Safari!

"Safari" in Swahili means "trip" or "journey." In English, it has come to mean "sweet animal-viewing adventure." So, we did the latter! We went on a day trip to Tarangire National Park, about 2 hours west of our home in Arusha. It was fantastic:

Elephants along the Tarangire River, which hardly exists during the dry season.

Above, the baobab (baa-oh-bab) trees that can hold up to 1000 liters of water in their trunks and live for nearly 3000 years! African legend has it that baobabs used to walk around the countryside on their roots, until God got tired of them and replanted them upside-down, rooting them permanently in the soil. (They do sort of look like upside-down trees!)



The baobab has myriad uses in Africa, including making water containers from the seed pods, using the leaves for medicinal purposes, and pounding the bark into paper and cloth. One of the seed pods, below, that we cracked open:

The fruit inside tasted like freeze-dried ice cream, and is supposedly rich in vitamin C.



The elephant families were adorable. The mama elephants were very playful with the babies. Below, a mother with her three children, digging for water:

Love this elephant strut.



Turns out zebras and wildebeest travel together to help each other out; the zebras are able to detect predators, while the wildebeest are good at finding water sources. We saw lots of big zebra/wildebeest herds, grazing for food and trying to stay cool:





I loved the zebras! They had such personality, and came right up to our jeep:




The giraffes were hilarious, and surprisingly graceful!




Doesn't seeing the acacia tree, below, make you think of the song "Africa" by Toto?

"I bless the rains down in Africa..."
(Look at those crazy bird nests, dangling precariously like Christmas ornaments!)

There were randomly ostriches throughout the park too...which p.s. are huge! I had no idea, they were way taller than me!

Before heading back to Arusha, we stopped for a drink at the Tarangire Safari Lodge -- a posh hotel where tourists can relax and enjoy the view:

Frank, in the middle, was our awesome driver/tour guide.

Overall, a fantastic safari!