Third in a series
We woke to a foggy cool morning in Arusha. I wanted so badly to see Mt. Kilimanjaro that I knew was lingering just beyond the clouds. She was elusive, not yet ready to show us the beauty of Tanzania. Of course, in the light of day with a good nights sleep behind us, I wasn’t so intimidated as I was the night before. My confidence had returned! The culture shock from the night before had subsided.
My dad overlooking the foggy valley at Onsea House.
Martin, our guide for our entire trip, gathered us up that morning around 10 a.m. We drove towards our first destination, Tarangire National Park.
I was astonished by the vast openness of the countryside. There was no fencing, no barriers, no property demarkation….anywhere. As we drove, we watch Maasai women and children herding their sheep, goats, or cows to water. We watched other women carrying buckets of water on their heads. We watched very small children playing along the roadside without supervision. It was truly the Wild West!
Finally we turned to enter Tarangire National Park, one of the most famous wildlife conservation projects in Tanzania. It was established in 1970 and covers roughly 1100 square miles. It is famous for it’s high density of elephants and Baobab trees.
I was amazed at Martin’s eye. It was like he had X-ray vision! He scanned the countryside constantly as he was driving us through the park pointing out different animals and birds. However, the most memorable moment was when we drove to the Tarangire river bed and watched a huge herd of elephants digging for water. My favorite picture is of a mother elephant nudging her calf with her trunk. 
I look at my dad and he is smiling ear to ear. He is beyond happy. He is in his church. This is truly heaven on earth.
After a long day of driving through the park, we settled into Tarangire Sopa Lodge for the night. While waiting for dad to get a shower so we could have dinner in their excellent restaurant, I watched from our balcony the Vervet monkeys watching me. I went and sat on the bed. I then got up and moved to the balcony opening, they were closer. I moved back to the bed and to the balcony several times….laughing that each time I looked out that the monkeys were getting ever so closer to me on the balcony. Finally, I looked and they were sitting on the ledge of the balcony. Mischievous and curious…..not so unlike their cousins on the inside.