GLIMPSES OF TARANGIRE
A vist to Tarangire was a must. My African tour would have been incompete without visiting Tarangire. I had decided to get into the bushes of Tarangire, which is well known for its elephants.
Sarangeti is the farthest of all from Arusha, which takes five to six hours to drive. Other places are at a distance of
one to three hours drive and the approach roads are good. Shafiq picked me up at around 7 am in his Range Rover.On the way, I could see the deviations for Lake Manyara national park, Ngorongoro and Sarangeti. Behind Manyara Lake, I could see the mountain range in neighbouring Rwanda from the road itself. I was feeling bad for running out of time and missing seeing these places. I knew I was going to miss a lot of places in Tanzania.
'There is always a next time', I said to myslef and decided that I would visit Arusha first, when I get back to Africa again.
Shafiq explained me the different terrains in the area and told me that I should have stayed in Tanzania for little more time. He spoke good English and had good knowledge about flora, fauna and lifestyles of the region. In total, he could be one of the best tourist guides.
On the way, we came across the Maasais of Tanzania and Shafiq gave me a brief description of the difference between Maasais of Kenya and Tanzania. According to him, the Maasais of Tanzania were the real Maasais, while the Kenya Maasais were a mix of Somalis and Ethiopians.
"A maasai drinks hot blood of the animals he kills. He eats the meat and treats himself with native medicine. That is the life style of a maasai. Look at the people in Kenya, who claim themselves to be maasais. They eat jowar like us and go to doctors for any treatment. They have adopted some of the culture of maasai, after getting influenced with their lifestyle,’’ Shafiq argued.
That does not mean Shafiq has great respect for either of maasais. According to him, a maasai is nothing more than a cattle grazer. ``A maasai can marry any number of women. His wife will look after the family and even pays him for his expenses. I have only one wife and two children. I have to earn for my family and a maasai man does not take such responsibilities. There is no difference between an animal and a maasai man,’’ he said. Sounded interesting.
The maasais in Tanzania were as colourful or more colourful than maasais in Kenya. Most of them looked very business-minded, putting up shops on the road side. But, they have not given up their traditional attire.
As we entered into Tarangire national park, I realised that the bushes in Likipia were different than the bushes at Tarangire. In Likipia, the bushes are thicker and the terrain is totally different. As usual, we passed by herds of giraffes, antelopes and baboons. While we were passing through a herd of zebras, Shafiq pointed out at an Albino.
This was the third kind of zebra, I was seeing in Africa. First it was the regular zebra an
d then the Grevy’s zebra in Likipia. The Albinos are called mountain zebra, which has brownish stripe on its back. Besides, the stripes resemble the shape of a flower on its back.
We saw all animals, but still there was no glimpse of an elephant, for which Tarangire is famous for. After an hour or so, we sighted two of them and headed towards the view point next to the Tarangire river. It is a spectacular view, where the river flows 100 feet below the valley.
While we started descending down the valley, we came across the first herd of around 15 elephants. After playing in a pond for some time, a huge tusker walked straight towards us. I was confused for a moment, but the tusker decided to change the direction, barely 10 feet from us. As the herd passed our jeep, we could see another herd of around 25 elephants heading towards the pond.
We moved ahead towards the river bed and sighted more and more elephant herds. Most of the herds were moving towards the river bed and as we reached, I could not believe my
self. It was just elephant herds everywhere and the number could have easily crossed 500-600. I made a futile attempt to get the picture of the entire landscape, but could not cover even half of it. The elephants looked like ants in the pictures I took.
While we were having lunch, we saw an elephant herd just 10 metres behind our jeep. There was a huge elephant grazing on the river bed, which was again 10 feet below where the jeep was parked. In whatever direction I turned my eyes; I could just see elephants and elephants. I thought, this is what is called 'elephants in thousands'.
At around 3.30 pm, we headed towards Arusha and Shafiq had told me that I had to be dropped at the hotel by 6 pm. This time, I nodded reluctantly.
A vist to Tarangire was a must. My African tour would have been incompete without visiting Tarangire. I had decided to get into the bushes of Tarangire, which is well known for its elephants.
Sarangeti is the farthest of all from Arusha, which takes five to six hours to drive. Other places are at a distance of
one to three hours drive and the approach roads are good. Shafiq picked me up at around 7 am in his Range Rover.On the way, I could see the deviations for Lake Manyara national park, Ngorongoro and Sarangeti. Behind Manyara Lake, I could see the mountain range in neighbouring Rwanda from the road itself. I was feeling bad for running out of time and missing seeing these places. I knew I was going to miss a lot of places in Tanzania.'There is always a next time', I said to myslef and decided that I would visit Arusha first, when I get back to Africa again.
Shafiq explained me the different terrains in the area and told me that I should have stayed in Tanzania for little more time. He spoke good English and had good knowledge about flora, fauna and lifestyles of the region. In total, he could be one of the best tourist guides.
On the way, we came across the Maasais of Tanzania and Shafiq gave me a brief description of the difference between Maasais of Kenya and Tanzania. According to him, the Maasais of Tanzania were the real Maasais, while the Kenya Maasais were a mix of Somalis and Ethiopians.
"A maasai drinks hot blood of the animals he kills. He eats the meat and treats himself with native medicine. That is the life style of a maasai. Look at the people in Kenya, who claim themselves to be maasais. They eat jowar like us and go to doctors for any treatment. They have adopted some of the culture of maasai, after getting influenced with their lifestyle,’’ Shafiq argued.
That does not mean Shafiq has great respect for either of maasais. According to him, a maasai is nothing more than a cattle grazer. ``A maasai can marry any number of women. His wife will look after the family and even pays him for his expenses. I have only one wife and two children. I have to earn for my family and a maasai man does not take such responsibilities. There is no difference between an animal and a maasai man,’’ he said. Sounded interesting.
The maasais in Tanzania were as colourful or more colourful than maasais in Kenya. Most of them looked very business-minded, putting up shops on the road side. But, they have not given up their traditional attire.
As we entered into Tarangire national park, I realised that the bushes in Likipia were different than the bushes at Tarangire. In Likipia, the bushes are thicker and the terrain is totally different. As usual, we passed by herds of giraffes, antelopes and baboons. While we were passing through a herd of zebras, Shafiq pointed out at an Albino.
This was the third kind of zebra, I was seeing in Africa. First it was the regular zebra an
d then the Grevy’s zebra in Likipia. The Albinos are called mountain zebra, which has brownish stripe on its back. Besides, the stripes resemble the shape of a flower on its back.We saw all animals, but still there was no glimpse of an elephant, for which Tarangire is famous for. After an hour or so, we sighted two of them and headed towards the view point next to the Tarangire river. It is a spectacular view, where the river flows 100 feet below the valley.
While we started descending down the valley, we came across the first herd of around 15 elephants. After playing in a pond for some time, a huge tusker walked straight towards us. I was confused for a moment, but the tusker decided to change the direction, barely 10 feet from us. As the herd passed our jeep, we could see another herd of around 25 elephants heading towards the pond.
We moved ahead towards the river bed and sighted more and more elephant herds. Most of the herds were moving towards the river bed and as we reached, I could not believe my
self. It was just elephant herds everywhere and the number could have easily crossed 500-600. I made a futile attempt to get the picture of the entire landscape, but could not cover even half of it. The elephants looked like ants in the pictures I took.While we were having lunch, we saw an elephant herd just 10 metres behind our jeep. There was a huge elephant grazing on the river bed, which was again 10 feet below where the jeep was parked. In whatever direction I turned my eyes; I could just see elephants and elephants. I thought, this is what is called 'elephants in thousands'.
At around 3.30 pm, we headed towards Arusha and Shafiq had told me that I had to be dropped at the hotel by 6 pm. This time, I nodded reluctantly.
1 comment:
I bet you can never ask for more elephants in life.It was interesting to here that you were able to spot elephants in hundreds.
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