Our first game viewing day on this trip was in Arusha National Park. It’s the smallest National Park in Tanzania but also has the distinction of being the only one where the animals are sufficiently accustomed to humans that tourists can go for a guided hike with a ranger. Tanzanian citizens don’t need the ranger (and often walk the main road just to get to the town on the other side).
I don’t know if I fell in love with Arusha N.P. because it was our first day of animal viewing, because of the hike, because of the guides (including our ranger, Bennett), because we saw so much wildlife, or because of the actual animals we saw. The setting – both physical and emotional – really made the animals stand out in exciting ways.
That first day, we saw: zebra, water buffalo, giraffe, sacred ibis, dik dik, baboons, black and white Colobus monkeys, flamingos, Egyptian duck, egret, golden-billed stork, waterbok, evidence (semi-digested and spit-up grass) of hippos traveling the night before, warthog, and many other birds whose names I don’t recall. It was a bright day, but not too hot, and the scenery was like tropical rainforest … lush, green trees and bright grass. It wasn’t the savannah I’d imagined we’d see for the entirety of the safari, but the animals seemed right at home. It was like they were coming out to play for us.
Also, this was the day where we learned the most Swahili. “Affia,” which means “bless you, or more specifically, “health.” And “Kua koma mgombo wandeezi,” which apparently means “Grow fast like a banana tree.” Since you’re supposed to say the second phrase after the first, we think growing like a banana tree must be evidence of being healthy. There’s also another part that goes on the end of that … something about coconut trees always being late … but I had trouble remembering that one.
