Tarangire was a starting point for national park route. The main goal of entire trip. The first thing I needed was to get out from Arusha. The town looks this way.

In general it looks like much more rural and simpler than Dar es Salaam or Zanzibar. Still something survivable.

However a bit away from a city it's endless flatland. Looks great. I was surprised by a road condition. It was very good.

On the park entrance I saw some monkeys. The seem so cute and I wanted to take as many pictures as possible from different angles. Well, it wasn't just me. It was really hard to stop.
I was surprised by these ladies. To me such outfit didn't seem the best choice for Savannah. However if they find it appropriate, well, that's their choice.

Car for safari looks this way. It's restyled Toyota with additional seats, strengthened chassis and one more gas tank. With a different car you might need a tractor to pull you back from a park.

In the beginning all the animals are a little away from the road. I though that's the closest it's possible to get. Most likely animals afraid of cars and people. So I was happy it was possible to see it from distance.

But the further you get, the closer animals come.

Sometimes too close :)

February is still a dry season, however last years it rains much more than usual. Especially in 2020. That's way there were huge paddles on the road. Doesn't look like it's possible to get over with sedan. Fortunately you don't have to, cause it's allowed to enter only on 4x4 to a park like this.

There are special rest areas in the park. Just a place where you can get rest and have your meal. Right in the middle of the park. With no fence or border. It's absolutely possible for let's say a lion to get here. However animals know that this is an area where normally a lot of people hang out and cars and noise. So they avoid it.

Except monkeys. Those fellows know that it's ideal place to get some food. They even learned that it's much easier to steal food from white people, cause most of white people afraid monkeys. While black people can hit them.

This is how monkey steal the food:

Tourists have to bring own food. There is no cafes or restaurants in the park. Reach tourists might take a kitchen with ceramic dishes and a cook. Only a few do this. The rest just brings the lunch box like on photo. Normally hotel or camping where you stay provides it. There was no even a single day when I managed to eat the entire portion. It's way too big (unfortunately sometimes not very tasty).

Some parts of park became inaccessible. Due to recent rains the river flow was too strong and there was no way to get over it by car. Usually there is no issues here.

In general road condition is quite good. Sometimes it's really easy to spot the animal: there's a lot of cars parked in the middle of road watching things.

Some more animals.

Once you leave the park the life looks much simpler.

Even the cows walk along the road. However they were way too thin.

I saw a huge ant or termite house. So I made a stop to take some pictures. As I later learned from Wikipedia it was quite thoughtless move. This area is a home for venomous snakes like cobras. Snakes really enjoy relaxation in termite houses like this one. Fortunately nothing happened.
There was a young boy behind the tree. Seems he was really interested into some white guys around. Though he was very shy and just stayed there hiding behind the tree.

Bought some red bananas on the way. Guide handled all the bargain and made a good price. He told me that the starting point for me would have been five times higher. However I didn't find much differences with yellow bananas :)

Souvenir shop. Prices are insanely high. Even after bargaining and discounts. Magnets start with 10-12 USD for each. You can get down to 7 and that's it. No more discounts. May be that's cause there were just a few souvenir shops around.

Finally home. Sweet home. Hotel really contradicts with what I saw on the streets before. It's amazing. It's absolutely different universe. Good green area, friendly personnel.

I felt very strange and assistant woman took my heavy luggage and started to carry it to my room. She told me it's her job and I better relax. Anyway I felt really strange.

In the evening there is a short half an hour performance by locals. They sing, dance and show some acrobatic things. The singing was really good. The rest wasn't that interesting. But local Africans rhythms are amazing.