What a life!

Friday 23 September 2011

The enchanting African Safari (Tarangire)

From the previous post: "...Dozing off to sleep was easy, given how tired I was. Plus, the thought that tomorrow will be more magnificent creatures to be spotted was exciting..."

It is a new day in Africa

Irrespective of the onset of summer, waking up in mildly breezy and cool morning was made all the more exhilarating when the thought streaked through my mind, 'hey, I am actually in Africa!' and nothing could be more poignant at that time, than hearing the beautiful songs being rendered by the bards of nature - birds.

Get ready, have breakfast, pack up everything including the picnic lunch. It was all a blur, as the heart and mind were already inside the forest. Off we trudged into the trusty land cruiser with the reliable Abombe ready to show us more magical beings.

Today we were going to further explore Tarangire for a bit, before driving off to the world famous Serengeti with a stop over at the cradle of civilization. Talk about intrigue! One more thing that I do need to mention here, is that the land cruiser had a top that could be easily raised, so not only did we get more protection from the sun, we would also be in a position of height, enabling us to see more of the place. So happily, back in our vehicle, we started traversing the African wilderness.

Started with a high cuteness quotient this time. At least for a carnivore. Just saw the little fellow peeking out from a hollow log. Introducing the Common Dwarf Mongoose.

Common Dwarf Mongoose (Helogale parvula)

Moving on, it sort of felt like the world was a bit different in that you look almost anywhere and you are likely to see all sorts of animals, birds, trees, undulating landscapes - the sheer variety is staggering. It would take a huge journal to describe every bit of the experience, so am limiting myself to some of the ones that I found interesting enough to squarely embed in the recesses of my brain.

Also spotted quite a few White Headed Buffalo Weavers. It is a specie that is native to East Africa. The buffalo part of its name is derived from its habit of following the bovine footsteps of the African Buffalo and feeding on disturbed insects like beetles and butterflies.

White Headed Buffalo Weaver (Dimenellia dinemelli)

As we drove onward, suddenly started hearing shouts. Go away. Go away. I was flummoxed. I mean, what could be the reason? Couldn't see or feel any danger. Then realisation struck. Right now, we, in the rumbling box were the danger to the folks in the forest and who else but the nattily dressed caped crusader, the aptly named Crested White bellied Go-away bird, was making all the noise.

Crested White bellied Go-away bird ( Corythaixoides leucogaster)

While I understand and accept, that an angry elephant is probably the most dangerous (to humans) animal out there in the wild anywhere, the sight of a full grown lion near you makes you still shiver. Maybe it was our ancestral anthropoid remnant genes. Have you ever thought, why most humans start shouting and screaming at the sight of perceived danger or that grouping and attempting to fight off or kill the intruder is the most common counter mechanism to date? Just look at any current set of monkeys and you get the answer. We are not that different, after all, on many counts from the simians.

The lions of Tarangire

Coming back to the lion, it was the first sighting in Africa and I was sincerely thankful for the vehicular protection, and the keen eyes of our guide. Take a look at the picture below. So well camouflaged and silent is this giant cat, it would have been difficult to spot until you are a few feet away. Not knowing the mood of this fellow, it may be a good idea to maintain your distance, if perchance you are not in your protective cage on wheels.

Lion (Panthera leo)

The real close brush with the Lions of Tanzania was to happen later. Meantime, as we are watching, in trot a bunch of zebras. While there is silence, mostly, except for the shutter clicks, a collective slightly audible sigh went up from the human females around in different safari vehicles, which had clustered by now. Why? Simple, the lion decided to stalk and attack his food on hooves. On this occasion, being neither smart nor a long distance runner, the lion made a rather short and foolish attempt to get some fresh food. Result: Cat-0, Zebras-1. For now. Factually, more than 70% of hunts do not succeed for the big cats.

It would be important to note, this chap was not alone. His female partner and the main hunter was also around. And smartly, she had not bothered to waste any energy going after the zebras.

Finally, having watched the lion's antics and unsurprisingly aware that nothing worthy would be happening, the lady decided to slink off to a nearby tree. Amazingly, Tanzania is one of the few places in the world, where lions climb on trees. It essentially gives them a high vantage view, which is essential to determine where the next meal is.

The male having given up on his predatory behaviour, decided to follow the lady and rest beneath the tree on which she was keeping vigil.

Moving a bit further on, we saw a small herd of elephants cavorting with their young ones by the depleted Tarangire river.

Now the time had come to move on. Having gotten out of the Tarangire park, we were back on the tarmac, smoothly proceeding to the Serengeti. Abombe, our guide/driver, explained to us that we would be passing by well known UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ngorongoro located in the crater highlands of Tanzania, about 180 kilometres from Arusha.

As we ascended the heights, markedly the greenery started showing up. The plan was to drive by the top of the Ngorongoro crater, bypassing it on the way to Oldupai Gorge. And from there on to the Seregenti plains.

The picnic lunch spot that Abombe had brought us to, was indeed beautiful. He was also caring enough to warn us, to consume our food under the branches of a nearby tree, rather than in the open - where it was extremely pleasant to sit as the temperature had markedly gone down at least 10 degrees Celsius lower, if not more.

Why the warning? The answer was soon visible and audible. We were not the only people who had decided to stop there and have our lunch. Other travellers had arrived. One lady decided to sit on the grass, lean against the bole of a tree, enjoy the beautiful weather and have her lunch, only to shriek out in consternation as a lithe, silent figure swooped, clutched her sandwich and made off. All this, in one smooth motion, as we were watching, beside a smiling Abombe. The culprit was none other than the Tanzanian Yellow-billed Kite. While the kites are general sky borne thermal gliding predators elsewhere, at this particular picnic site, they had specialised in stealing sandwiches out of travellers' lunch boxes!

Yellow-billed Kite (Milvus aegyptius)

Done with the cold but tasty lunch, it was time to leave the picnic spot and drive on to the Serengeti, via the Oldupai Gorge. A point rather sorely remembered here, was the tarmac road ended a few kilometres away. Thus began some of the roughest, bone-jarring, teeth-chattering, dusty stretches across Tanzania. Slowing down was not an option, as the shaking would only get worse. The only prayer was not to get trapped behind another similar vehicle on the designated dirt road, as all the dust raised by the wheels ahead would only smother us.

As we drove through, the vistas were simply breath taking. Mostly empty mountain ranges, interspersed with a rare Masai village and their cattle. You could see far enough into the horizon and make out the dust columns being raised by similar land cruisers far away. The intrigue of visiting the 'cradle of civilization' kept the mood high.

The adventure continues in the next post...

------------------------

You may also want to check out:

Thursday 22 September 2011

The African Safari (Tarangire)

From the previous post: "...From thrilling vistas, to open expanses of land never seen before teeming with wild and free life, it was majestic Africa that was to open up in front of my eyes..."

The adventure truly begins

Waking up to a calm and cool morning, it was time to get ready, have a leisurely breakfast. The land cruiser was loaded up, with all the equipments, food and luggage and off we left for our true blue African private safari. This meant that we would be sleeping in tents at public camp sites and have access only to common, basic facilities like cold water showers and toilets. In terms of private, what we would have as we discovered during the trip, was a cook who would whip up a good meal specifically for us and a guide/driver who would be dedicated to showcasing the best of wild Africa to us.

As Achmed, our tour operator, had explained previously, the journey initially would be quite comfortable as the roads were made of tarmac and rather well maintained. Further on, we would be down to dirt tracks and all its associated ups and downs.

We had a rather normal drive. Visible to us were large swathes of dry land with thorny bushes, a few Masai thatched hut villages and their herds. The scale of the land is only understood, though, when you are on the road. It takes ages to reach any destination. Not that you are being driven slowly. And we were only covering a limited portion of the northern safari circuit of Tanzania.

Finally we reached a public camp site, 118 kilometres south west of Arusha. As, Abombe, our guide pointed out, the smart thing to do, is to plan the journey such that, you manage to reach a public camp site before it gets filled up with other travellers like us. It gives us the advantage of scouting and pitching the tent in a better spot, within the place. As everything is on a 'first-come-first-served' rule, even the kitchen spot availability is a matter of concern. If our cook is not able to set up his paraphernalia then our food is likely to be of the very limited variety.

Now, another thing that I had realised during my pre-trip research, was that in Africa you have to be aware of the season in which you go. Whether it is summer/winter or dry/wet. In Tanzania, summer is usually December-March and winter is March-May with rains. So we were travelling at a time, where the onset of summer was imminent. In summer, the sun sucks the moisture out of the landscape, baking it dry and leaving withered grass as brittle as straw as well as trees minus most of their foliage.

The Tarangire National Park about 2,850 square kilometres (1,096 square miles), part of the Tarangire-Manyara ecosystem, is the sixth largest park in Tanzania named after the Tarangire river. In summer, the river reduces in size to a mere shadow of its wet season self, but attracts nomadic herds of wild life in search of life sustaining moisture. Outside of the Serengeti, this location contains one of the largest concentrations of wildlife herds, bringing in predators following them. The lions of Tarangire are also famous for being among the few tree climbing ones in its species. This promised us with some rich sights and being a nature/wildlife enthusiast, I was very keenly looking forward to it.

Having unloaded our luggage, set up the camp and after consuming an early lunch, we set off to have a look at what we could find in Tarangire.

It was a lovely start, indeed. The two main seasons were beautifully showcased in a stained glass artwork set up at the Tarangire park entrance.

Baobab (Adansonia) also known as monkey-bread tree

The first proper visual of the Baobab tree. Local lore was that as God was irritated with the tree, it was planted on Earth - upside down! The baobab, being of the deciduous type, especially in summer, minus the leaves does look upside down with the roots in the sky. Reputedly living for thousands of years, one of the key facts is that the tree stores thousands of litres of water inside the massive trunk to survive during summer and elephants especially love to bore holes into the trunk and suck the moisture to survive.

Tickets procured, we started driving into the park range.

Tarangire park range view

The first thing, spotted was one of the most colourful birds in Africa. The Lilac breasted roller. Usually found alone and sometimes in pairs, this bird loves to sit on a high vantage position especially tree tops or poles, so it can search out ground based insects, lizards, scorpions, snails and rodents to hunt.

Lilac Breasted Roller (Coracias caudata)

Following this, I spotted a welcoming committee of Zebras, Wildebeests and Elephants. I would be seeing many more of these beautiful and sometimes strange animals over the next few days (more pictures and descriptions coming up later).

Young African female Elephant

It was a rather strange experience in being able to see these amazing creature so up close. My experience with nature has been such that usually, all creatures maintain a 'flight or fight' distance from humans and their natural predators. For most animals and birds, it is flight that they choose when an human intruder gets close. Here, they had gotten used to big black boxes on wheels, smelling of diesel and trundling along without harming them. As a result getting really close was possible and that's one of the charms of being here.

Next sighted was one of the varieties of Kingfishers that exist on this continent. The tree based Grey-headed Kingfisher which, unlike most Kingfishers, is not aquatic.

Grey-headed Kingfisher (Halcyon leucocephala)

Driving a bit further on, I spotted one of the most striking antelopes, I had ever seen till date. The Roan antelope. Such a handsome fellow. Fearless. And in his prime.

Waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus)

By this time, adrenaline had kicked in. Full steam. Absolute salivation. When such magnificent creatures were there to view, enjoy, capture on camera and with the comfort of being driven by, what more can an nature enthusiast ask?

A bit further down and there was this dappled, long legged fellow giving me the look. What could I do? I shot him, too.

It had been a good day so far. It was getting late and as with all parks, after sun-down ideally no humans should be anywhere inside. That being the case, we headed back to the camp. A shower, change of clothes and we were ready for our first safari dinner. Our cook had come up with a selection of assorted dishes that was simply put - tasty and filling. An avocado starter, main course of rice and chicken, followed by a mildly sweet dessert and coffee, left us feeling satiated and ready to hit the sleeping bags in our tents.

Dozing off to sleep was easy, given how tired I was. Plus, the thought that tomorrow will be more magnificent creatures to be spotted was exciting.

The adventure continues in the next post.