Chapter Five: Farewell to Tarangire

One Last Drive Through Tarangire

After breakfast, we thanked the A&K team for their wonderful hospitality and began our final drive through Tarangire. The park wasn’t finished with us yet.

One of the morning’s most spectacular sights was an enormous procession of animals moving toward a watering area.

Zebras.

Wildebeest.

More zebras.

More wildebeest.

It looked as though the entire neighborhood had suddenly decided it was time for a drink.

Then came a giraffe family crossing the road directly in front of us.

And finally, a family of baboons provided the farewell committee as we made our way toward the park exit.
Behind all of them stood the landscape that had made their lives possible — grasses stretching toward the horizon, thorny shrubs, acacias silhouetted against the sky and those magnificent baobabs that seemed to have watched generations of animals pass beneath them.

I had arrived in Tanzania expecting the Big Five to command my attention.

Instead, I found myself equally fascinated by the smaller details — a brilliantly colored bird, an unfamiliar flower, the shape of an acacia against the sunset, or an ancient baobab standing silently in the savannah.

That was perhaps one of Tarangire’s greatest surprises.

The animals may be the stars of the safari, but the trees, plants, birds and landscape create the stage on which the entire story of Africa unfolds.

By now, another part of safari life had also become very familiar:

the roads.

Smooth roads are not exactly Tarangire’s specialty.

Our guide had a much better name for the constant bouncing.

“African massage.”

And unlike a spa treatment, this massage could last for hours.

Fortunately, nobody in our group suffered from serious motion sickness, because there was plenty more African massage waiting for us.

Ahead lay another landscape entirely.

The road began carrying us away from Tarangire and toward one of Africa’s greatest natural wonders:

Ngorongoro Crater.

We had already awakened with elephants outside our cabin, watched the Lion King walk past our vehicle, stood beneath ancient baobabs, discovered a leopard asleep above us and followed a lioness into the African night.

And somehow…

we were only getting started.

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From Our Trip

This chapter is based on our firsthand Tanzania journey. Safari schedules, park conditions, lodge services and wildlife sightings can change, so confirm current details with your operator before traveling.

Explore all Triyana Diaries destinations or find Tanzania on the Where We’ve Been map.