Tanzania 5

Tags

cape buffalo, Defassawaterbuck, elephant, flamingo, grey-crowned crane, helmeted guineafowl, hippo, Hyena, jackal, Ngorogoro, Ngorogoro Crater, Oldupai, Olduvai, Rhino Lodge, Tanzania, vervet monkey, warthog, Wildebeest, zebra

Lunch on Monday, 15th February was taken under shelter at the Oldupai (the locally preferred name to the colonial Olduvai) Museum.  The renowned gorge is of great interest to anthropologists, archeologists and geologists.

Approaching the Oldupai Museum

From the top, ‘The Castle’ in the middle ground

Flock of goats with goatherd

We were given a talk, and I for one would like to have spent more time there, were it not that it was very, very, very hot, and air through our moving jeeps used to bring great relief.  As it was, we did not arrive at Rhino Lodge, that night’s accommodation, until fairly late, but not too late to see these in the grounds before it got dark around 6.30 pm.

Defassa waterbuck

Another very early start the next day as we were going the wildlife treasure, the Ngorogoro Crater, and wanted both to see

Sunrise over Ngorogoro Crater

and to  beat as many of the other jeeps as possible.

At last an elephant!

Helmeted guineafowl

Zebra and flamingo far off, in the early morning light

Zebra foal are brown and white

Just a few of a large troop of zebras which went past us

Playtime

Warthog

Always the crater rim as backdrop

Spotted hyena

Wildebeest and jackals

Vervet monkey

Grey-crowned crane

We managed to find a rather out-of-the-way but approved spot to have our breakfast.

– with conveniences!

The pink sheen is flamingos on the lake

A drama unfolded before our eyes.  This was the season when within three weeks thousands and thousands of wildebeest foals are born, in time for migration.  They stand and can walk within a few minutes of birth.  Prey animals love this time of course, and we saw hyena and jackals hanging around.  At one point a mother and calf got separated – sadly it seemed that a tourist jeep was culpable – and our hearts were in our mouths as we saw the hyena looking to exploit the situation.  The calf vainly sought its mother, and in turn attached itself to first one and then another adult female.

Wildebeest solidarity

Hyena joined by jackal

Amazingly, this jackal walked straight past these two – this is not the ‘right’ female – and the calf was able to rejoin the main herd, though we couldn’t tell whether it found its mother.

It’s getting very hot again.

Cape buffalo

We didn’t see many elephants in Ngorogoro

(To be continued)

Tanzania 2

Tags

Blacksmith plover, cape teal, cheetah, Dik dik, dung beetle, eagle, giraffe, grey-crowned crane, hoopoe, Lion, long-crested eagle, Ndutu, northern white-crowned shrike, secretary bird, shrike, side-necked terrapin, Tanzania, Thomson's gazelle, three-banded plover, vulture, Wildebeest

After lunch, a short wander round the grounds, observing this notice

Board near our accommodation at the lodge

and this Dik dik

No danger, though, from this,

and a rest, it was time for another trip out in the jeeps.

Cheetah

Masai giraffe

Dung beetles. The dung is the size of a tennis ball.

 

Impressed by the antics of the dung beetles, I made a video:

Vultures like being near lions, hoping to help clear up after a kill. We just liked being near lions for sheer pleasure, in this case observing adult females and cubs doing nothing very much.

Vultures in weaver bird’s tree

Just too cute or what?

Lions spend most of their day sleeping

We’d now arrived at Saturday, 13th February.

Sunrise over the plain

Lots of lions again today, but no ‘action’, despite much soliciting by the females.  We stuck around them for much of the day, breaking for breakfast after a couple of hours,

Secretary birds

Long-crested eagle

Grey-crowned crane, and missis

Northern white-crowned shrike

expecting action of some sort when another male hove into view,

 

(but it turned out they were brothers),

Cape teal

Blacksmith plovers

We went back to the Lodge for lunch and a rest from the fierce sun of the middle hours of the day. Later we returned to the marshy area to see what was happening.

Thomson’s gazelle

Side-necked terrapin

Three-banded plover

Hoopoe

Juvenile tawny eagle

Long-crested eagle

Grey-crowned crane

But all the lions wanted to do was to lounge around, at least until the sun was going down (around 6 pm) and we had to be away. They are entirely unfazed by human presence, though it would not be advisable to get out of the jeep.

(To be continued)