Serengeti Day 3

Thursday, 22 September 2016

Serengeti Day 3

 Up early for the hot water brought to our room at 6:00am to make coffee, Barney and I are actually ready early for once, and we head down to breakfast. It is lovely and cool this morning, likely from the rain. We got our laundry back last night, beautifully washed and pressed, even the men’s underwear. Because all the staff at the lodge are male, they cannot wash women’s “smaller” or underwear, so we take care of that on our room. After a hearty breakfast, we head out at 7:30 for the south Serengeti, a new area for us. There’ s a lot of wildlife out, more than yesterday, as we left 30 minutes earlier.

The landscape looks different here, more Savannah-like, fewer trees,  and no hills in the background. There are lots of Thomson’s gazelles and Impala with their gently-corkscrewed horns, and then we see a large male Grant’s gazelle, with his V-shaped horns, posing pertly for us. Then soon we see some female ostriches, which have eggs at this time of year. They prefer insects, and their heads bob up and down every few moments as they feed and keep watch.

We come to a large rock formation, a place where John says that lion and leopard often hides their cubs in the crevices. We  look carefully, but don’t see any, and John tells us this is also a good spot to see the poisonous large Black Mamba snakes, sunning themselves, on the rocks. We spot a Secretary bird, who looks much larger now that we are closer, a male-female pair who hunt together, and their nests are in the trees.  They eat snakes  and large insects, and have sharp long tails and long, black and white legs. Their beaks look about 8 inches long, plenty long enough to snare a snake, and they also use their feet to kill their prey.

We come to an open flat area, with a typically African vista, and we see some Step Eagles in a tree, one sitting on a nest, with a giraffe and a family of elephants in the distance.
John tells us about the sausage tree, whose fruit is used to make a local gin. For big parties they have the gin, well as the  blood from the cow, which is their favored animal to eat, as well as the milk and yogurt from the cow.  We are told that you must always eat with the gin, usually barbecued cow, as it is very strong. This gin is not sold, as it is unregulated, a bit like white lightning or moonshine.

A quick rest stop, fortunately, and we're off. We see a black-shouldered kite, and discussion ensues about whether the phrase "high as a kite" comes from the bird or the paper toy.

We come upon a large male ostrich near enough to the road that I can photograph him. With each step his wings pulse outward and his neck leans forward, graceful and rhythmic. Up close we can see how large and powerful his legs are.

We discuss the differences between the three big predators. Cheetahs hunt alone and rely on their incredible speed for success; the cubs stay with the mother about 9-12 months, until they learn to hunt. While they can climb trees, they can only go up a short distance, not like the leopards. Leopards also hunt alone, and rely on their stealth, tree-climbing ability, and that they  can put their prey up in a tree to eat later. Leopard cubs stay with their mothers until about one year. Lions rely on the power of the group, the pride, for success in hunting, and while they climb rocks, they do not really like to climb trees. They can hunt anytime of day or night, and can go as much as seven days between eating when really full, or 3-4 days if not full. We come upon two lionesses sleeping in the shade of an acacia tree, around 11am. In the dry season, lions stay very near the river, as they know that all the other animals must come to the river for water. Further along the road, we see the young male lion associated with the two lionesses we just saw, similarly sleeping quietly under a tree. We can see his ribs, so likely he has not eaten for a while.

We cross the Korange River, which is barely a creek this time of year, and see a herd of Cape buffalo in a line by the river, which must stretch for a quarter mile or more. There are a number of very old Bulls called "retired," which are cast out by the larger group's dominant males, and then form their own group, where they act as sentries in the rear. We see a number of hippos, half submerged in the water. They graze at night, up to 10 km distance, and stay in the water during the day to remain cool. Apparently, despite being herbivores, hippos are quite dangerous, and many people have been killed by them, as their teeth are fierce. Barney remembers being at the Oakland Zoo as a college student, on a date with a girl, and there was a baby hippo on the petting zoo which loved having its mouth and tongue petted. Alas, this was in the pre-Joel era. We also see some Egyptian geese in the water, and some lovely yellow and red flowers along the riverbank. We see a male reebok with two females drinking from the river.

Soon we come to what apparently is the hippo health spa, and a group of 17 hippos entering the water. They frequently use their tails to flip water onto their backs, so there is a constant splashing sound. There is a large older dominant male, a number of females and babies, and at least one young male. The young male is trying to pull a female from the group, and the older male, catching him, fights with him a bit and bellows, and the younger male tries a few more times, then retreats to the edge of the group. Here's the video of them fighting: https://vimeo.com/184134365.   And this:

A banded mongoose poses on a large termite mound, the sentry for the group. We see more warthogs, females and young, as the males travel separately. And then closer to the river again, an enormous herd of Cape buffalo, stretched out over half a mile or more and on the move.

We arrive at another part of the river, where a herd of Impala are headed to drink. We see them coming down the banks, almost all females and babies with a few young males with small tusks who have not yet been turned out of the herd. The big male brings up the rear, and makes sure that everyone gets to the water to drink. Here we see flamingoes and other shore birds drinking and foraging. Then one of the old, "retired" Cape buffalo comes to the water's edge and wades in, half submerging himself. The male Impala keeps a close watch on his herd, never letting any of them stray too far. Then at last, when all have had a drink, he finally got a drink, and herded there up the hill again.

We continue on and find a shady spot for lunch, and briefly get out of the jeeps for some photos.  I guess we've all got a little jeep fever, based on how quickly everyone wanted to get out. Ari] takes photos of each couple and then of each jeeps, with some very amusing poses. The group divides, with some going back early, and others continuing on to the Kopje rocks, also known as the Simba rocks.

We arrive at the rocks, which is also a ranger station devoted to the protection of the endangered Black Rhino. The sky is overcast and the sun streams down, I get a photo of Joel and Ari, who has taken photos of all of us. There is a collection of skulls there, antelope, elephant, hippo, and Cape buffalo. Apparently butterflies lay their eggs in small holes in the buffalo's horns, and the rough parts are the remains of where the caterpillar emerges. Nearby we see a female Hartebeest laying down with her baby nearby; not far away are four baboons are under a tree.

We continue on the road through the massive stone formations, the Kopje, with variations of dark gray, beige, and a terra cotta color. We come to one large formation where concrete steps have been poured. John walked up first to check for lions, and then gave us the OK to come up. We had a magnificent view over the whole enormous vista, and as the dark clouds had been gathering above us, the grass nearby were a grayish-brown, and the ones in the distance glowed a right gold under the sunny area. I decided this might be a good place to carry on the family tradition and sing, and decided to do "Must the Winter Come So Soon," though I momentarily forgot some lyrics in the second verse and had to improvise.  It was interesting singing outdoors without walls or ceiling to reflect the sound ... I wonder how far it carried in the serene stillness of that place.

On our way back to the lodge, we saw a group of Thomson's gazelles quit close to the road, a big male with females and a number of babies. I wonder about the dark stripes on their backsides, for what purpose they evolved. Farther on, a troop of at least 20 Olive baboons crossed the road, headed toward some nearby trees. We saw the big male with his huge ruff, some adolescents, and a few tiny babies on their mothers' snacks, which were beyond adorable. I'm really wishing that the iPad had a telephoto lens so I could get clearer photos from far away, but alas.