7/27 -- Tarangire National Park

Today we explored Tarangire, which means wart hog in the local dialect. We encountered tsetse flies again, but they weren't very prevalent. After a long drive into the park, we started seeing the standard beasts: giraffe, zebras, elephants, wildebeasts and have become so blase about them that we rarely stopped for photos. We found a number of birds too, many of which are now familiar. After a potty break, we drove to the river and watched the elephants for a while and then had  lunch on a hill overlooking the park. We also found a killer bee nest in a baobob tree.

White headed Vulture

Brown Snake Eagle, possibly eating something

Baobab fruits

Red-billed hornbill left, and ashey starlings

Lilac-breasted roller

Ostrich

Roppells Griffon Vulture

Young zebra

Dik Dik -- very elusive. Have seen them several times, but
this is the first time we've gotten photos.

Very young giraffe

Warthog

Water Thick-knee

Reedbuck

Plover

As we started driving again, we started seeing a lot of vultures circling and other game trucks lining up to watch something and came upon a zebra carcass being mobbed by more and more vultures. There was also a hyena or two under a nearby bush. While we watched, the hyena circled around and slowly approached the carcass and scared off all the vultures, who now waited patiently 10 to 20 feet away. The hyena alternately dragged the carcass and snacked and occasionally had to frighten the vultures when he thought they became too bold. Finally we drove away while the other truck continued snapping photos. Please note that the remains of the zebra is visible in several photos and this could be upsetting to some.

Having been cleared out by the hyena, the vultures await their
next turn.

We found another killer bee nest and then got word that a leopard had shown up at the kill site, so we  hustled back and found both the hyenas and vultures banished from the area -- the hyenas back to their bush and the vultures in trees. The leopard was resting in the shade of a bush and eventually reappeared for another snack. After a short time, he walked away and we waited maybe 10 to 15 minutes to see  if the vultures and hyenas would reappear, but gave it up and started the long trek home.

Killer bee nest. All the brown is bees.

The leopard guards its claim. It is uncertain if it killed the
zebra and took a break or is scavenging like the others.

The leopard had a snack, then walked away (below). We waited
quite a while to see if the hyena or vultures would reappear
but gave up before they came back.

Tanzania weatherwise is a lot different than the first part of the trip where the overnight temperatures in our unheated tents were in the high 40s and low 50s and daily highs were mostly in the mid 60s. Here, overnight temperatures are around 60 and highs here are reaching the mid 80s. I may actually use the swimsuit I brought if I can take enough time away from the blog!