Photos: People, Rhinos, Elephants and Monkeys of Tanzania

This young boy is wearing a red shuka traditional of the Maasai.  The guide told us that even the lions recognize the distinctive color of the Maasai, as lions will refrain from attacking the goats or cattle tended by Maasai warriors because they will fight off the lions with a long stick.

The tropical plants of Tanzania offer a pleasant diversion at the end of a long day a wildlife safari expedition on bumpy, dirt roads.
This rhino ambled along the banks of a lake populated with thousands of flamingos in Ngorongoro Crater.  During our nearly 2 weeks in Tanzania, we saw lots of elephants, giraffes, zebras, gazelles, and a decent number of lions and hippos, but this was the only rhino that we saw.   He walked with the quiet confidence that no one would bother him.
Elephant herds trample grasses, bushes and even knock over trees.  At some of the camps where we stayed they had photos of elephants who had walked right inside the lodge and up to the registration counter like they were ready to check in.  The lodges had attendants who would escort us from the lodge to the tented enclosure, up on stilts, where we stayed, to make sure that we would not encounter animals at night.
This is a photo of a vervet monkey, common in East Africa.  They are different than the howler and white faced Capuchin monkeys that we are used to seeing in Costa Rica.  The are comfortable on the ground and at times large groups of them can be seen eating in the grasses.  We took a small plane from the western Serengeti, taking off from a dirt runway, back to Arusha, before flying back to the USA.  A highlight of the flight, besides landing safely, was this view of Mount Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain in Africa, reaching 19,341 ft. (5,895 m).  The summit is actually made up of three volcanic cones.  No, we did not attempt to climb it.