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Published: March 30th 2008
"Life's greatest adventure is finding your place in the Circle of Life..." ...Or so say the creators of The Lion King.
Whatever life's greatest adventure may be...after Kili, Dad and I were off for yet another adventure - this time into the animal kingdom of Africa.
As for the story about this adventure, there are no tales of high-altitude dizziness or exhausting climbs...it was largely an experience of oohh-ing and ahh-ing at some of the most beautiful creatures that nature has to offer. The animal encounters were too numerous to fully cover here, so I'll hit a few highlights and then let the camera do the rest of the talking.
Mr. Khalfan's Wild Ride Safari - which means "journey" in Swahili - was certainly a change of pace from camping and not showering for a week. We got picked up the morning after returning from Kili - still stiff, sore, and sleepy - by Khalfan, our driver and extremely knowledgeable guide. Thankfully, there weren't any other people scheduled for the same trip as us, so we had the 5 passenger seats to ourselves. We headed off for a 5 day adventure that would take us to
Lake Manyara, the
Serengeti, and the
Ngorongoro Conservation Area.
The quick rundown of how the days actually played out is as follows. We'd start driving in the morning and bounce around dusty & bumpy road that zigged and zagged through a variety of terrain - grassy plains, forest areas, hills, etc. (Khalfan claimed that the bouncy ride was like a daily 8 hour massage...I'm not sure I'll go quite that far). After a day's worth of frequent stops during which we'd poke our heads out of the roof and take dozens (and by "dozens" I mean "hundreds"...and by "hundreds" I mean "2000 in 5 days") of photos, we'd then head to the lodge for that night.
The lodges were quite nice & often had cool views - one on a cliff overlooking Manyara, one in the middle of the Serengeti with Giraffe wandering nearby, and one on the crater rim of Ngorongoro. If I had lost any weight while hiking Kili...that was taken care of as well. We had buffets every day for breakfast and dinner. Lunches were often a decent box lunch...nothing spectacular, but still above average for my lifestyle over the last year.
Yeah, so that's
the logistical rundown. Now for the more interesting stuff.
Stalkers I'll just get right to it.
Lion...The King. It's the biggie that people want to see and talk about. I think in the 5 days we managed to see something like 25 of these big cats. Males, females, cubs...sleeping, eating, procreating, playing, stalking...all sorts of lion experiences. Good stuff. The one I'll touch on is the hunt. But don't get your hopes up...I'm not about to give an account of a dramatic kill...simply a cool experience seeing the "strategery" of the lion hunt process.
Khalfan had taken us to a place that had some water in the hopes that we'd see some lions hanging out there. It wasn't a disappointment in any way. We saw males walking around, lionesses chilling by the water, another male tending to his procreative (word?) duties with a bunch of ladies...interesting viewing all around. After an hour or so cruising along this particular road, we turned around to head back to the lodge.
We passed a decent sized herd of zebra in the distance on the left side of the jeep. Driving a little further, we passed a group of 3 grazing
Scent
This is when the lioness first smelled the zebra & began the hunt.zebra, also on the left. A couple hundred meters later, we came upon the group of lions (3 lionesses and 2 males) that were hanging out by the water on the right. We stopped again to have a look & realized that the wind was blowing directly from where the zebra were to where the lions were. Since they can detect prey by scent, we had hope of seeing some action. Almost immediately, one of the lionesses picked her head up and appeared to sniff the air. Game on!
What followed was 45 minutes of a slow-paced game of lion-chess. For ease of the story, let's call the lionesses L1, L2, and L3 while the males will be L4 & L5. It broke down something like this.
L1 & L2 were the first to sniff the air and react. L1 got up and headed slowly towards the zebra (bringing her across the road and right past our vehicle). She got the to zebra side of the road and squatted down (100m or so from the prey) while eying the 3 zebra. L2 got up and did likewise...taking up a position a bit closer to the zebra. L1 then
The Hunt
There are two lionesses crouched in the grass on the left, the lioness in the foreground, and some zebra in the distance. crept along a bit more until she was next to L2. They squat and wait...only their heads and ears are visible above the grass.
L4 has moved to a position closer to the action, but is still on the lion/water side of the road.
L5 then sauntered across the road and took up a position to the left of the lionesses and a bit further away from the zebra...but also between the zebra and the water should they choose to come to the water that way.
L1 and L2 began closing the gap between them and lunch a couple of silent, stalking steps at a time. The zebra heads would go down to graze...the lionesses stood up to take a few steps. As soon as a zebra looked up and around, they squatted back down in the tall grass. Zebra head went down to graze...repeat. They got about 30m away from the zebra and seemed to be in their position for a while because they didn't move again.
L3 had crossed the road and seemed to be the middle-linebacker...she was not getting as close at L1&2...but was apparently in her position too.
This had all
taken quite a while to get to this point, but I was ready to watch it all day long if I could. It was fascinating.
Things got a bit more difficult to follow at this point. Through the whole process we were worried that the zebra would head a bit further away from us...which would take them down a small hill and out of our sight. They seemed to pick up on the fact that they were being marked for death and did indeed head away from us and the lions a bit. At this point, L4 (still on the water side of the road) got up and trotted off to a new position nearer his hunting team.
Sadly, that's pretty much the final move of significance that I'll mention as it had become clear that this hunt would take much longer and wasn't even fully in sight anymore anyway. Bummed that we couldn't see more of it, we headed back to the lodge for a meal of our own...no stalking required. So, like I said, no great tale of attack and victory, but the process was fascinating to watch.
Khalfan filled us in with the following
bits of information:
- Hunts usually last for several hours...we were only there for less than an hour & the lions were still working it.
- Zebra have crummy eyesight. So even though L1&2 had their heads above the grass and visible when 30m away, they were down-wind...and nearly undetectable to the zebra.
- Lions have all sorts of non-verbal signals that they use in coordinating their attacks. Without doubt, we saw all of this playing out, but I haven't any idea what the signals were. Perhaps a flip of the tail, a glance over the shoulder, etc? Whatever the signals were, it was certainly a coordinated effort.
- It was very likely that they weren't primarily interested in the group of 3 zebra...but rather in the larger group that we had originally passed. They didn't strike on these 3 so as to not spook the bigger herd and to draw them closer.
All in all...cool.
Hungry, Hungry Hippos Actually, we hardly ever saw hippos eating...but I did keep thinking of the Hungry, Hungry Hippos game that was around when I was a kid. So we didn't see them eating...what did we see them
Kinda Like The Democratic Party These Days...
...just trying to kill each other.
I was fortunate to have my camera ready for this fight because it started and ended in a flash. doing, you ask? Well...it turns out that hippos don't do a lot during the day except sit around in pools of water staying cool. And during this time their main activities are snorting, farting, and yawning. The first two aren't too thrilling...but the yawning caught my photographic attention. During a 1 hour period of watching about 2 dozen hippos I somehow managed to take about 250 photos. Something about seeing these big goofy herbivores open their mouths to freakish angles - thus revealing massive spikey teeth - was fascinating to me.
There was one quick fight that I saw. My camera was ready in hand for whoever wanted to show off his yawning ability...and next thing I knew one of them launched himself out of the water towards another one. Mouths open wide and snapping at each other...they fought...and in the blink of an eye they both dropped back into the water next to each other and resumed their snorting/farting routine. Apparently the dispute had been resolved somewhere in that 2 second period.
A Sea Of Ungulate After leaving Manyara we headed towards the Serengeti to see some different terrain and animals...especially the famed Serengeti migration. I won't
Migration Madness
Zebra, Thompson Gazelles, and a zillion Wildebeest.
It's impossible to imagine without seeing it. But the best I can say is to imagine seeing wildebeest like this in every direction as far as the eye can see. go on and on about this because neither words nor photos will be able to convey the experience properly. But I'll do my best with this short quote and a description of my own.
"The endless plains of east Africa are the setting for the world’s greatest wildlife spectacle - the 1.5 million animal ungulate (wildebeest) migration. From the vast Serengeti plains to the champagne colored hills of Kenya’s Masai Mara over 1.4 million wildebeest and 200,000 zebra and gazelle, relentlessly tracked by Africa’s great predators, migrate in a clockwise fashion over 1,800 miles each year in search of rain ripened grass.
There is no real beginning or end to a wildebeest's journey. Its life is an endless pilgrimage, a constant search for food and water. The only beginning is at the moment of birth. An estimated 400,000 wildebeest calves are born during a six week period early each year - usually between late January and mid-March." - Learn more
here.
We had just entered the Serengeti and had driven past a couple of herds of wildebeest...probably a hundred or so per herd. I asked Khalfan if that was a typical group to see during the migration.
He laughed and explained that we hadn't seen anything yet...when we come to the full migration group it would be wildebeest as far as the eye could see.
Despite having just been told that fact, when we came to the main migration group, Dad and I were blown away at what we saw. The plains - all the way to the horizon in every direction - were a blackish-grey color due to the literally hundreds of thousands wildebeest that were grazing. It was truly impressive. (I've attached a photo...just imagine that in every direction.)
The World's Largest Intact Caldera I first saw it on a nature program on TV years ago and have since been enamored with the
Ngorongoro Crater. A gazillion years ago a mountain collapsed on itself...resulting in this crazy natural formation. The crater walls average 600m in height, it's 12mi (20km) in diameter, and has approximately 100 square miles of extremely flat habitat (including a lake) for thousands of wild animals.
We first saw it from a viewpoint on the crater rim on our way to the Serengeti. It was hazy and the views weren't perfect, but I still stood in awe of what
Just A Walk In The Park
Taken in Ngorongoro Crater I saw before me. We could see masses of pink flamingos in the lake, a few elephants roaming, groups of buffalo...all living in this giant, self-contained green bowl. I couldn't wait until we were to come back 3 days later to descend into the crater and get a closer look.
So on the fourth night of the safari, we left the Serengeti and got to the Ngorongoro Lodge (located on the crater rim with insanely beautiful views) with about an hour left of daylight...which I spent entirely standing on the viewing deck taking in the view of the full crater below.
The next day started out with more views of the crater at sunrise - a partially overcast sunrise - but still a nice way to kick off any day. We made the 600m descent along the one road into the crater and immediately began taking in the goings-on around us. First was a hyena trotting across the plain with a buffalo skin in his mouth. Next we came upon more hyenas snacking on the skinless buffalo carcass that had recently been abandoned by whatever had killed it. The "whatever had killed it" question was answered a few
No Animals...But A Fairly Standard View
Just to give an idea of what the plains generally looked like. Some Acacia trees, some grass...and a lot of flat terrain. minutes later when we pulled up to a group of lions laying and sleeping by the side of the road like they had just eaten Thanksgiving dinner. And just like at Thanksgiving, the adults were all zonked out while the cubs hopped around playing with each other and often pestering the sleepy adults. It was quite cute.
Up to this point, we had seen 4 or the Big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, rhino)...only missing the Black Rhino - the most critically endangered of the group. Ngorongoro is a good place to see these guys due to the fact that there is a known population (20 or so) in the crater, and their location is restricted to the 100 sq mi of the crater. At the end of the day, I think we had seen a total of 5 or 6 of these well-armored dudes...but all generally from a long distance and/or hiding in tall grasses. In any case, I felt like we could but a check mark in the "I've seen the Big 5" box on my Africa to-do list.
One of the more intriguing things that we semi-saw was a dead elephant. We were driving along
and passed a few other vehicles that had stopped and appeared to be looking at an empty field. Khalfan asked one of the other drivers and learned that there was a recently-deceased elephant carcass in a ditch in the distance. Zooming in with the field glasses, we could see a tusk sticking up and a bit of the body along with some scavengers hanging out on the body. Unlike in The Lion King, elephants don't actually go to die in some elephant graveyard patrolled by Whoopie Goldberg and her hyena friends. Apparently, after having spent the last few decades on their feet, they just collapse and die alone out in the middle of a field to be eaten by scavengers - thus completing their role in the circle of life. Certainly a unique site.
The crater contained all sorts of other wildlife, but the last one I'll comment on is the large flamingo population. I don't suppose there's all that much to say, but it was fascinating to see thousands of these birds wading around and feeding on the algae of the lake. There were places in the lake that simply looked like a sea of pink moving back
The Black Rhino
The most difficult of the Big 5 to find. We finally saw a few in our last few hours of the last day. But never very close. and forth.
Spending a day in this crater wonderland was truly a fulfillment of a dream of mine that I've had ever since first seeing it on the aforementioned nature program. Others I talked to weren't quite as impressed as me, but the beauty, the dramatic natural walls forming the rim, the abundance of diverse wildlife contained within, and the the was one of the truly magical places I've been on this planet of ours.
Really, Really Old Footprints On our way out of the Serengeti we stopped by
Oldupai (commonly "Olduvai") Gorge. The significance of this place is that it's referred to as the Cradle of Mankind due to various archaeological finds in the area. Most notably - hominid footprints that were preserved in volcanic ash in a site called
Laetoli...dating back 3.5 million years. Yeah, that's a long time ago.
My Fav Well...I could go on all day about our safari...I already have, I suppose. But I find it interesting that I hardly mentioned my favorite animal from the whole thing...the giraffe. Why are they my favorite? I suppose they're just cool (how's that for being descriptive?). Cool coloration and patterns...crazy-long necks...goofy walking/running motion...and they
eat from thorny Acacia trees w/o dying from all the thorns. They're just fun to watch.
So many more birds and animals to comment on...but that's all for now. And it's time to put the camera down for a rest.
Marc
A note about Khalfan - You might be thinking that "Khalfan" doesn't sound particularly like a Swahili name. Tanzania has a sizeable population of people that are of Oman descent...it goes way back to when Arabs found Zanzibar and established it as a base of trade with Africa. Thus...Khalfan is of Oman descent.
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Florence
non-member comment
Very nice photos!! You went there when the migration was really hot !! Very nice text too. I could not remember the names of all the animals I had seen. bravo! Florence