{"id":572,"date":"2025-03-15T12:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-03-15T12:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/?p=572"},"modified":"2025-07-24T14:19:31","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T14:19:31","slug":"arusha-national-park-6-8-april-2013","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/2025\/03\/15\/arusha-national-park-6-8-april-2013\/","title":{"rendered":"Arusha National Park, 6-8 April 2013"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


Both Moshi Town and Arusha, because of their proximity to Mount Kilimanjaro, are full of safari  outfitters and trekking guides. We weren\u2019t looking to climb Kili (4895 meters) but to visit a game park, see some animals in natural habitats, so in Moshi we found the office of a recommended company and booked a full-day safari in Arusha National Park. We would have a sturdy safari vehicle and a driver, as well as a park ranger to walk us through portions of the park for a closer look, and we would spend two nights at Moivaro Lodge at the edge of the game park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our driver arrived promptly and we covered the 78 km from Moshi to Arusha in good time. In the National Park visitors\u2019 center we registered and were on our way, the car rolling slowly over muddy tracks through dense forest on all sides.  Our guide pointed out animals all around us\u2014colonies of black and white colobus monkeys in the trees, a troop of baboons lumbering across the road ahead\u2014while we swiveled our heads and craned our necks, awestruck and humbled by our smallness in their forest home. A Sykes monkey stopped to let us pass, gave an appraising look from under prominent eyebrows. At one point we stopped and the driver jumped down to look at something in the woods just beside the road. When he returned he told us regretfully that we had just missed the elephants; they had passed through just minutes earlier. The landscape changed as we drove out of the forest, wide plains stretched out on both sides of the road, a stream wandered along and mountains rose in the near distance. Here we saw herds of zebras and of water buffalo with enormous, curving horns. The animals grazed in surprising proximity, sharing pastures, water, and the shade of an occasional acacia tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We took a lunch break at an outpost with picnic tables, and it felt good to be out of the car. Afterward we met the park ranger who would lead us on the walking part of our safari, a woman named Rehema whose easy smile was as reassuring to us as the rifle she carried slung casually over one shoulder.  Rehema led us along the riverbed, pointing out geological features, plants and trees until we came to vast, sun-baked meadows of grass and scrub. We stood quietly and very soon saw a giraffe gliding along, its curving neck, head turning this way and that, moving purposefully toward something good to eat. Once we spotted the first one, giraffes were everywhere\u2014in the far and middle distance as well as quite nearby. They were unconcerned with our presence, went silently about feeding from one bush and then another. The thing about a game park is that the animals are at home there; human beings are only occasional visitors. Hunting is forbidden, of course, and the animals have to little fear from us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After two hours on foot we were glad to climb once again into the car, but the spell of silent communion with the giraffes in their sun-warmed habitat lingered. We drove faster now; the day was winding down and the driver wanted us to see the flamingoes. One flamingo can seem faintly ridiculous, recalling plastic lawn ornaments, but flocks of large, long-legged pink birds in flight or standing to feed in a lagoon are nothing less than stupefying. The light began to fade as we watched them skimming above the water, arcing in formation into the sky, settling again to pose and preen and jostle among themselves. On our way out of the park we saw more birds: golden-crowned cranes, stately and elegant; and a parade of black and white-speckled guineafowl, shuffling comically along with their blue helmets and bright red wattles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It had been a long, unforgettable day. We arrived Moivaro Lodge after dark in chilly, light rain and were grateful for the warmth of a little fireplace in our bungalow. The next day we relaxed beside the swimming pool, bought a few souvenirs handcrafted by Masai artisans, and prepared for our flight back to Dar es Salaam. After a last brief stay at Hotel Mediterraneo we would leave Africa for our home in Europe, but I knew the joy of walking among giraffes would be mine to recall forever.     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Both Moshi Town and Arusha, because of their proximity to Mount Kilimanjaro, are full of safari  outfitters and trekking guides. We weren\u2019t looking to climb Kili (4895 meters) but to visit a game park, see some animals in natural habitats, so in Moshi we found the office of a recommended company and booked a full-day
+ Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-572","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travels-in-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":716,"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572\/revisions\/716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ouritalianfarmhouse.com\/ourstory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}