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Tarangire Conservation Area
Caution, Elephant Crossing!
A Toyota Land Cruiser with pop-top roof gives 360 degree viewing. Having only 3 passengers in a cruiser allows plenty of elbow room. Three vehicles in our "fleet" keep in touch by radio -- so we can spread out a bit and communicate news of a good find.
Matriarchs don't like anything non-elephant close to their young ones. You'll know if you're too close -- trumpeting, ear flapping, and charging toward the vehicles -- very obvious warning signals. Our drivers rev up the engine in response to a charge, and this keeps them back, but we're always ready to make a hasty exit!
Elephants like the moist, spongy wood of the enormous Baobab tree, and every Baobab has huge chunks gored out of the tree trunk (but the trees just keep on growing!)
Our first sightings of the graceful giraffe. How many vertebrae in the neck of a giraffe? Four hundred? Fifty? No, only seven, the same number of cervical vertebrae humans have
Baboons sit along the road and turn posteriors at tourists. Some juvenile delinquents perched in trees tossed giant sausage fruit on our vans as we cruised by!
Baboons can be pests around a camp, as they will raid the food supplies. Camp cooks toss stones to keep these uninvited guests from helping themselves to dinner. While they're waiting for us to turn our backs, they enjoy grooming each other, and seem as curious about us as we are about them.
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