Today started near Tarangire National Park with an early morning game drive, where we saw an incredible amount of wildlife. I wasn’t expecting to see as many species as we did, especially on the first day! Elephants, giraffes, zebras, wildebeest, ostriches, gazelles, and a plethora of birds. I thought the scariest animal we saw was the Maribou stork. These massive birds eat carrion and have one of the largest wingspans. There were a couple of fun trees, including the iconic baobab and the sausage tree.
A bull elephant stopped just feet away and waved its trunk at us. A zebra had survived a carnivore attack, and had large red gashes but was walking calmly. We saw so many juvenile animals, including elephant, giraffe, and zebra babies.
After the morning drive, we had lunch and listened to taxa presentations. Then it was time to go out in the Land Rovers again. We stopped on a hill and watched the sun set below the Rift Valley mountains in the distance. From our vantage point, you could see a full panaroma of beatiful plains as the sky rapidly changed color from blue to golden to lilac. On the drive back, we searched for nocturnal animals and saw a couple jackals.
We didn’t see any species in my taxa group today, because they’re typically found in wetlands and we were in dry savanna.
Every meal here at the EcoScience Lodge has started with a soup. First it was zucchini, and next carrot and orange. I predicted tonight’s soup would be pumpkin, and it was! The breakfasts (fried eggs on toast!) have also been very good.
Post-dinner, Dr. Prendergast gave a late night presentation on Tanzanian history and culture. Tomorrow we’ll be moving on and heading towards Ngorongoro Crater.
Swatting tsetse flies with my field notebook,
Carina
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