Awesome African Adventure. Day 22 -April 30, 2025

Kisorongo, Arusha to Tarangire NP

We enjoyed our breakfast at Pazuri Inn. The staff here have been so attentive and helpful. So much food though. It’s a small buffet and we were happy with cereal, fruit, toast, omelettes/eggs, and crepes until they brought 5 bowls to the table for us!!!! – mushrooms, plantain, cassava, bacon, sausages. Just too much food. They are also very insistent about us eating. They would do well at Macca’s with the suggestive selling.

JB has picked up another vehicle (charging system not reliable in other vehicle) which we have settled into.

We learnt that Kisorongo is an area that the Maasai moved to when Arusha was populated. The Maasai are farmers of cattle and have to keep moving to find grazing areas for cattle. Unfortunately as the Maasai find a space and then move the services and commercial businesses and the people follow them. Hence they are nomadic but running out of spaces. The Maasai dress differently and seem to be a very tall people. JB also explained that the Maasai are moving from cows to goats and donkeys – due to the impact of climate change on cows with access to grass and water impacted.
Woman do a lot of the work -build homes, gather water, food etc. The men look after the cattle, but women do the majority of the work. JB hopes and prays that his daughters do not marry a Maasai man.
We passed the military barracks and training area. Tanzanians have to serve for 3 months prior to university- used to be three years for both male and female.
Today we headed out of Arusha to Tarangire NP. We were travelling along a main road but so much to see as everything is different. Baobab trees were beginning to appear.
Coffee stop at Lion Coffee – not bad with a little sugar.
A little further along our 2 hour journey we spied Zebras under the powerlines with Wildebeest and Thompson (Cheetah chow) and Grant Gazelle. There was also a Maasai Church, some old and newer Maasai Boma huts. Just like we see cattle feeding under the power lines at Tynong so does the African wildlife.
Giraffes were also spotted in the distance behind the powerlines.
Tarangire. Tara – River. Ngiri- warthogs. River of Pumba. (Pumbavu in Swahili means stupid) The poor Warthogs are noted for their small brain, run away and come back to danger again. JB shared later in the trip that a Pumba had killed one of his dogs (he has a farm and several dogs) it is a common thing. During the trip he got word of another attack on one of the family dog. The men he has working for him were building a trap and he was expecting to go home to Pumba BBQ – so foreign to us.

We drove alongside Lake Manyara and the Great Rift Valley, which is 8000km long down to Mozambique. The lakes along the rift valley like Lake Manyara are expanding due to further splitting of the tectonic plates.
Once we turned off the main drag and onto some unmade roads we started seeing birds and animals and plants. JB was so patient and full of information. Here’s a very long list the sensational wildlife we saw today. Most were captured but some just a bit too quick for a worthy shot.

Superb Starling.
Red billed weaver bird.
Magpie shrike – Mary got a shot
Variable sunbird male and female.
We spotted these along with a bunch of other birds. They provided endless pleasure as they challenged us to capture their picture. They were looking at their reflection in the car windows and we still struggled to capture them.
Red billed buffalo weaver
Ring necked dove – Mary
Ashy starling
Grey headed Sparrow – Mary
Pygmy Falcon – smallest bird of prey in Africa – Spotted by me.
Dung beetle with a large dung ball. The male is making the ball to attract the female. They will also bury it. This was in the carpark of the Tarangire NP entry. Along with a number of other birds quite accustomed to people.
White- headed Buffalo Weaver
Northern White Crowned Shrike
Cardinal Woodpecker.
Back into the car for yet More.
Fork-Tailed Drongo
Black-Crowned Tchagra
Monitor Lizard on dead baobab
Lilac-Breasted Roller.
Red billed hornbill on dung.
Tawny Eagle
Elephant in distance.
White faced Whistling Ducks
Viteline Masked Weaver male and female.
Ashy Starling
Speckled Mousebird
Pin tailed whydah
Lilac breasted roller.
Yellow Collared Lovebird
Black faced sandgrouse
Crested Francolin
Usambiro Barbet
Von der Decken’s Hornbill (f) and Male
African Hoopoe
Nanaqua Dove (m/f)
Hootenvergia floribunda little purple cornflower.
Vervet monkeys in Baobab

Eventually we made it to the lunch spot at Matete Picnic Ground at 2:30. JB has been saying we are going for lunch from 12 but we kept finding birds and things to photograph. Once again a packed lunch from the lodge. It’s a bit odd as the food we pack at breakfast is hot eg. Rice, chicken, a pea sauce, potato pieces, of course it’s all cold by lunch. There is also juice, water and fruit and chocolate. We had to shut the Troopy up totally so the monkeys can’t get in while we ate lunch. JB also brought his sling shot to scare them away at lunchtime. (We saw none) There were several of the birds we had been trying so hard to capture in trees at a distance just bobbing around the lunch spot looking for crumbs. The view over the Tarangire River and Valley and into the hills beyond including Tarangire Hill were the epitome of Africa to me.
After lunch we crossed the Tarangire River.
Suzie swapped to the back and Mizungoo (Swahili for
white) Phil got in the drivers seat and drove for a little bit – quite a privilege.
We visited the Poachers Hide. This baobab tree was hollowed out by poachers to hide in during the day, poach and kill during the night and hide the kill in the tree.
White – backed Vulture.
I spotted a shape in a boabab. As we got closer it turned out to be a tree climbing leopard. I’m chuffed.
Dik Dik (Lions biscuit) antelope. One of the smallest. Never wallow in mud.
Juvenile immature Dark Chanting Goshawk.
Grey headed Kingfisher
Yellow necked spurfowl
More elephants.
White-Browed Coucal
Tim the Elephant ~ a bit of a tusker. Maybe 45 years old.
Arrived at the Gate to Sangaiwe Tented Lodge at 5:58. Checked in about 6:05.
Welcome Tamarind drink and cold towels. Then a walk UP the hill to our Tented hut. A tent under a tin roof. Huge bathroom. Good charging facilities and no wi-fi in the rooms. Too much food and good service too.
Mambo vp-. Hello in Swahili
Subai – hello in Maasai
Just sitting at Morondova Aerodrome, Madagascar prepping this post for the web some 10 days later I’m appreciating just what we’ve done so far. It’s also good to appreciate the little things in life that we take for granted- running water – HOT and cold, perforated toilet paper and so much more.