Tarangire, Tanzania

I woke up at 07:30 today, got ready, packed my bags, and then had breakfast at 08:00 with the Guatemalan woman, the Spanish woman, the Canadian man, and the Japanese man; we had fried eggs with large slices of tomatoes, thin pancakes, toast with jam, and papaya slices; I also had a cup of coffee. We then waited around for our tour guides/drivers to pick us up; first the Spanish woman left on a safari to Lake Manyara and then the remaining three left on a safari to the Serengeti; both professional-looking tan safari vehicles left at about 09:30 (I was a bit envious that they had left on time and in better vehicles than I had got from this company); of course, I left much later. I waited around and at one point the drug-using cook came around to get a tip from me but I told him I only tip at the end of the safaris since I wasn’t even sure if I would be leaving on one today and that once back at the campsite, I would tip him (I had been sincere too, but, despite what the tour company staff had told me when they picked me up this morning, I did not come back to this campsite later – these people don’t seem to have a clue on how to manage anything; pretty much during this whole five-day experience I had been left in the dark and had little to no idea of what I would be doing; oh well, no more money to buy drug-laced lollipops for this cook). Finally, at 10:10, a Toyota Scion came to take me on my safari; the tour company representative who had talked to the other four last night joined me as the driver took us all eastward toward Tarangire National Park (I did see two giraffes feasting near the road during the drive). After about an hour’s drive, we stopped at a roadside dirt lot with a few gas pumps and restaurants and shops surrounding two sides of the lot. We then waited for the safari vehicle to come pick me up; after twenty minutes, the vehicle came, I got in, and joined an Italian couple and two young Danish women on the safari. We reached the park entrance after a short drive and the driver took care of the necessary paperwork while we walked around and looked at the velvet monkeys hanging around. Finally, we started our safari just after noon (WTF?!) and immediately saw many warthogs with young hoglets. We then saw some antelope, elephants in the distance, more elephants, Thompson gazelles, even more elephants, brown hornbill birds, a secretary bird, and impalas before stopping at a picnic site for lunch. This picnic site had many thieving velvet monkeys and we had to keep an eye on our food; I even asked the driver if we should lower the roof of the safari vehicle to ensure no monkeys got in, but he reassured me there was no need (idiot). We were each given our boxed lunches and I had fried chicken, a boiled egg, a doughnut, a muffin, cookies, an apple, a samosa filled with beef and onions, and a mango juice. Sure enough, as we were eating, a velvet monkey had climbed on to our safari vehicle and was trying to get inside; the driver had to pause his lunch and lower the roof of the vehicle. After lunch, we continued on our safari and saw impalas, a dark male giraffe, elephants, more elephants, another giraffe, baboons along the shore of the Tarangire River, more impalas, a Marabou stork, ostriches (one grey female and four black and white males), many more elephants in the distance walking toward a watering hole, more velvet monkeys, and yet even more elephants, feeding under the shade – one was even laying down (this park is known for its elephants and they sure do have a lot of them). Lastly, we saw water-buck antelopes and even more warthogs. We then finished our safari at 16:00 (WTF?! – so much for having five to six hours like everyone else). The safari driver then drove back to the roadside dirt lot where I had been picked up and waited for my ride to take me back east. Actually, this safari driver/guide was the worst I had witnessed; I thought the two we had on our Serengeti safari were terrible, but now I know they were just average – at least they cared about showing us as many animals as possible and as close as possible; this guy could not talk to us and drive at the same time, he didn’t seem interested in showing us more than elephants and warthogs which we had easily seen plenty of, it seemed as though he could not see very far himself since most of the distant animals were spotted by us passengers, and when another driver he knew passed by, he would spend several minutes having a conversation; he also did not speak English very well and could not explain much to us. Anyway, a van came and picked me up; I wished the other passengers an excellent safari experience (hopefully they get another driver/guide) and loaded my bags and myself in to van. We then drove off toward Arusha with an excellent view of Mount Meru in the distance. Once at Arusha, I switched vehicles and a car driven by a reggae-listening pot user picked me up; we then drove back to the hotel I had stayed at before in Moshi, reaching it just after 20:00 (luckily we arrived safely since the car had a smudged windshield and every time other cars passed us by in the night, the glare from their lights made it almost impossible to see). I checked in to my room and then had dinner (fried chicken strips, a fillet steak, French fries, and  two Guinness beers). After dinner, I went back to my room and relaxed before falling asleep.