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Published: October 15th 2010
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The Serengeti
The savanna of the Serengeti is different from the one in Uganda. We just passed the Ndabaka gate at the western side of the park. We bought charcoal in the last village before entering the wilderness in order to cook. Here it is more open with other trees and plants. The Euphorbia candelabra disappears and all kinds of acacia's appear. Like the Umbrella thorn, the Whistling thorn (who whistles in the wind), the Fever tree (the bark is used against malaria) and the Flat topped acacia. But also the Sausage tree (who has fruits like sausages) and the Ficus. All trees have an umbrellalike canope. I think they use the shadow to protect their own stem against drying out under the burning sun. Uganda is more or less a transition between the rainforest of Congo and the savanna of Tanzania.
Not only the trees are different, we also see new animals like zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, hartebeest, topi, jackal, dik dik, Grants' Gazelle, Thomson gazelle and impala.
"When a giraffe wants to lie on the ground to sleep, she has to find a tree with a V-formed stem", tells Rajab. "The V supports her neck. If her neck would be
on the ground, she can never stand up again."
The diversity is overwhelming. Guinea fowls run away when our 4w car passes. We have to drive about 150 km to our first campsite, but we hardly make any progress. We see such a variety of birds and for each new bird species we stop to make pictures. Mostly Rajab, our driver/guide, knows the name, but sometimes he has to look them up in the Guide of East African birds. Bateleur, blue capped cordon bleu, Ayres hawk-eagle (killing a Guinea fowl), grey backed starling, white browed concal, red winged starling, white headed buffalo weaver, it is an endless raft of birds passing by.
We take a lunch near the river. Monkeys, zebra's and giraffes are around us. Suddenly we hear a deep groan coming from behind the bushes. Hippo's at only 10 meter distance. We know how dangerous these animals are, take our lunch and duck in the car. Then we arrive at the information center in the middle of the park. Nearby is our campsite Seronera. It is raining. We hardly have time to set up our tent and to cook. But before dark has fallen everything is done.
The night is long and we hear strange noises. Midnight has passed when we hear a couple of giggling hyena's around our tent. Not so long after we hear a lion roaring. Probably he is on the dirt road, about 10 meters from our tent. When dawn is coming up we are out of our little shelter, make tea, take a shower and hit the 'road' again.
Not far from the campsite we meet the hyena's from the night before. They fight about a big piece of bone. One has it in his mouth and disappears with it. Also the lions we meet. They are sleeping in the shadow under a tree. One lies on the road. It is a female. She is old and meager. Apparently too lazy, too sick or too old to move when we pass. Some people come to see lions. We are more interested in birds and plants. We look for the famous Sycomore fig, the holy tree of the Masai, but we cannot find it. And then we see a traffic jam in the middle of the savanna. A couple of cheetah's have just killed an impala and are enjoying their meal. Twenty
4w cars gather around them with tourists to see the wonder. How to make a picture of the cheetah's so that you get the idea that you are completely alone with them? No we like more the birds, like the common dronger, the blacksmith plover, the yellow billed oxpeckers on the back of a giraffe, the bare faced go away bird, the lappet faced vultures and the Ruppels Griffion vultures who fight around a prey. And of course the incredible secretary bird. He can fly, but actually he runs after his prey. An still better the exciting Kioni Bustard, the heaviest bird that still can fly. And then the strangest bird of them all: ostriches.
We just passed the so called kopjes, volcanic rocks in the middle of the savanna. They come from the eruption of the Ngorongoro volcano about 3 millions years ago. After the kopjes lies the plains: an endless flat area of grass from horizon to horizon. No trees to hide under. And there we are the witnesses of the fight between two male ostriches for one female. They beat each other with their wings while dancing like karate fighters. I wonder how ostriches arose. I
chew it over, while looking at the fight. Maybe when ostriches were just birds a little one said to his parents: 'I like to become an oystrich later.' The parents are in a shock: 'No no, do not do it. Then you cannot fly anymore.' 'But I want to be big and strong', says the young bird. The toddler begins to grow and indeed it becomes an oystrich. But only his legs, his body and his neck grow. Not his head. That is why ostriches have a head which is about the size of that of a chicken.
The fight is still going on. The female looks at it with low hanging wings. I wonder if it the story also applies to people. 'Later I want to become big and strong'. Some people really become big, strong and very important, but they do not know anymore how to fly. Big and strong they are and like ostriches often birdbrained.
One of the male has clearly lost the fight. The other one is worshipping the female now, shaking and turning his wings around his naked legs. It is a not a karate dancer anymore, but a ballet dancer who uses his
robe to swirl around as part of the choreography. He even goes on his knees for her still turning his wings around him. That has become the function of the wings: seducing the females in stead of flying. And it becomes clear to me why they do not fly. What to do with wings in a environment where there are no trees? Normal birds can hide away in a tree, when there is danger. But when there are no trees at all, you can better be big and strong. Maybe that is also the reason of existence of the secretary bird and the Kuoni bustard. It is the same evolution which took place with mankind. When the forests disappeared, we had to live on the savanna. We could not hide away anymore in the trees. How to survive on an empty savanna? Becoming a bipedal animal was possibly the solution.
The Ngorongoro National Park
After leaving the Serengeti you immediately arrive in the Nogorongoro National Park. We camp at the rim of the famous Ngorongoro crater. The campsite is beautifully located but overcrowded. That night we do not have hyena's or lions around our tent. No, this time we
honored by the visit of two bushpigs. Bushpigs are about two times as big as the European wildpig. All the time we hear them around us: one at Linda's site and one at my site. Linda's bushpig has the most courage. In the middle of the night he decides to enter the tent. In a shock she yells and disappointed he retreats.
To enter the Ngorongoro crater must be fantastic. We do not go farther than the rim, where we see the grave of Bernhard Grzimek. He was the one who did biological research here and by him Serengeti and Ngorongoro became national parks. He was also the editor in chief of the massive Animal Life Encylopedia, a standard work well known under biologists.
In stead of the Ngorongoro we choose for the Olduvai gorge. This is the very spot where Louis and Mary Leaky found in 1959 the 2 millions old skull of an Australopithecus boisei. Later also Homo habilis and Homo erectus bones were found. It convinced the world that mankind came from Africa. In 1976 Mary Leaky found also the 3,5 millions old Laetoli footprints, probably from an Australopithecus afarensis. The footprints are in a
layer of volcanic ash and proofs that prehominids walked upright.
Olduvai gorge is a dramatic spot, where you can see the geological layers from now down to 3,5 millions ago. Actually it should be called Oldupai, the Masai name for the wild sisal plant growing here abundantly. According to our guide a German researcher mixed the names and from that time on it stayed Olduvai.
After leaving Olduvai we drive to Karatu. Along the road we see Masai villages with their round huts. We say goodbye to Rajab and take a minibus to Arusha.
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The source of mankind!