Saturday, August 31, 2013

The "Big 5" Drive



We had an amazing drive tonight and saw all of the animals considered to be the "Big 5" that you want to see in a safari: elephants, leopards, lions, buffalo and rhinos. Our Guide, Formen, is simply awesome. He grew up "in the bush" here on the reserves and can anticipate an animal's movement, where it is headed, where it will end up and where our best viewing vantage point will be. Tonight, we were "leopard hogs" in the first view of the night. 


The young male leopard that frequents our campsite was sitting nestled in some brush in the middle of the river bed over which our tents look. The way the leopard was lying in the bushes, the only place from which you could really see him well was right where we were. More amazing photos were taken. While we were in awe of our beautiful leopard, a herd of elephants joined us on the banks of the riverbed opposite to our campsite. We had 2 of the 5 sightings within the first 30 minutes of our nighttime drive. It was just spectacular to see the animals in the bush occupying the very same space - almost like a documentary you could witness only as a remote viewer through technology. Then our beautiful young leopard took off in pursuit of an interesting prospect.

From there, we drove to see the 3 male lions of whom I've become so fond. I remain particularly concerned about the thin boy.  When we came upon them, the younger healthy male was laying beside the thin boy who was laying on his side seemingly without energy to even sit up - as I've always seen him. Formen assured us, however, that one good kill puts him right again.

Formen insists that this young boy could still hunt along with the other two. There have been thinner young male lions who have recovered nicely with just one or two kills, he states. I will believe him and hope this to be true for this thin young boy, whose face I have yet to see because he is always laying down flat on his side.  As we left this site, we quickly observed a herd of buffalo and impala, which instilled in me optimism that we might see a good meal for this young boy later tonight. I hope to see him eating well and gaining strength.

We also ran into a larger family of rhinos tonight - 5 in total. Momma, two younger adolescents, Father and a baby that was initially hidden from us laying down in between Momma and one of the older ones. We could only see him as we drove away. Formen, of course, saw all 5. As we were driving away, he said "How many did you all see?" "Four" we all replied. "There were 5" he said. "Look back now and tell me how many you see." We all looked back, and by gosh he was right. Nestled in between was the baby. What would we do without Formen!?

Towards the end of our drive, I finally saw the herd of buffalo from which our first friend, who unfortunately found some hyenas the other night, used to be a part. It was an enormous herd.

  I could easily see over 100. Formen says the herd is nearly 600. They just kept coming and coming and coming and coming. It was a sea of black bodies and horns. 

The wind had picked up quite vigorously as the sun was setting so it started turning colder. It was another beautiful sunset. I look forward to what tomorrow's drives will bring.



For more information on the lodge I'm staying at, see here: Tanda Tula


To see more of my pictures while on safari here at Tanda Tula, see here: My Safari Photos - Best Shots 2 and here: My Safari Photos - Best Shots 1










 

Friday, August 30, 2013

The Elephant Grandmother - A Story of Aging in the Animal Kingdom







At the conclusion of our "Bush on Foot" tour, we arrived back at the lodge to an older female elephant at the edge of our campsite eating on leaves and drinking from our pond that doubles as a watering hole. I took several pictures of her then, but I was not close enough yesterday to see the signs of her age. She too has a story. She was our elephant prelude this morning and we became more formally introduced. She walked very slowly and we were able to get unusually close to her. Without knowing anything about her, I commented that she looked "boney", but not thin. Her spine protruded with a pronounced "hump" and her head had several indentations that appeared to reveal the contour of her skull. She did not look sickly or thin, however. Just "boney" on a structure that still looked round and reasonably healthy. Foremen commented, "Yes, she is very old." "How old is 'old'?" I asked. "About 50 to 60," he responded. "Wow."  He added that she was too old and slow to keep up with the herd, so they had just moved on without her.  I thought this seemed odd given what little I thought I knew about the role of the matriarchs in elephant society.  While I understand the cycle of life, how "the strongest survive" in the wild and all of the balance that is and needs to be part of that kingdom, it still seems sad to me for these animals to be abandoned by their families as meals for the predators or to just find a pasture and lie down forever.


We found her family shortly thereafter -- my desired elephant herd sighting. 

As we were searching for our next great photographic moment, we passed the old matriarch elephant's recent droppings. Yesterday on our walking safari, while showing us the difference in animal droppings, Formen had explained that elephants do not digest very much of their food (about 40%), so their dung is largely undigested, and therefore quite recognizable with grass, berries, and even thorns. He had illustrated this by picking through a pile of elephant dung (with his hands - ick), and picked out a still nearly perfectly formed, long, white thorn eaten from one of the bushes. As we passed by the matriarch's recent droppings, he pointed out how little she is digesting - even lower than the 40% commonly associated with any elephant. Her droppings looked like a pile of leaves. Is she digesting anything? Formen verbalized what we were all thinking - she is not gaining much nutrition from her food. He further pointed out the difference in what she was eating vs. what we'd seen in other elephant piles - she is eating only the softest of foods. No bark, no thorns, no sticks; only soft leaves.

It is only a matter of time for her....will it be weeks, months or a couple of years left?  No one can tell. What is clear is that she has lived a long life and now is relegated to a life of solitude for her remaining time, just continuing an existence until her strength gives out and she can walk no further. When I think of her, I think of my grandmother....and how glad I am that she is not in a "survival of the fittest" family.

For more information on my safari lodge, see here: Tanda Tula
To see more of my pictures while on safari, see here: My African Safari Best Shots-1
and here: My African Safari Best Shots-2

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Bush on Foot - Every Track, Sound and Sight Tells a Story






Each morning, we receive our incredible breakfast at a picturesque site at the edge of the riverbed. The food spread they put on here at Tanda Tula is spectacular in terms of both presentation as well as quality of food. It is both elegant in its simplicity and scrumptious in taste.

Tanda Tula puts the "glam" in "glamping" - glamorous camping  - for sure.




After breakfast this morning our Guide, Formen, took us on a "walk about" from our lovely breakfast setting down by the river bed back to our camp site. For about an hour, we walked through the bush being educated about how to see the stories of the bush through the tracks in the sandy soil, the dung deposits, the trees and its leaves and thorns, the bird calls, the monkey cackles, the plants and more. It seems everything in the bush tells a story, and no one translates it better than Formen.


As we walk, he points out the tracks on the ground....the giraffe, the leopard and how it differs from the lion, this bird vs. that bird, the rhino, the elephant, the buffalo, the hyena and how it differs from some others, and on and on. How he can see the shapes in the sand remind me of how people can see shapes in the stars.  As Formen takes a small stick laying nearby and seemingly completes or draws with better distinction each print, the tracks come to life. 
Oh, yes, now I see....
He and our tracker, Jeffrey, were masters at seeing these signs and stories in the dirt as we drive by in our Rover each and every day. They see what walked there, when and in what direction. We frequently would follow those on our drives hoping to find the author of those storied tracks at the end of the trail. At times, Formen would stop the Rover, Jeffrey and he would get out and piece together the puzzle of some of the more convoluted meanderings. They would decide how the story went, and off we would go in pursuit. Every drive was an adventure. From these walks, we could understand better what they were looking for, looking at and how the stories jumped off the ground for them.

Formen continued conveying his encyclopedic knowledge of the plants, the piles of dung and what they said about the animal depositing them. The hippo was using his tail to spread and mark which is why it wasn't in a neat pile like many of the others; the elephant digests only 40% of their meal so you can see precisely the grass, leaves and even thorns eaten (and so is also a great fire starter!); the male vs. female of this animal or that; the buffalo's 4-chamber stomach that produces a highly processed pile, etc., etc.  I now know more about the medicinal uses of the plants and which ones I can brush my teeth with, should I ever be lost out in the bush (which I hope to never need!).

As we walked, we could better hear the sounds of the bush without the motor of the Rover, and Formen would tell us the identity of each caller of sounds. If there were any questions about which sound he was identifying, he could mimic them as if he were one of them. In fact, in one case, we came across some owls that were calling out.  When Formen called out to them in their own language, they responded back in kind. Each piece of knowledge was a translation of a chapter in the story of the bush. With each step, we could read more and more and appreciated more and more of the story, as we were now a part of it. I would later that afternoon hear the stories of the sounds at my front door. 

For more information on the lodge I stayed at, see here:Tanda Tula
For more of my pictures while on safari at Tanda Tula, see here:My African Safari-Best Shots2 and here: My African Safari - Best Shots1