What a life!

Showing posts with label Wildlife. Show all posts

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Cauldron of life - the African Safari (continued)

From the previous post: "Also to unfold in front of my eyes, was a spectacle that was so rare which even Abombe had never seen in his 12 year career as a wildlife guide."

The cauldron of life

The sound of a thousand hooves drumming on the floor of a crater, is sweet music to most predators. To me, it signified life within the cauldron. An entire life lived in 260 square kilometres area. As a human, I feel privileged to have experienced life beyond just the immediate circle.

Today's agenda was simply to scour the Ngorongoro crater to sight as much wildlife as possible for half a day and then it was an late afternoon drive back to Arusha. So, it was an early morning wake up. Misty and chilly breeze. Almost everybody I saw out there were looking like Arctic explorers - with their stuffed jackets, woollen caps and footwear. And here I was walking around in joggers, jeans and a linen shirt. I think, unobtrusively everyone was looking at me, as being slightly off hinged in the brain. All I could think was, what a nice brandy it had been the previous night, the warmth still continues!

Finally, Abombe, the girls and I were off in our trusty box on wheels. A few hundred metres on the dirt track and a site that even today leaves me in a trance. An open veld with rolling hills interspersed with acacia clumps. A picture, such that mere words cannot do justice. Further enhanced by a family of giraffes who were out for breakfast.

Giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis)

Immensely tall, but gentle and fragile, these beautiful beasts were a sight to watch whether grazing on the top leaves of a thorny acacia or running. Incredibly they have a heart, measuring an amazing 2 feet long and weighing 10 kilos. Their blood pressure is approximately double of any other large mammal.

Entering the crater was through a steep rutted road, giving very good views of the space. Finally made it to the floor level, and the drive started. First among the spotted creatures was one of the world's heaviest birds - the Kori Bustard.

Kori Bustard (Ardeotis kori)

When I saw the bird, I was reminded of one of my marketing campaigns which started with the headline - "Bustard is not a bad word...".

And after all this while of looking out for some sign of the Wildebeest herds, which had mostly migrated in search of greener pastures, got to see a smallish herd. Antelopes, they may be, but strange looking beasts with rather well developed muzzles. Also known as Gnu. More than half a million of these beasts go in a circulatory migration path across the Serengeti in search of nutrient rich grass. Watch any channel dedicated to wildlife and chances are you are likely to see the migration at some point of time.

Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus)

One popular term that is used often in the safari circuits in Africa is - the big 5. We had seen all the big guys except the double horned rhinoceros. Abombe informed us that there are some in the Ngorongoro crater and we were hoping to catch a sight. Sadly that did not happen.

However, what did happen was something that even our elderly guide had not seen in his 12 years of guide service. That it was a rare sight was further knocked in, when I described the event to Achmed, our tour operator, whom we met later in the night at Arusha.

Incredible

The Ostrich is one of the large birds in Africa. A flightless bird, which almost all of us have seen/heard of. Even terms like, hiding your head in the sand like an Ostrich is used to signify a negative trait among people refusing to accept reality. The truth is, stranger than fiction. Always. That day was no exception. Just as we turned a corner and reached a large patch of grass land, we arrived in time to watch a male Ostrich complete his mating ritual dance and mount the female. Abombe explained to us that the Ostrich, once done with this will need time to 'recover'.

Something, probably instinct, told me not to move from the spot. After having done with the lady, the guy featured in the picture, had started walking. I saw another lady of the same ilk, was hanging around at some distance. He smartly walked up to her, and started his mating ritual again. It is a sort of dance, where he raises his feathered wings and tail to form a larger plumage and then actually shakes his body and bobs his bald head in a dance. Incredibly, the second female Ostrich accepted his performance and allowed him to do the job! Two mating acts, one immediately after the other, is something that is rather rare to observe.

After all this excitement, we went off for lunch. Apart from all the other travellers for the day, who had stopped by the same designated picnic lunch spot, there were teams of kites out there, all trying to grab a bite - by hook or claw. Equally interesting was to observe the Helmeted Guinea fowl calmly walking by, pecking at whatever they could get on the ground.

Helmeted Guineafowl (Numida meleagris)

Having done the tour of the place, and missed seeing any rhinos, it was time to return to the camp. Had a bit of free time and then off back to Arusha.

At this point, I remembered something that Achmed had told us during the briefing. He mentioned about an old tusker who liked to stay close to the camp site of the Ngorongoro. In his words, "It is an accident waiting to happen". Essentially, the elephant was down to its last molars. Therefore it was looking for easy food to eat and an accessible water source. The large tank at the camp site, was his 'watering hole' and the green shoots of the plants and leaves nearby assuaged his hunger.

But what most visitors forget is that this is a wild creature. Not a tame domesticated animal. People try to go close, take pictures of him, especially with their camera flash on. This irritates the old man a lot. Irrespective of his age, all this behemoth needs to do is swing his trunk and from photographer to a flying corpse could be a grim reality. This was even more pronounced to me, when he turned suddenly and did a short snorting charge at one of the men, who had dared to go past him.

Taking a circuitous route, I went to the men's toilet. As I was doing what nature makes us do, right in front of me was a window. Guess what I saw through the window? Talk about feeling puny! This was, by far, the closest I have ever been to a wild pachyderm.

It was time to leave. All things and people packed back into the land cruiser. On the way down, stopped over at a bunch of shops that were specifically in the business of selling products for visitors to take away. Being the designated negotiator, managed to get a range of things for a relatively low cost. Then on, it was back to Arusha. One more night stay at the beautiful Oasis resort.

Next day morning, Abombe would be dropping us off at the airport from where we would be flying to laid back Zanzibar. The final days of this magnificent journey were upon us.

Continued in the next and final post in this series.

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Endless plains - the African Safari (continued)

From the previous post: "After sighting some more enthralling wildlife, we headed back for our lunch at the camp site. A relaxed lunch and then we were off again, to see what more the Serengeti would reveal to us."

Nature's creativity

The rest of the remaining day and the first half of the next day were spent scouring the vast Serengeti plains. I think, considering the short time, we managed to just about glimpse the creativity that Nature had achieved and showcased in this wonderful reserve.

In any travel, there are multiple moments which may have affected us very positively or negatively, so much so that we like to talk dime a dozen about it.

I have put down below selected pictures that I managed to get, which stood out to me as good compositions, or maybe it was just plumb luck. Either way, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Secretary Bird (Sagittarius serpentarius)

The Secretary bird with eagle like body on crane like legs, is also interestingly referred to as the Devil's horse by the locals. Being largely terrestrial, it prefers to walk rather than fly. Likely to be seen in air, mostly during the mating season. Favourite food: snakes, lizards, small mammals.

Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta)

The Spotted Hyena, also known as laughing hyena are often mislabelled as cowardly scavengers. Hardly! These are matriarchal in nature and tend to hunt larger prey in teams using various strategies. While I had seen many of these guys earlier, only now was I able to get close enough to take the picture above. Later, I was lucky enough to observe a whole family near their den. One young chap decided to come really close and have a look at the gawking strange looking creatures in the box on wheels. Had to shoot him, for his predator's cuteness quotient.

Spotted Hyena cub

Moving a little bit further down the trail, we came across the Black-backed Jackal. They are also known as silver-backed or red jackal.

Black-backed Jackal (Canis mesomelas)

Further on, came across an acacia tree containing a nest. Zoomed closer and was delighted to see a chick. A magnificent Lappet-faced Vulture in the making.

Lappet-faced Vulture or Nubian Vulture (Torgos tracheliotos)

Still on the trail, we reached a sort of water hole where the pachyderms were arriving with entire families.

African Savanna Elephant (Loxodonta africana)

The African elephant is, currently, the largest living terrestrial animal. Even females have small 'tusks'. Ranging from 20-24 feet in length and between 11-13 feet in height, they weight around 6,000-9,000 kilos. Highly intelligent, very social with their own kind, they are herbivorous. Similar to their Asian cousins, are a pleasure to watch from a distance. Though normally, they avoid humans, get too close and chances are, you are in danger of being attacked. However with 7 billion humans on this earth, conflict with elephants is increasingly the norm. And both species, lose their loved ones.

Still further on, we had a bit of a rattle. As we drove on, we came across this magnificent male specimen, who did not quite like us invading his space. Rather than engage in a losing battle with the moody guy, Abombe actually reversed the vehicle some distance.

African buffalo or Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer)

Though not related, the African buffalo is slightly smaller and lighter than the Asian wild water buffalo. Nonetheless can be a fearsome attacker should it feel in danger.

A bit later, came across this beauty. Probably one of the best known gazelles - Thomson's gazelle. Skittish. Nimble. Runs at the slightest of dangers.

Thomson's gazelle (Eudorcas thomsonii)

With the plethora of animals on display, by now it was rather difficult to stop the oohs and ahas. Until this moment. I was a bit taken aback looking at this strange looking animal - sort of looked like a cow bred wrong! It was none other than Coke's Hartebeest.

Coke's Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus cokii)

While a bit ungainly in appearance, these are antelopes. Quite nimble too. Can reach up to 70 kilometres per hour speed.

Where the prey is, so would be the predators. Sadly, populations across wild species have been declining in Africa. But when you look into the eyes of a queen, you do realise that such beauty should not be allowed to perish.

She was part of a pride that was gambolling around with the young ones. Not yet fully mature, I fervently hope that soon, she would find her mate and produce more of her kind.

Stricken

As the previous day came to a close, it was back to the camp, dinner, sleep and off again the next day for some more touring of the endless plains. However, half day later, by the time we got back to the camp, tragedy struck. No, not of the life threatening variety. But severe enough. Diarrhoea. A cramped stomach and loose bowels are not good partners in a trip. Luckily the medicine kit came handy. However, even medicine needs time to sort out the mess that is your stomach.

Though my companions were fine, I had to just grit my teeth and bear it on the journey back the same route, we had traversed earlier. Now, along with the external bone-rattling and teetch-chattering bumps, combined with the internal attempts of my stomach to have an urgent group meeting with my intestines, it was a ride though hell.

To make matters that much more exciting, as well as to ensure that some African soil could forever reside inside us, right in front was another land cruiser dishing out constant red dust. So much so that by the time, we reached the rim of the Ngorongoro crater, where the public campsite was located, all of us humans, vehicle, bags, gear - everything, looked pinkish red with the fine dust that had settled into every nook and cranny possible.

The Ngorongoro

The crater is actually a large unbroken, unflooded, volcanic caldera, about 260 kilometres squared at its floor level. We were to camp on the rim and go down the next day.

Ngorongoro Crater

On reaching, usual process. Off load gear. Put up the tent. Freshen up. Two differences though. A stomach that had still not quietened. And cold water. Now you may think, after all that heat and dust, a cold shower would be great. Well, you may like to keep in mind that when you are standing approximately 15,000 feet above mean sea level, the temperature becomes a rather chilly 15 degrees and drops further as the sun retreats. As I had mentioned in an earlier post, my thought of how cold can Africa be? came to be a rather sticky thorn in my conscience.

By the time, we got into the meal area, thanks to the generosity of my companions, I was covered in a shawl that mildly retained the heat in me. Multiple cups of coffee did not make any difference. Then, inspiration! Abombe was going to a nearby town to pick up some necessities. I requested him to fetch us half a bottle of local brandy. That saved the night, literally! There were two of us, who consumed the brandy. It kept us warm enough to handle the ultra cold night. Next day morning, was gloriously misty and chilly. Best part, the stomach had decided to stop rebelling and behave.

Today, we were going to explore the Ngorongoro reservation which unlike the Serengeti, had a large set of herds and predators, about 25,000 animals, who never migrate and thus live their entire lives within the crater.

Also to unfold in front of my eyes, was a spectacle that was so rare that even Abombe had never seen in his 12 year career as a wildlife guide. Coming up, in the next post.

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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.