Tucson's Reid Park Zoo on Baby Watch! ©

Semba, this mother elephant, is ready to drop the first elephant calf ever born at the zoo!  It has been a long pregnancy--22 months and still waiting.

She is on a 24-hour watch but no sign of labor so far... She is still busy eating and rounding up her  five year old, Punga, and her three year old, Sundzu...

This is the five year old brother, Punga, and the three year old brother, Sundzu.  The rest of the herd of elephants that have been moved to Tucson from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park include father, Mabu, and auntie Lungile.

(Copyright 2014)

©

Five Weeks in Africa & We'd Go Back In A Heartbeat!

The Wonders of the Wild

We enter into a different world, a vast area of savannah, plains and forest protected from the noise and pollution of the outside world.  A sense of comfort and excitement overwhelms us as we start this, our third, African Safari! We are in search of everything from the tiniest bell frogs that set the stage for a nightly musical concert with the sounds of hundreds of bamboo wind chimes, and the brilliant red bishop bird that adds color to this beautiful wide open land, to the untamed and very wild, Big Five.

We approach all animals with caution and with our hearts pounding, and we are met with stares and curiosity because, after all, we have entered their world and have become the ones on display!









Can you imagine driving on a dirt road in a safari Land Rover and have a wall of elephants come out of the bush only 10 feet in front of you!



Our first camp is in Botswana, where we drive from the Victoria Falls airport.

We have little encounters with the animals outside of Chobe National Park, such as a herd of female elephants protecting and trying to hide the baby.

The elephant population in Chobe is the biggest in all of Africa (estimated 50,000).  Everywhere we drive are elephants--on the roadside, crossing the road, rolling in the mud and blowing the dust on themselves to stay cool, and this time even in the pathway below our camp.

Chobe also has one of the greatest concentrations of game found on the African continent, including Cape buffalo, hippo, and of course the pair of lions that we spend most of the morning tracking and watching.

First, we spot the male eyeing the impala and a big Cape buffalo--we wonder what will he do?

Then we spot the female and we know... They go off on a "honeymoon" and are reputed to mate every 15 minutes for 4 to 5 days!  Whew!!!


Our next camp is in the Okavango Delta, also in Botswana, where we have many game drives and also take a mokoro (canoe) ride, passing the Hippo Highways used by the hippos to make their way to the bush after spending the day submerged in the waters of the Delta, and Elephant Ways used by the elephants to get water for bathing and drinking.

Once widespread, the African wild dog is now endangered...

On our first game drive in the Delta we hear before we see a pack of Painted Dogs, also known as African Wild Dogs.  Just seeing them is a treat because they are among this continent's most endangered species and not seen by many travelers.  It is estimated that less than 7,000 remain in the wild.

Human-wildlife conflict is a problem, as wild dogs have been shot and poisoned by farmers, who blame them when a leopard or hyena kills the livestock.  Wild dogs are also losing their living spaces, due to human population expansion, with agriculture, settlements, and roads, and no longer have the ability to roam freely.

And not only did we see them, but when we caught up to them they were finishing up a kill.  The poor impala is part of a Tug O' War to the end, but it is the fittest that survive...

Lufupa Tented Camp in Kafue National Park, Zambia is our next stop.  After arriving we first enjoy afternoon tea under the shade of the Jackal-berry trees before our first game-viewing, by boat on the Kafue River.

There are nearly 500 species of birds here, including the Green-backed Heron, African Darter, Open-billed Stork, Yellow-billed Oxpecker, Malachite Kingfisher, and Gray Crowned Crane, in addition to the mammals.

We also take game drives after dark with the guides using torches to try to spot nocturnal animals.  During the daytime game drives, to reduce the danger of tsetse flies, a large can filled with smoldering elephant dung is installed on the front of the vehicle, where it smokes away for a few hours.


The last camp before going to unexplored territory (for us) is Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe, where we find a large family of female elephants that really didn't want us there at all!  The biggest female, which would be the matriarch, was in the middle of the road with her trunk high and tooting away...  We watched this beautiful family long enough to see the baby be tucked safely under the mama elephant.

Before flying back to Johannesburg we spend three days in Victoria Falls to visit the Falls, have high tea at the Victoria Falls Hotel, enjoy the people and the small city after being in the bush for twelve days.

So far the trip has brought back many memories for us, which we have enjoyed tremendously, but the real adventure is about to begin!  We backtrack to Johannesburg and the next morning we fly north to Nairobi.  Nairobi is not part of the adventure at all:  for security reasons, we must stay in the hotel unless with the group and or group leader.  Once we are out of the crowded, polluted city we are on our way to learn about and discover a new part of Africa!

Before we get to our first lodge in Lake Nakuru we stop in the town of Karen to tour the home, now a museum, of Karen Blixen, who wrote Out of Africa under the pen name Isak Dinesen.

Also, we visit the Giraffe Center, where in 1974, Jock and Betty Leslie-Melville relocated five orphaned Rothschild giraffes to their home, which was quickly dubbed: "Giraffe Manor."  Over the years the giraffes have thrived and the Center plays an important part in the conservation of the Rothschild giraffe species. www.south-african-lodges.com/‎

Lake Nakuru, Kenya is where we spot our first rhinoceros, a black rhino that we find first but is too far away to get a good picture.   Not long after, we spot another rhino down by the lake, this one a white rhino, so we park our Land Rover and watch this massive creature approach.  Both rhinoceroses are actually gray--they are different mainly in their lip shape and sociability. The lonely black rhino has a pointed upper lip, while its more sociable relative, the white rhino, has a wide, squared lip.

We are lucky--we watch this big massive armored body coming closer and closer!

After our up close and personal visit with our new friend we have lunch in the heart of the park at a beautiful resort, on a hill overlooking the lake and viewing areas of the park, with food and drink that is superb.

The dining room is set for a beautiful buffet--deli meats, chicken, salads, vegetables, cakes, pies, cookies and big chunks of chocolate.

Recipes are yours for the asking:

Avocado Vinaigrette Ingredients:

1) Avocado
2) Cubed vegetables, onions, tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, salt, black pepper, white vinegar, corn oil, tomato matchup, and tabasco.  Mix them all together, place in the avocado and serve. (no picture)

The juice shown in the picture is beet/mango... The food  is great!



Departing from Nakuru, we leave the Great Rift Valley and head to Amboseli National Park, Kenya, located on the border of Tanzania and in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro.

The park has over 400 bird species and Amboseli's elephant population is among the largest in the country.

Because Amoseli's abundant elephants are tracked constantly by researchers, they largely escaped the ravages of the 1980s poaching, so we are seeing some of the older "tuskers" (well developed tusks) and huge elephants.

We cross the border into Tanzania, where, at Tarangire National Park, we are quite surprised to find
two cheetahs sitting on a mound.

Because cheetahs live at low density in Tarangire and are only seen once or twice a year, it is our lucky day just to see these two together!


As we watch, the cheetahs crouch low and the hair on their backs   stands up, and in a split second both cheetahs are off and running!




They go after a warthog family, but are turned away by a large male protecting the babies!





We also find our first-in-the-wild leopards.  Mother and daughter are in two different sausage trees across from each other.  Neither of them cares that we are nearby--both are relaxing or asleep in their respective trees.  Mom never really moves but the juvenile gets up a few times, walks the thick branches, circles the trunk of the tree and lays back down.  It is a thrill to be as close as we are and to have spotted them at all!

After twenty-eight delightful days of safari with lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, elephants and birds,  we are now ready to descend 2,000 feet to the floor of the Ngorongoro Crater!  We spend the day with an amazing variety of wildlife, and herds of zebra and wildebeest.  We see in the distance nine black rhinos, well protected in this zoological wonderland. Two hyenas are moving towards the zebras and wildebeest, getting them on the run with their babies in tow.  The balance between predator and prey in this extraordinary ecosystem is so perfect that the animals seldom leave.

Three male lions come directly toward us from a distance.  As they approach, we realize how massive and intimidating they are.  We look out the window in the opposite direction and there is a female lion dozing right below the window.  Her forehead is bloody and covered with flies, perhaps from a warthog confrontation the night before.  We quietly close the window and go above to watch--seems safer!

We drive by a Golden Jackal in time to see guilt in its face and feathers in its mouth--it has just taken down an Abyssinian Stork, his dinner, lunch, breakfast.

The last four days we spend in the Serengeti National Park, perhaps the most famous wildlife-viewing destination in the world.  

The Serengeti stretches over more then 57,000 square miles of plains, riverine bush, acacia woodlands, and savanna grasslands.  Again we are not disappointed.   First, the hilltop lodge is beautiful, peaceful, and very relaxing with a view for miles of trees, zebras, grasslands, and giraffes.

In the park, we see hippos (tons and tons of hippos), hyenas, Masai giraffes, elephants, dik-dik, three lions protecting their Cape buffalo kill, and birds--too many to name but oh, so colorful...

The Serengeti is where we see five lions up a sausage tree--hard to believe until we see it with our own eyes!  Some people believe that lions climb the trees in Manyara and Tarangire to avoid tsetse flies in the dense undergrowth and to remain in the cool shade.  They also climb the trees to gain a hunting advantage. 

                                                                    The End

(Copyright 2014)