Awesome African Adventure. Day 21 -April 29, 2025

Arusha NP.

Breakfast at 7am – at a respectable time after 7 hour sleep.

JB joined us at breaky which was great. A lovely omelette. And fresh fruit.

JB is full of little snippets of info eg. Zuri – Beautiful. So Pazuri is Place of Beauty. Our lodge is Pazuri Inn.

Suzie has opted for a chill today and will skip our bushwalking in the Arusha NP.

Arusha is the Geneva of Africa. There are many foreign people in the area associated with the UN and the union of 8 countries of East Africa. Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Uganda, Congo, Burundi and newly added is Somalia. We passed a big new construction going up that is UN.

At 945 000 square kilometres- Tanzania has more natural resources than others including gold, rubies, diamonds, natural gas, oil, coal..
Corruption is the mother killer across Africa. It’s very bad. The opposition is supported by everyone. The opposition leader is currently in prison for treason. The government is corrupt.

JB is 46 and has 4 children. 16, 12, 4 and 4 months. 2 girls (Nadia and Nani) and 2 boys (? and Nash) in that order.
Some Tanzanian facts and figures.
Unemployment is over 60%
Population is 62 million people. 70% aged 18-45 and lots of educated young people without a job. Gambling, drugs etc is a problem.
Education system is 7 years at Primary learning Swahili, then 4 years middle Secondary school,
Then 3 years senior secondary. All secondary schooling is in English.

We had a look around the Arusha Park Office. The Arusha NP is 135k sq km.
As we drove the hour or so through the park to collect our guard we saw:
Cape Buffalo, one with a newborn.
And a dazzle of Zebra. There was one very pregnant one. They have an 11 month gestation. Fantastic. This is the first really visible Zebra we’ve seen.
A pair of Warthogs.
Olive Baboons
Blue Sykes Monkeys.
Red Duikers (rarely seen) fuzzy pic. – a Pygmy antelope.
Some very hard to see Black and White Colobus monkeys with a couple of Blue Monkeys.

We had a 2 hour walk with our armed guard/guide, Nas (Nasiri). He was a big guy and so good.

JB told him we are photographers and we are interested in everything – plants/birds/animals. Nas took time to explain about it all.
Solenum encatnum (sodom Apple) plant has many uses. The leaves are used like steel wool for washing, the fruit Mount Ceru or maybe Meru apple. Apple juice for toothache. Roots for stomach ache.

Fiscal shrike? (White breast)
EIGHT Maasai Giraffe. AND WE GOT SO SO CLOSE. Nas just kept letting us walk towards them, we reckon about 15 metres away – felt like 2 metres. They couldn’t have cared less.
Female more tufted hair. male have 3 horns.
Two pregnant females they have a 15 month gestation and the babies are born within 20 minutes and can walk within five. Amazing amazing, amazing.
White throated bee eater

After the excitement and pure wonder of the Giraffes, we walked on to Tululusia Waterfall, an 80 metre drop and it means viewpoint. Ngongongare (non gone gar ray) River????
King Charles the third fig tree which took about 100 years to grow to its current size. Charles and Camilla visited, so it’s been named after him.

Tropical Boubou bird. A clicking call like two sticks and then a bell like call when they bob their heads.

A few flowers and insects and back to meet JB.

Then heading to lunch yet MORE. Giraffes and zebra and Cape buffalo grazing in the same clearing. Along with Waterbuck (toilet seat waterbuck).
Cape Buffalo with Red-Billed Ox Peckers picking off ticks and insects.
There was a stack of birds by the lake at the back including African Spoonbill, crane and heron.
Yellow- vented Bulbul.
Dik Dik but it disappeared before we could lift the camera.

Lunch at Small Momella Lake.
Heaps of Tree Agama lizards running around. There are giraffes on the hills to the left and right. Waterbuck, birds.

Then it was back to Pazuri Inn about 5pm to catch up with Suzie and to meet with Ishmail, who was Suzie’s guide on her previous Tanzania trip and was going to be our guide.
Ishmail broke the news that he had taken leave from his work to be our guide but his big boss from Sth Africa was coming and Ishmail needed to be in Nairobi. Instead Ishmail has arranged for JB to be our guide. Suzie was pleased to see Ish and a little disappointed but understood his predicament. Drinks were had and some ripper bar snacks- yam chips and ground nuts.
Then it was time for dinner and readying for our safari with JB tomorrow.