It’s a full day of game drives and lunch in the field as we wander farther from camp. As the morning slowly progresses with no animal sightings, our guide stops to discuss ants with us. One group member quips, “We’re making progress. We’ve gone from rabbits to ants!”
The day improves when giraffes are sighted close to the road. These graceful creatures have the same number of neck or cervical vertebrae as humans - 7 - but each are a lot larger. They use their necks when males fight for dominance, and it is called necking”.
Their individual mosaic coats are as individual as our fingerprints. They have good eyesight, long tongues and eyelashes, and when they walk, their legs move together on one side and then the other. Gestation is 15 months, and they deliver their babies while standing. The newborn drops a meter or more to the ground which “kick starts” the heart. It’s a heck of a substitute for humans slap to the butt!
A “tower” of giraffes are standing but on a “journey” when walking and “striding” when running. They defend themselves by kicking with all four legs which can kill a lion and have thick skin on their legs to help contract muscles to force blood back to the heart. Giraffes are ruminates with 4 stomachs, and males can be distinguished from females by the difference in the knobs on top of their heads - male knobs are thicker and flat topped while females are thinner with what appears to be brushes on top. All - and more - that you ever wanted to know about giraffes!
We are headed to a new part of Hwange National Park and will spend all day searching for game. More impalas...always impalas...and cute guinea fowl in a group called a confusion run across the road as we cross a small concrete bridge.
Robyn shouts, “A hippo!”, and we all lean to look out that side of the truck. Although they may weigh a ton or more, hippos are fast and aggressive. They prefer spending time in shallow water since they are not good swimmers and their thin skin can sunburn. Don’t try to put any suntan lotion on them since hippos are extremely dangerous and kill more people in Africa each year than any other animal. They don’t want to eat you; they bite you in two with their large sharp tusks and spit you out!
Hippos are strictly vegetarians, and their group is called a pod or a raft or a school or a thunder. Gestation is 6 months, they give birth in shallow water, and may live 40 years. They have poor eyesight and hearing; maybe this is why you cannot reason with them! Later we see hippo trails on land where they switched their dung with their tails to mark their territory on rocks and busiest.
Back to “our” particular hippo....He was alone and would rise up for a quick breath and sink back below the water’s surface. Suddenly the water erupted. I thought it was another hippo, but it was a crocodile catching a huge fish! We excitedly watched both animals...hippo and croc...before continuing on our journey.
Nearby were a “dazzle” of zebras. Who thinks up these names? Their coats were absolutely beautiful with individual patterns which looked more painted than natural. The joke is that the female is white on black and the male is black on white! If a zebra’s coat looks beige, it’s due to the iron oxide in the soil which gives a reddish tinge after a zebra has a good roll in the dirt.
Zebras have good eyesight and hearing and other animals like to graze nearby since zebras are always alert to danger. They often graze tail to tail looking for predators. Gestation is 12 1/2 months, and they live about 35 years. Zebras kick with their hind feet and are the national animal of Botswana. They have not been domesticated since their spine is weak and cannot be ridden like a horse. Zebras have a symbiotic relationship with a small bird called the oxpecker which eats ticks, mites, flies, and other insects from its coat.
The zebras acknowledged our presence and went back to feeding. That is an indication that an animal is comfortable with you being there. Before lunch we spot a leopard tortoise; the name describes the shell. Males have a more concave bottom shell and a female has an oval opening for egg depositing.
As we speed and bump down the road...in the national parks you must remain on the roads, I think I spot a gray blur in the bushes. “Stop!” I shout to the driver, and as he backs up, we scour the brush for an animal. I’m ready to say I’m mistaken or else seeing things when I notice the tree limbs moving. “Something is in there”, and as we patiently wait, we spot an elephant slowly moving towards a small stream. More waiting,,.we have been told to be quiet on game drives...and a large bull elephant emerges! He is taking his time, but I guess he decided we are non-threatening, and he heads to the stream to drink.
.
It was fascinating watching him and photographing this magnificent creature. We were close enough I took pictures of his eyelashes. Michael says I like to zoom in to look at people’s nose hairs, and I certainly tried with him!We headed to a picnic lunch overlooking a large lake. A pod of hippos including babies were playing and mock fighting in the distance. Crocodiles roamed the waters, birds and ducks are plentiful, and small groundhog looking animals called hyrax run on the rocks and patio. Someone spots an lone bull elephant at the edge of the bush walking towards the lake. We urge him forward for better photos, and we are delighted when he continues plodding along to the edge. This day has been a huge success for animal sightings!
Our guides hear from some visitors at the picnic shelter that they spotted lions ahead. Load up the trucks and off we go in search of these cats that are at the top of the food chain in the bush. As we round a curve, two female lions lazily lounge in the road and another two are in the roadside grasses. They look up unconcerned about our intrusion on their afternoon nap!
I cannot believe how close the guide parks the truck for us to watch and take pictures. The lions watch us carefully through guarded eyes, and one seems intent on me locking eye contact. She could be on me in 1-2 pounces with no time for me to react. Am I willing to sacrifice an arm...or more...for this adventure?
A group of lions is called a pride which usually consists of multiple females and their cubs. If a male lion is the cubs’ father, he may also be present. However, females must protect their young from males that are not the father since he may kill the cubs. Females do the majority of the hunting and hunt as a team . We quietly watch for probably 30 minutes as the lions blink, stretch, and swat flies. We are so excited; our drive today has been a huge success. I hate to leave.
More impalas along the road; do they know lions are nearby? As we head to camp, people in the 3rd row of seats shout to stop. They think they have heard an elephant’s trumpet; I haven’t heard a thing. As we back up, a huge bull male comes out of the bush crossing the road behind us and appears to run at the truck. He stops and heads into the bush.
“Back up” I say, and suddenly there he is again and not happy with us in his space. He has brown liquid running down his face, and he flares his ears, glares, and lets loose with a trumpet that could blow you down! He charges out of the bush and our guide floors the accelerator to get us out of danger. This is an elephant in “must” which means he is looking to mate and is very aggressive. He could have attacked our vehicle and us in his anger!
Tonight is cultural night in camp where the staff will entertain us and we will entertain them after dinner. They perform multiple native songs and dances with drums while we are seated and then the roles are reversed. Oh dear! Thankfully, a member of our group came prepared with printed song lyrics - “Puff the Magic Dragon”, “You Are My Sunshine”, and “This Land is My Land”. Another member has been a professional singer, and she has a lovely voice. Between those two, the rest of us follow along, and we are a success. We conclude our performance with a native Swedish dance from Minnesota joining staff and OAT travelers having fun and linking arms and legs.
The sun sets on another day in Africa and the adventure continues!
No comments:
Post a Comment