2011 Adventure aka Our Honeymoon: Day 10

Today we headed to Tarangire National Park. The park name added to our Swahili vocabulary: "taran" means warthog and "gire"means river. So, the park is Warthog River, but strangely we did not see that many warthogs...

This place turned us into first time bird watchers with the help of our guide. We saw many varieties of birds, from small-to-large and earth toned-to-vibrant. This park also had a variety of terrain from river bed to savannah, so we saw a variety of animals.

Giraffe with Ox Peckers

We learned that birds are a key part of the animal kingdom, and play key symbiotic roles. For example, Ox Peckers eat the bugs of many larger animals hide. They get food, and the host gets rid of itchy bugs. There is no DEET for giraffes!

An indirect relationship is with the "Go-away" birds. These fairly large birds are the first to see a predator. So, when they fly away, it's time for the gazelle herd to "go-away" as fast as possible. They also have cool mohawk heads.

White Bellied Go-Away-Bird

Tawny Eagle

Red and Yellow Barbet

We also saw a very large group of buffalo. They got spooked by something and started running like mad. The ground was definitely shaking and we were happy to be in the safety of the land cruiser. A bit of danger added to the safari experience.

Stampede?

The highlight of tarangire, and possibly the whole safari, was seeing a lion couple on honeymoon. We got as close as 10 feet, er... a few of meters, of the lions.

First View of Lions from our Land Cruiser, we got closer later

Lion and Lioness on "Honeymoon"

After viewing a QUICK National Geographic moment lion style, I scared the male lion. I was moving in the back of the land cruiser, and the lion roared at me! It was like the beginning of an MGM movie, only WAY louder and scarier. Even our guide freaked out! He quickly rolled up his window and snuck down out of view. After a tense few minutes with the male lion showing his teeth and staring us down, he realized we weren't a threat and laid down. Our hearts were racing but we realized that a good safari needs a bit of dangerous animal encounters!

Baby Elephants

As the sun went down, we headed back to our tented lodge under another gorgeous sunset. Along the way, we saw a cute elephant family with many babies playing and our first glimpse of the Tanzania mountains. We could see Kilimanjaro's neighbor, and would see the real deal with more elephants tomorrow.