tall stands of papyrus growing thick around the shoreline.
Animals: Blue-headed agama, zebra
Birds: Giant kingfisher, pygmy falcon
Afternoon highlights:
Giant kingfisher – The largest of Africa’s 15 kingfisher species.
Back at camp, we had dinner on the deck overlooking the lake, saw some dik diks below the deck, and learned a bit more about the Maasai people from David. In Tanzania’s population of 42 million people, there are 120 tribes, speaking 280 dialects. These groups live in relative harmony, partly because nearly everyone speaks Swahili, in addition to their native tongue. Swahili is a combination of English, German, Portuguese, Bantu and Arabic; it is taught to all children in primary school.
All of the many tribes can be categorized into four major ethnic groups: Bantu, Nilotic, Cushite, and Bushmen. The Maasai represent one of five major groups of Nilotic people; they are nomadic pastoralists who came originally from northern regions along the Nile River. Today there are three major groups of Maasai: (1) authentic nomadic pastoralists, (2) semi-nomadic pastoralists who may have a permanent home and some farming, but who migrate with their livestock in the dry season, and (3) the educated minority – such as David’s family – who have left the villages for a life in town.
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