Speck

A most excellent day in Tarangire National Park where everything is green and fresh and the cloudy skies provided a dramatic backdrop. We came across a lion pride of seven females slowly stalking around the bush, but the male eluded us. Elephants were everywhere; Tarangire is known for its high density of them. The birdlife stood out the most, and as Gugs is an excellent naturalist, my rusty knowledge got a useful reboot.

A stop that pleases Tarangire visitors is ‘Poacher’s Hide’, this huge baobab tree with a hole that you can climb into. I remember it from 2006 when I completed the northern Tanzania National Park circuit as part of a very memorable masters degree field trip. Rumour has it that Somali poachers used the tree as a hideout to decimate Tarangire’s rhino numbers. As a naive student I lapped up this narrative, but I suspect it was major exaggeration. It may be more of a natural opening used by honey-collectors (there are some pegs knocked into the innards of the tree for climbing) or shelter for others who historically used the area now designated as Park. Veracity of the history notwithstanding, here we are posing for a photo in the hole. We are but mere specks in the vastness of nature’s glory.

A late afternoon / evening drive which included a sundowner on a clifftop was a great bonus. We saw jackals and a pair of wonderful eagle owls chilling on a branch. Lions were roaring close by as we bedded down in our tents for the night.

Asante sana Tarangire kwa siku njema. Thanks very much Tarangire for a nice day.