On Safari in Tanzania

My nephew Patrick recently returned home from a dream adventure of visiting the country of Tanzania in Africa where he climbed to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro!  He had been training for over a year to accomplish this task and we are all so proud and happy of him. He gave me permission to show some of his fabulous photos on my blog, so today I thought I'd show the safari he went on in Arusha National Park, one of the fourteen Tanzania National Parks, for "Mosaic Monday" on Mary's The Little Red House blog.

The 212 square mile Arusha National Park is close to Arusha and the Kilimanjaro International Airport and therefore was an easy day trip for my nephew to take before his mountain climb.

According to this web site: "the park contains a diverse resident population of herbivores, primates and predators including black and white colobus monkeys, baboons, elephants, giraffes, buffalos, hippos, leopards, hyenas, waterbucks, wart hogs and a wide range of antelope species. No lions in the park although you can see leopards if you are lucky."

All photos can be clicked on to enlarge.

There were many monkeys climbing an ancient Boabab tree, also known as Adansonia. Some species of baobab trees can live for a thousand years, potentially reaching a stunning height of 80 feet (25 meters) and a diameter of 40 feet (12 meters). The African baobab tree is capable of storing life-saving water during the draught season which is vital to local nomadic people who may not have any other means of obtaining water. Large baobab trees are said to contain more than 30,000 gallons of water!

 He saw many herds of elephants seeking water.....

...and many Wildebeests, gazelles and giraffes.....

...and large herds of zebras.

There were also many giant ant hills, such as this one, throughout the park!

Wildlife conservation is an important issue in Africa, as it is all continents, and Tanzania has done much to create wild life preserves where its native animals can remain free and protected from hunters and poachers. You can read more about this issue here.

Come back to see my next blog post when I'll show you some of the incredible photos of Patrick's climb to Uhuru Peak of the world's highest free-standing mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro!