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With a Stop at the Mto Wambu School
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"Days 10, 11, and 12: In the morning we depart for Tarangire National Park, [with a stop a the Mto Wambu School to donate supplies] arriving in time for lunch. This fine park contains more than a thousand square miles of wooded savannah. Its outstanding feature, however, is its river, which attracts great concentrations of game, particularly between June and October.
We will stay at Tarangire Lodge, a wonderfully situated permanent tented camp with a commanding view of the river valley. Each day there will be extensive game drives. One evening we will have dinner and visit with elephant researchers, whose project is to study elephant migratory patterns in the Tarangire area so that their routes can be preserved and are not obstructed by villages. They also help villages to plan and benefit from tourism. This is a very special experience arranged specifically for our group."
List of Events
Paved roads!
Went to bank
Went to school
Kris became a star with hacky sack
Kids sang songs
We told them what our name was and where we lived
Got back in car
Ostrich did mating dance
School was crowded
Had good dinner
Didn’t go on afternoon game drive
I bought bird, animal and Tanzania books
Swam in pool
Cold water
Slide was slow and hurt your butt
Went to bed
Jenna Schirmer
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| Above
Left: Kris exchanges addresses with children at the Mto Wambu
School, by Ed Shelley.
Above Right: Seventh grade classroom, from video of singing, Jim Swan. |
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Tuesday - July ? (who cares) -- Lynn Dyche
If it’s Tuesday, I must start the day with my weekly Laruim dosage.
We arose this morning to a beautiful day of blue sky and silver grey clouds overlooking the scenic river below our tented campsites.
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| Above: View of the Tarangire Valley from our tent sites, by Terry Hansen |
We are enjoying our second day at the Tarangire Safari Lodge. Our group has nine tented campsites, which consist of a spacious tent which includes two twin beds, a table, a closet and a seperate room which has been divided into a shower room, toilet area and a sink and dressing area. It was a treat seeing the surprised expressions of our group members when they first entered their tented accommodations, not knowing what to expect. They all seemed to be pleasantly surprised with their "tents".
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| Above: Sandy observes a baboon outside our tents at Tarangire National Park, John Murdock. |
Each meal at the main lodge is a sumptuous buffet sytle presentation. Today, following breakfast, we went on a 4 1/2 hour morning game drive which exposed us to an array of bird life, a monitor lizard, giraffe, wildebeest, baboons, vervet monkeys, impala, dik-dik, a large male lion (which we followed for a long time), a female lion, and an abundance of elephants. Yes, we counted over 40 elephants in one large group (Skip says 37).
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| Two symbols of Tarangire National Park: Elephants and Baobab trees. Both photos by John Murdock | |
As I sit at the table in front of my tent cabin #22, just 50 yards below me is a large bull elephant chomping away on the nearby vegetation. I keep glancing over my shoulder to be sure he doesn’t decide to pay me a surprise visit!
Today, following lunch, Ruth gave two of her informative talks: 1) on the baobab "upside down" tree; 2) on the hyena. We learned that contrary to the impression that the hyena was a scavenger, it is a great hunter and its kill rate is as high as 93% as compared to the 6% kill rate of the lion.
I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge our wonderful group of people. What a pleasure to know them and to have the opportunity to share tanzania, Africa, with them.
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Oh, yes! Some have made
impressions on me. For example there is lovely Betty in her coral
colored shirt always looking neat and clean, even though she fought a day or two
of depression after not being able to "lodge" with the Hadzapi people,
spending the night on a mat under a tree! Then there are my two "teenie
bopper" buddies, Jenna and her sister Lauren (who didn’t like breakfast
and whose personality usually kicked in about noon - when she finally woke up
for the day). They both constantly harrassed me! Then there is Terry who started
out very apprehensive about sleeping with the wild beasts (no, not us . . .the
animals). But he soon adjusted to safari life. There is easy-going, and laid
back Kris who wowed us all with his hackey-sack talents and who entertained the
students during our school visit with his soccer ball abilities. Let’s not
forget Jim with his nice Sony video camera (I hope we all get to see a final
production), Lloryn with her thermos of coffee and her keen interests in the
birds. How about John with his loud triple sneezes which usually dispersed any
group of animals we were viewing. Sandy shared with all her wit as well, and her
ingrown hair in that place!! Sherry, what a character as well as a delight, who
was awesome at mastering the local language.
Ed, with his sun-burn complexion who traded away his hat for a few Hadzapi weapons. Skip and Julie, a lot of fun to share Africa with as well as to observe their wonderful family interactions. We all enjoyed Pat who arrived three days late (sooner than some of the luggage) who soon charmed us all with her enthusiasm and good nature. Let us not forget our four superb driver guides: Kennedy, Nickson, Deo, and Pokea. They are so knowledgeable of the flora & fauna, and we appreciate their caring and concern for us. Finally, Ruth, my wonderful wife and our Sierra Club Leader. Many thanks for the hours you spent planning this trip, your informative "lecture series" on the animals, and for looking after us all. We completed our day by having, first, a large elephant visit our camp and trying to take a shower with betty; second, a great talk about elephants by Charles & Lara Foley of the Tarangire Elephant Project. What a great day!
Africa--what an experience--animals, scenery, the people, our group, our drivers, great accomodations, good food, Kilimanjaro Beer--we’ve done it all. The night concluded with a beautiful moon glowing on the horizon. As the moon fades away it is time for me to fade away also. Thanks to all for making my visit to Africa so enjoyable. Lynn Dyche
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The fact that I awoke at 0629, one minute before my alarm, must mean that I am finally settling into our safari routine. All other systems have finally settled into rhythm as well. I wonder how long it will take to readjust at home?
I must be truly blessed. I am sitting on a cliff overlooking the Tarangire Park with my family, a cool breeze and setting sun with a glass of wine watching a giraffe feeding on the acacias!
About today: Day 3 at Tarangire Safari Lodge. Poor Sherry never got the message that we weren’t heading out early today, and she waited for us at breakfast from 0530! We headed out at our usual time - 0740 on our morning game drive heading deeply into the south of the park. We were rewarded with an up close interaction with a family of elephants as they climbed up out of the river gorge right towards our vehicles. We were able to observe the females, males, and calves with the new perspective of our elephant lecture last night. One matriarch in particular, kept challenging us with her aggressive posturing. I was very familiar with her moves, having been personally confronted with an elephant last night while I was on foot outside the pool. She even took a couple of steps as a bluff charge, complete with trumpeting! -- not something likely to happen back in Maine.
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| Above Left: Young male elephants wrestle, by Ed Shelley | Above Right: An elephant climbs the riverbank and appears ready to challenge our safari group, by Jim Swan |
We drive on, and around 1000 arrived at a large beautifully green "swamp." The variety of birdlife at the shore of the swamp was truly awesome. I was lucky to be in the car with Deo (Kris & Julie as well) when he spotted our second large pride of lion. Of course they were amazing and beautiful creatures -- we even had 3 cubs to watch! The pride had 3 males as well. The unique thing about today was that they were feeding on a Cape Buffalo partly submerged. We observed the typical feeding succession as the greedy males kept the females at bay while they gorged - lots of rrrroaring! One male got his just desserts, whereupon emerging from feeding he sought to lay by a particular female. She’d have none of it - and continually got up and walked away. (I’ve learned my lesson.)
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| Above Left: A lioness plays playfully with cubs, by Terry Hansen | Above Right: A male monopolizes a buffalo kill, by Jim Swan |
If my writing is deteriorating, it’s because night is descending. I stayed back from the afternoon drive today. A number of us followed Terry’s stead and did some walking today. (Julie, myself, Ruth, and Sherry). I understand the afternoon group did see a leopard from a distance. We were also greatly relieved that Lloryn’s stomach illness was fairly short-lived and she recovered fully. So far, I don’t think any of us have succumbed to "traveler’s diarrhea" yet (knock on wood).
Tomorrow we head to Zanzibar and new adventures, and a new recorder!
Skip Schirmer
Our guides from left: Pokea, Kennedy, Nickson, Deo
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