Day 1 was all about the lions, we came to see their awesome power as the kings of the jungle, but actually saw huge cats that seemed to behave like our moggy at home, and slept all day. Time to consider the other creatures that grabbed our attention, particularly on the second day.
The star of the show was undoubtedly this beautiful cheetah. Rashid spotted the tail far off in the distance and after a scramble across rutted paths he positioned us at a point where she appeared. Initially she just sat on a bank and waited for us to turn up. She really was beautiful and elegant, she sat and watched the truck before laying down in front of us, just like any other happy cat. She finished her show with a stroll in front of the truck.
There were antelopes everywhere, they looked so fragile in the barren environment but I guess being that small means they don’t need to each much. Their nimbleness is their main protection and at the first sign of trouble the fly off running in 5 directions at the same time !
As soon as you see a vulture you think of the Jungle Book scene with Mowgli. They are intimidating creatures that live in the very few trees that exist on the plain. They nest at the top where they the can spot ailing creatures in the distance and prepare dinner for the kids. There is just something very unpleasant about them !
One of the big surprises were these giant turkeys. I thought they lived on farms for most of the year whilst preparing themselves for Christmas. So to see one of these giants wandering around the savanna looking like a nice meal for one of the other creatures was a bit of a surprise.
Another creature that amazed me was the Ostrich. I guess we have all seen them at just about any self respecting kids farm or zoo, consequently it had never occurred to me what their natural habitat would be.
These giant birds are perfectly equipped to live on the savanna, they are tall and they stand like statues scanning the horizon for danger and presumably food. In addition they have huge legs and feet and can run like the wind when they are in danger and all their body weight is in the middle to give them good balance.
There are however some design flaws from nature, firstly they have wings but can’t fly so their obvious escape route isn’t available to them. They also seem to be incredibly dumb, as you will see from this video, this idiot bird just walked out in front the truck !
The little wart hogs were everywhere, such funny little animals. They always seemed to be busy munching grass and not doing anything particularly exciting, but their strange appearance always provided a welcome distraction.
Lonely bull elephant
This elephant was the saddest sight of the trip. It is an old bull elephant that had been kicked out of it’s herd by some young upstart and was left to wander the plains on it’s own. We saw some small groups of 2 or 3 old bulls keeping each other company – nature is horribly cruel as the same happens to the mature male lions.
in happier times, seeing this family of elephants wandering around the water holes with their babies was a wonderful sight. Nothing rushes an elephant as it regally makes it’s way to wherever it has decided to go
Big 5 – the Hippos
Our sighting of another of the Big 5, the hippos. The first sighting of one was very exciting as it popped it’s nostril above the water. Within 10 minutes of driving we found a water hole with dozens of these giant beasts.
In this photo you will note that they are huddled together, this is to protect the baby hippos from the predatory crocodiles hidden on the banks and the shallows. The looked like giant stepping stones across the pool, but nobody volunteered to give it a go, apparently more humans are killed by hippos in Africa than any other species.
Finally the water buffaloes, the things that kept Wooksie awake all night in our compound. There were hundreds in the herd that we came across. They looked like they would make a tasty meal for the lions but their menacing horns and tendency to live in herds made them a challenging prey.
So we left the Serengeti without spotted a leopard, but on a 3 day safari we were doing pretty well, time to head to the Ngorongoro Crater
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