Great guides tell little stories of the land, the people and the animals to fill the waiting that is a safari.
As I sit by a bend in the river watching for the herd of elephants that frequently come to drink at this time of day, the stories come out quite naturally. Robert, our guide in the Serengeti, rambles that the horned group of impala drinking are a bachelor herd all either too young or too old to earn and keep their own harem. Once a buck gains control of a herd, their reward is short-lived. They will spend so much time keeping other males away and expelling, from the herd, the maturing male offspring of the harem, they won’t have time to eat.
Within three months, they grow too weak to defend their territory and are overthrown to join a bachelor herd, and, hopefully, regain their strength to fight their way back to power.
The ellies arrive and I watch the interactions of the family group.
The guide explains that the tusked bull elephant that shakes his head at us is really just a preteen testing his prowess...
and it will soon be time for him to strike out on his own with the other bulls. The real power rests with the matriarch of the group. Intelligent creatures, aren’t they?
Moving on to another area, I learn that Dikdik’s are monogamous, living together in pairs rather than in herds. If you see one dikdik, there is likely to be another close by. Amazingly, they don’t need water to survive and will the stay in the same territory for as long as it remains safe and the vegetation is adequate. Bush suburbia.
So, when I look at my photos, they are more than the animals within them – I hear their stories, picture their antics, wonder at their fate.
Birds have been Africa’s surprise gift to me beginning with my first guide, Tony Reumerman of Wilderness Safaris. He has a way of sharing his knowledge of these creatures that sparks my interest to know more.
Now, after several years, one of the things I most look forward to on any trip, is finding a few new bird species.
Thinking about great guides and past sightings prompted me to add a post to last year's chronicle which even has sound effects along with a comedic kingfisher sequence. http://wild-eyed-cam.blogspot.com/2007/09/caped-crusader-and-kingfishers-dinner_28.html
With each new trip, I meet different guides. The constant is that the longer they have guided, the more they seem to appreciate the diversity and complexity of birdlife and that the better the guides appreciate the avian inhabitants of their world more.
I am delighted to find that Njano, our local guide in Tarangire, has a special knowledge of birds having worked earlier in his career with avian researchers. To capture birds for banding, researchers set up thin nets in roosting areas. When the sun comes up, the birds naturally try to leave the roost and fly into the net. One of Njano’s jobs was to go out early in the morning to band the birds before they had been in the net too long. His knowledge goes beyond what guide books can teach.
In Tarangire we keep seeing Secretary birds beginning the mating rituals of nest building and courtship. Named for the pen like quills that adorn their crowns, they perform elaborately.
A new one for me --the Yellow Necked Spurfowl -- so ugly, he's cute.
Fish Eagles are abundant. Similar to our Bald Eagle in looks and origin, they always make me think about how closely we are all related despite seemingly overwhelming distances.
An African Wood Hoopoe content to pose.
And this is the year of the ostrich! While I had seen a number of ostrich in Namibia, and a few sprinkled throughout other places in Africa, they love Tanzania.
For once, grass in the right place, at the right time.
And this is Njano, our guide from TrueAfrica. Special thanks to you!
