September 11 and 12
We had anticipated a long travel day on the 11th, including driving from Tarangire to Arusha, flying from Arusha to Nairobi and then from Nairobi overnight to New York. We were on a somewhat tight schedule, as the camp was 2 hours from the main gate, which in turn was 3 hours from our “lunch and a shower” spot in Arusha and the airport an hour beyond that. We agreed with our driver that we would only pause for something exceptional; “like another Leaser Kudu” he joked. And then we did see another one. He was amazed… and even more amazed that Kevin managed to snap a photo of it before it bounded away.
We got the the airport to discover that the Nairobi international airport was closed due to a strike. This caused us to stay the night in Arusha and fly out on the 12th instead. While there were certainly a few hours of anxiety, on the whole it turned out well. We cannot say enough about the dedication and professionalism of the local and global Natural Habitat team to find us housing and new flights.
Reflecting on our two weeks in Tanzania, a word needs to be said about dust and water. As is true for many nature travel destinations, the best time to see animals is during the dry season, when water sources are reduced and the animals concentrate around them. Not surprising then that passing herds and vehicles stir up dust. What was surprising was the changes in the color of the dust as we neared the Ngorongoro region— deep dark red dust from the iron rich soil. Dust covered everything near roadsides, even up in the rain forest. Leaves were red not green, and made us feel thirsty to look at them. Water is always a precious resource, but watching donkey- or steer-drawn carts hauling drums of water up steep and rutted dusty roads made it palpable. It also threw into sharp contrast one of the lodges where we stayed, with lush irrigated gardens.
In Tarangire, some of the soil and roads are not red, as the ash cloud from the Ngorongoro eruption millions of years ago changed the local soil composition. This had an interesting effect: animals that live in the “ gray soil zone” are the colors one expects. Animals in the “red soil zone” are coated with it to a greater or lesser extent, depending on how much they roll or wallow. We saw large herds of “red” elephants and “pink” zebras in particular.
Our unexpected extra day, at the same lodge in Arusha where we started the Tanzania part of the trip, turned out to be a great birding adventure. The lodge sits on a stream-fed lake, with enough flow to enable not only gardens but a small hydroelectric plant to supplement municipal electricity supply. The water and the gardens attract many birds. We saw 33 species and at least 5 new ones, just wandering the grounds today. We also saw both black-and-white colobus and blue monkeys. Driving to the airport to catch our new flights, we gazed at the cloud covered peak of Mt Kilimanjaro; it is sobering to consider that Ngorongoro was originally even taller!
A final reflection on the entire trip—- people everywhere were uniformly kind, welcoming, willing to share their knowledge and curious about our lives in places they have only heard of. Many live tough lives and all work very hard; the spirit of optimism and generosity is the more striking in that context. We love many things about traveling in Africa: the landscapes, the animals and birds, the foods, the sounds of the bush coming through the tents flaps at night; but most of all the people. Every time we come we think it will be our final trip to Africa. But we know that we will be back.
Pictured: Tarangire red elephants, Tarangire zebras (what’s black and white and red all over?), blue monkey, Coke’s Hartebeest
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