Our second day in Tarangire, after a night of “glamping” and a campfire, started with an early morning Cape Buffalo herd and continued through a forest of thorns and termite mounds. We were driving along the eastern side of Tarangire, going south before turning north again along the floodplains and swamp areas. We found a steenbok – a small antelope – that we were lucky to see! So small.
The landscape here was epic. Empty savannahs, gnarled trees, thin stretches of water. Most memorable, unfortunately, was a large carcass of a Cape Buffalo. Well, more like a skeleton that had been picked dry. Then we had lunch, ha!
At the campfire the night before, our little group led by Ben and Osman had heard about some lions the tourists had seen earlier that day. We asked them if they could find the lions again. They shrugged.
And were totally full of it! One of the first things we “stumbled upon” were a pair of super-full male lions with a Cape Buffalo calf kill underneath a sausage tree. Males – even bachelor male “brothers” – don’t usually kill, so they could have taken a female lion’s kill. After that, we found a lioness hanging out by a huge termite mound – either very pregnant, very full, or very both!
PS: Sausage trees are funny and bizarre!
What was I doing in Tanzania? This was my Social Sabbatical with my company, SAP Concur. Read my stories here.
