TreeTop lodging

Tarangire Tree Top Lodge – OMG!  The lodging they are providing us is AMAZING!  A reception area built around a 1,000 year old hollow Baobab tree (pronounced Bobo); huge and luxurious rooms situated (literally) in the tree tops, complete with full porches, and padlocked zippers and trap doors to protect you from animal invasions; and an elegant lodge that looks out over the Tarangire National Wildlife Preserve and a watering hole not more than 100 yards away where we saw elephants, zebras, wildebeest, hyenas and jackals drinking.

One of the great treats at Tree Top is the nightly flight of the bats.  The hollow Baobab tree is home to more than 500 bats.  Each night as the sun goes down the bats begin flying out of the tree in groups of 30-50 at a time, circling the tree before exiting out into the night to rid the skies of mosquitos and other pesky insects.  It is the coolest things…a symphony of motion.

The lodge is located – quite literally – in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!  As we were driving out we were all beginning to wonder if there really was a lodge, or if we were just being driven off the face of the earth.  When it comes into view, it is breathtaking.  The owners have considered everything for our comfort, but at the end of the day, we are lodging with lions and leopards and elephants (oh my!), there are dangers inherent in that environment. Guests are not allowed to walk alone in the dark to and from their tree house.  We were accompanied by Maasai men in traditional garb.  The walls of our tree house were roll-up canvases with floor-to-ceiling zippered screens (but we did have a wooden entry door), and the zippers had padlocks on them to keep the monkeys from unzipping the screens and letting themselves in (remember the monkey that stole Ken’s muffin?  It could happen!).  The tree house is accessed by climbing a winding staircase from the ground to the top of the tree, and accessing a platform through a trap door.  After the Maasai walked us to our room, they close and secure the trap door, again so the monkeys and monkeys will not be there to greet us when we wake.

During the night we could hear lions and zebras “chatting” nearby (did you know that zebras bark like dogs?).  As we enjoyed breakfast the next morning we watched a parade of elephants walk through the trees in front of us, trunk to tail, just like the images you see in figurines, heading for their morning drink.

A truly magical visit!