Visitors 16
Modified 7-Jul-23
Created 30-Jun-23
101 photos
Up early. Wait in the tent to be escorted to the dining area: a Cape Buffalo has been seen in the area, and he may be aggressive.
A cup of tea and a couple of hard biscuits. Admire the view over the Runde River in the early dawn, before sunrise – early-rising Impala already browse. Then off.
After driving through dry veldt, we pause at a bog (wetland, pan?) – a good place for animals to gather. I focus on a colorful bird. What is moving there beyond? Is it … dogs?? Three African Wild Dogs run out of the forest toward the water – hunting. We watch silently while they probe the water’s edge, then move on. Steve is especially happy to see these dogs up close; though he has been to Africa several times, this is his best view of dogs so far. (Spoiler alert: we will see more, closer.) Lions are a big threat; African Wild Dogs are more abundant where there are fewer lions. And they have been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990.
A congregation of African Sacred Ibis gather at the edge of the swamp, descending one by one with widespread wings. Blacksmith Lapwings and other birds hunt the margins.
We drive by a large plain across a watercourse. Morning mist rises. Plains Zebras and Blue Wildebeest share the morning sunlight. Ant points out the spotted pattern on some zebras’ backs. What causes this? Is it genetic? Even, a new subspecies? Spotted and fully-striped zebras share the dazzle, tended by familiar birds.
A troop of Chacma Baboons plays in the sunlight, adults carrying infants or fruit.
A Spotted Hyena pauses long enough for Steve to grab a photo, before melting back into the brush. (My Mammal Guide says they are a “Near Threatened” species.)
More Wildebeest. In the grassland beyond, a pair of Black-backed Jackals, barely visible.
We pass several African Baobab trees. These are ancient and unique. For centuries, elephants and baobabs thrived here together. Now the over-crowded elephants are nibbling the trunk, then knocking over and devouring the whole tree – which can live over a thousand years. Rangers have put wire around baobabs’ base to protect them. (Ant advocates another method: piles of stones, hard for the elephants to navigate and stand on, provide longer protection – and poachers sometimes use wire from the screens to make snares. We saw an elephant that had lost half of its trunk to a wire snare.) [Each of Ant’s family members has chosen their own special baobab, and given it a name.]
As we cross back over the Runde River, a solitary female Common Waterbuck catches our eye. It stands still, watching us as we drive ever closer. Why doesn’t she run? The answer is clear as we pass by: one front foot is badly injured. If she tries to walk, any predator would see that she is injured and basically immobile. So it is best to act alert and ready to run.
A Saddle-billed Stork shows us its technique for catching fish: spread wings wide, flapping, dance around and confuse the fish in the shallow water. It works!
To cap off the morning, we explore a scattering of large bones: dry bones of a large elephant, all but the tusks. Ant shows us how to tell the elephant’s age at death. He and Steve puzzle together the anatomy of this large creature.
More! More impalas of course. A second sighting of Black-backed Jackals – almost certainly a different pair, on the other side of the river. An outlandishly-colored Bateleur, an eagle with a bright red, bare face and harlequin black, grey, white, and orange stripes.
9 am, and we have already had a full day! Time for brunch.
A cup of tea and a couple of hard biscuits. Admire the view over the Runde River in the early dawn, before sunrise – early-rising Impala already browse. Then off.
After driving through dry veldt, we pause at a bog (wetland, pan?) – a good place for animals to gather. I focus on a colorful bird. What is moving there beyond? Is it … dogs?? Three African Wild Dogs run out of the forest toward the water – hunting. We watch silently while they probe the water’s edge, then move on. Steve is especially happy to see these dogs up close; though he has been to Africa several times, this is his best view of dogs so far. (Spoiler alert: we will see more, closer.) Lions are a big threat; African Wild Dogs are more abundant where there are fewer lions. And they have been listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List since 1990.
A congregation of African Sacred Ibis gather at the edge of the swamp, descending one by one with widespread wings. Blacksmith Lapwings and other birds hunt the margins.
We drive by a large plain across a watercourse. Morning mist rises. Plains Zebras and Blue Wildebeest share the morning sunlight. Ant points out the spotted pattern on some zebras’ backs. What causes this? Is it genetic? Even, a new subspecies? Spotted and fully-striped zebras share the dazzle, tended by familiar birds.
A troop of Chacma Baboons plays in the sunlight, adults carrying infants or fruit.
A Spotted Hyena pauses long enough for Steve to grab a photo, before melting back into the brush. (My Mammal Guide says they are a “Near Threatened” species.)
More Wildebeest. In the grassland beyond, a pair of Black-backed Jackals, barely visible.
We pass several African Baobab trees. These are ancient and unique. For centuries, elephants and baobabs thrived here together. Now the over-crowded elephants are nibbling the trunk, then knocking over and devouring the whole tree – which can live over a thousand years. Rangers have put wire around baobabs’ base to protect them. (Ant advocates another method: piles of stones, hard for the elephants to navigate and stand on, provide longer protection – and poachers sometimes use wire from the screens to make snares. We saw an elephant that had lost half of its trunk to a wire snare.) [Each of Ant’s family members has chosen their own special baobab, and given it a name.]
As we cross back over the Runde River, a solitary female Common Waterbuck catches our eye. It stands still, watching us as we drive ever closer. Why doesn’t she run? The answer is clear as we pass by: one front foot is badly injured. If she tries to walk, any predator would see that she is injured and basically immobile. So it is best to act alert and ready to run.
A Saddle-billed Stork shows us its technique for catching fish: spread wings wide, flapping, dance around and confuse the fish in the shallow water. It works!
To cap off the morning, we explore a scattering of large bones: dry bones of a large elephant, all but the tusks. Ant shows us how to tell the elephant’s age at death. He and Steve puzzle together the anatomy of this large creature.
More! More impalas of course. A second sighting of Black-backed Jackals – almost certainly a different pair, on the other side of the river. An outlandishly-colored Bateleur, an eagle with a bright red, bare face and harlequin black, grey, white, and orange stripes.
9 am, and we have already had a full day! Time for brunch.
Dan Quinn