Arusha is the 4th largest city in Tanzania and is famous for tourism, tanzanite mining and the International Criminal Court. The nearby Kilimanjaro airport is a small international airport, however, it has huge volume of international travelers arriving to/leaving from this tiny airport.
The first attraction pointed out by our guide Augustine was the Clock Tower in the center of the town. It is popularly supposed to be situated at the midpoint between Cairo and Cape Town.
The first attraction pointed out by our guide Augustine was the Clock Tower in the center of the town. It is popularly supposed to be situated at the midpoint between Cairo and Cape Town.
When we passed by the International Criminal Court, Tony was going to take a photo to show that we had passed by this landmark, however, Augustine told us that no photo was allowed.
It took about 3 hours to get to Tarangire National Park. It is a very woody park with a lot of animals. Tarangire is well known for its huge herds of elephant – probably the greatest concentration in Africa - and buffalo, as well as lion, cheetah and leopard. On our way to Tarangire Sopa Lodge, we saw a lot of elephants, baboons, and giraffes.
It was about 2:30PM when we got to Sopa Lodge and we had a very nice lunch by their pool side with many animals and birds around us.
After a short break, we went out for the afternoon game drive. We saw impalas, gazelles, elephants, and giraffes. Our guide, Augustine also told us that elephants and giraffes eat grass and leafs, therefore they don't participate in the great migration. Augustine was trying very hard to spot lion by driving through his favorite spots, unfortunately lions just did not want to show up. Since the month of June is just after their long raining season, the grass and bushes were pretty high which made the spotting of lions a little more difficult.
We saw a lot of Baobab trees in Tarangire National Park. It has swollen trunk and thick root-like branches. The structure of the trunk holds a certain amount of water when no surface water is available. Elephants often cause considerable damage in search of moisture as relief from the drought conditions.
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