August 31 - Drive to Arusha, Tanzania

Today we are heading off to Tanzania.  There were a lot of herds out early grazing on the plains.

We saw two cape buffalos fighting

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Video of cape buffalos
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There were also lots of flamingos in the lakes

and pelicans near the road.

But before we could get very far we had one more rare treat.  Kevin had heard that a cheetah had been loitering in an area along our route today.  And we found her with a fresh kill.  Again, Kevin said it was extremely rare to see a cheetah, let alone one with a fresh kill. 

We sat and watched for a while as she fed.  She was extremely cautious…constantly looking around between bites.  Kevin said she would be ok until the hyena’s got wind of the kill.  Then they would likely drive her off.  But while we watched she was doing fine. 

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More Cheetah with Kill
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Video of cheetah with kill
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Then we headed off for a two hour+ drive to the Tanzania border.  Of course there were more animals to see.  There were plenty of giraffes...

and we saw another gerenuk (giraffe gazelle), this time very close to the road.  It was pretty young.

The border had a massive backup of trucks.

Once at the border we made it through all of the paperwork and bureaucracy and were handed off to Harlequin, our guide for out time in Tanzania.

There was a lot of foot traffic along the road.

as well as small shops and interesting loads on motorcycles, 

lot of nurseries tucked on empty strips beside the roads... 

and corn growing in every small patch they could find. 

We saw many herds of domestic animals.

We had a further drive to the town of Arusha, a very bustling town. 

We have stayed at some very memorable inns and lodges during our stay in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania.  Thought we would share this one.  This is Rivertrees Lodge in Arusha, Tanzania.  It was a former coffee plantation and is now a very nice lodge with lovely grounds and bungalow’s scattered throughout the ground.

We spent the afternoon working on photos and taking a short nap.  Then it was dinner at the open pavilion dining room and back to the room and to bed.