200 - 202 Tarangire National Park

After our hunting expedition this morning we made our way out the crater’s foothills and headed Southeast to Tarangire National Park. The lodge we are staying at overlooks the game park so we could watch the animals (like elephants and zebras) from our porch. Tarangire is a little quieter this time of year but it is packed with elephants so we really followed them most of the afternoon. The story of the day happened after we went to bed...
We walked back to our tent (they aren't just camping tents, they are actually permanent tents with cement floors, but the walls are made of tent material) after dinner with someone escorting us as they always do, to guide us with a flashlight (not that a flashlight will do much if a wild animal attacks but...). Tonight we saw several elephants about 10 feet off the path grazing in the trees. We could hear them making lots of noise as we went to bed. About 1:45 I heard a rush of water outside our tent, figured a pipe had broke and got up to make sure it wasn't flowing inside (it wasn't thank goodness). I couldn't find the zero the phone to call the front desk (because there is no phones in safari tents DUH!) and knew we weren't suppose to go outside, so I just went back to bed. Well come to find out in the morning an elephant had broken the water pipe on our tent. Kate and Randy had woken up to the elephant breathing outside their tent and then heard the pipe bust on our tent. They had used their cell phone to call someone who contacted the lodge to stop the flood. We also found out at the lodge this happens frequently and they think it is the same elephant who has figured out how to get the water from the pipe! Oh the adventures in Africa.

We started our morning drive and it was pretty quiet until our driver spotted two male lions and a female in a valley. We had to just watch with our binoculars, because they were pretty far away, but that was the first time we actually saw the face of the male (the other time he was sleeping). We were all thrilled, because that was the last big thing we wanted to see. After we drove around for a while we followed a herd of elephants who eventually made their way to some water for bath time as we sat about 12 feet away. It was awesome! We spent the afternoon by the pool and then headed out on our afternoon drive.

This morning was our last day on safari. We did our final drive on the way out of the park, where we saw lots of monkeys and baboons running around. We headed back to Arusha for lunch, did some shopping, and settled into our lodge for the night! The safari was a blast for all of us!