© Ngorongoro Convervation Area--UNESCO World Heritage/Ngorongoro Crater, the world's largest caldera. Also known as the "Garden of Eden"

The bush is a world of its own, a vast desert protected from the noise and pollution of the outside world.  A sense of comfort and excitement overwhelms us as we approach these zebras and are met with stares.  After all, we have entered their world and we have become the ones on display.

Ngorongoro Crater is home to an estimated 30,000 animals--the park is one of the most densely crowed wildlife areas in the world.  There are no giraffe in the park--they probably find it too difficult to negotiate the crater rim cliffs with their long necks.

The plains zebra are marked with black and white stripes with no two zebras bearing the same markings.  Young zebras are brown with white and brown stripes that turn into black and white as they age. 

Young zebras are able to stand, move about and suckle not long after birth.

Although every member of the group will defend the foals, up to half will perish due to starvation, disease and predation.

This area contains over 25,000 large animals including 26 black rhinoceros.  There are 7,000 wildebeests, 4,000 zebras, 3,000 eland and 3,000 Grant's and Thomson's gazelles.  The crater has the densest known population of lions, 62 of them.  Higher up in the rain forests of the crater rim are leopards, elephants, mountain reedbucks, buffalos, spotted hyenas, jackals, rare wild dogs, cheetahs and other felines.

Zebra evolved among the Old World horses within the last 4 million years.  Like horses, zebra walk, trot, canter and gallop.

They are generally slower than horses but their great stamina helps them outpace predators.

When chased, a zebra will zig-zag from side to side, making it more difficult for the predator.  When cornered, the zebra will rear up and kick or bite its attacker.

Female zebras mature earlier than the males--a mare may have her first foal by the age of three.  Males are not able to breed until the age of five or six.

Mares may give birth to one foal every twelve months--she nurses her foal for up to a year.

When a foal is born the mother keeps all other zebras away from it for two or three days, until the baby zebra learns to recognize her by sight, voice and smell.

Why do zebras have stripes?

Do the stripes deter the tsetse and other blood-sucking flies?

Maybe not--they still have to stop and scratch!

Zebra's bold markings draw attention to the stripes themselves, not the shape of the animal. To the other zebras in the herd, the flash of stripes they see when one zebra starts to flee is a signal: "Follow me--danger approaching."  The predator perceived as the approaching danger loses its initial target in the confusing mass of moving stripes.  That is why a herd of zebra is called a Dazzle.

Zebras are social creatures and form close and lasting relationships with each other.

(Copyright 2014)

Great Horned Owlets Flew the Coop ©

 Two days before leaving the nest--the owlets are about six weeks old when they leave the nest.

Out of the nest they do walk around but the young birds have not learned to fly yet. 

Still looking for mom--the parents must continue to feed them.  

Three weeks after leaving the nest the young owls will have learned to fly.

It is wise to stay away from young owls as Great Horned Owls are not afraid to attack if they feel their family is threatened.  Don't think that they don't give a hoot!

Surviving in the owl world takes skill and training. 

So the young owls will remain near their parents often into late summer or sometimes even early fall.

Just after dusk, if you listen you may hear the sound (a "shriek" or scream) of owlets begging for their next meal.

And now imagine a Great Horned Owl parent hunting for yet another rodent to feed its begging young!

The Great Horned Owl is the only animal that eats skunks. Yuk!

There aren't many birds or mammals that prey on the Great Horned Owl.

But it does have its threats--

Man plays a role in endangering the population of the Great Horned Owls.

Loss of habitat decreases the owl's nesting and hunting territories.

And some agricultural practices, such as the use of insecticides and pesticides, can harm the owls that feed on insects and rodents.

If a Great Horned Owl was the same size as a human, its eyes would be as big as oranges.

Third Eyelid--nictitating membrane (from Latin nectar, to blink) transparent or translucent third eyelid.  Preset in some animals that can be drawn across the eye for protection and to moisten it while maintaining visibility 

Owls cannot "roll their eyes", as we can, without moving their heads because the eyes are plug-shaped and are fixed snugly into the eye sockets in the skull.  

Raptors have 14 vertebrae, twice as many as we have, so the owl directs its vision by rotating the head 270 degrees.

"WHOOO HOO"

(Copyright 2014)

Tarangire National Park--an elephant "baby boom". ©

Each day had something special and it was no different the day we were wildlife-viewing in 

Tarangire National Park! 

Tarangire serves as a place of refuge for the largest elephant population in northern Tanzania.  The graceful, gentle giants were heavily poached during the 1980's.

Look--

we happened upon these little guys rough-housing and playing with each other--while mom and aunties were busy grazing and eating.  

The number of elephants are dramatically rebounding.

They were a fair distance from us but we were able to capture a few nice shots.
The green season (rainy season) in Tarangire is incredibly rewarding for two reasons: there are fewer crowds, and the lush landscape has bright to neon emerald foliage, making a spectacular backdrop for a picture or two!

Elephant viewing in Tarangire was outstanding, as we saw hundreds of elephants in one day!

They must have just come from the mud hole--if you look closely at the trunk it is all muddy!

Not only were there two of them but up popped an even smaller baby!

If you've ever seen an elephant in the wild you know what an awesome presence these graceful, gentle giants have!

I can not describe the feeling of
seeing masses of elephants either in large herds or in small families.

Remember mama and daughter leopard and the two cheetahs from the Big Cats blog?  This is also the park and the day we saw them.  Check out the feet!

It was a really big and lucky day in the Tarangire National Park, especially since Cheetahs live at low densities in Tarangire and are only seen once or twice a year.

(Copyright 2014)

Amboseli National Park ©

The sun is coming up, 

giving us our first sight of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The snow-covered flat-top of Mount Kilimanjaro, located across the border in Tanzania, forms a memorable backdrop for the wonderful sights to be seen in Kenya's Amboseli National Park!

Amboseli's abundance of elephants is due to the constant tracking by reseachers over many years.  

As a result, the elephants of Amboseli have largely escaped the ravages of the 1980's poaching suffered elsewhere.

So we are seeing the bigger and older population of the elephant herds.  This guy is massive but it looks like it has been in a few fights to prove itself over the years.

And then it is time to move on.

There are so many elephants... 

Wet elephants, dry elephants and dusty elephants.  Huge elephants, young elephants, juvenile elephants and all the little baby elephants--all on the move!  

It looks like a wall of elephants!

These gentle giants move every afternoon across the savanna up into the hillside of Mount Kilimanjaro.

It is an amazing sight as they all start moving...

.....hurrying along with the dust flying everywhere, but.....

 .....some of them have to slow down a little.

This one was not so much in a hurry as it was interested in a dust bath.

The dusting starts off slowly but as the elephant gets its trunk in position--

watch out!  Good thing we can close the windows on our land-rover... 

This little family was so much fun to watch and to photograph.

Just so sweet to watch the babies try to hide. 

(Copyright 2014)