Entries about wildlife viewing

It's late afternoon as we leave Serengeti National park behind and head for pastures new, with five nights in the Ndutu region of Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

There are just as many zebras here as there were the other side of the park border. Of course the animals don't have to check in and out of the parks as we do, and there are no physical borders.

Wattled Starling

A tree by the side of the road is alive with these colourful and impressive-looking birds.

They get their name from the long wattles found on the throat of breeding male birds, who also display unfeathered yellow skin and a black forehead (the rest of the year they are a dull grey)

Female

Jackson's Chameleon

Without warning, Malisa comes to a screeching halt on the apparently empty road. Except it is not so empty. Malisa's eyes never cease to amaze me – he has spotted a chameleon crossing the road!

They are seriously bizarre in the way they walk.

Having safely crossed the road, our little friend disappears up the bank and into the undergrowth. What an exciting sighting!

European White Stork, a seasonal migrant

The dark line you see just before the horizon is thousands upon thousands of zebra and wildebeest making their annual migration through the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Some 3-4 million animals in total are part of this spectacle.

Lions

Also watching this amazing phenomenon is a pride of seven lions, but not for the same reasons as us: they see it as a line-up of prospective lunch choices.

Although this one seems to be watching us.

Wildebeest

We soon find ourselves in the midst of the hoofed melee, surrounded by wildebeest on all sides.

There are a few zebra amongst them too, but nowhere near the numbers we saw just a little bit further north in Serengeti.

At this time of the year, the plains of Ndutu are descended on by what is known as the 'Great Migration', and the animals are here to give birth to their babies before continuing on their never-ending quest for greener pastures. It is in the hope of seeing the young animals or even babies being born that we have chosen to come here now; we are therefore a little disappointed to see that there do not appear to be any little ones around, at least not in this herd.

We finally see this one single youngster in amongst all the adults.

He's full of life as he explores his new world.

At just a couple of days old, he doesn't know what to make of this egret.

“I think I'll go back to mum.”

Mum, meanwhile, has a non-fare-paying passenger in the form of a wattled starling.

The fare-dodger is soon evicted, however.

Cheetah

In he distance we see a few cars gathered and go off to investigate.

Initially we can't see what they are all looking at, but then we spot a little head in the long grass.

There is a mum and two young cubs, somewhere in the region of 5-7 months old, and they have a kill that they are feeding on. Their dinner, however, it completely overrun with flies!

Mum tries to move the carcass, but it proves too heavy for her.

Having had enough to eat, they all join together and roll in the grass in an attempt to rid themselves of those pesky flies.

It's getting late and we need to be at the lodge before dark; and as we don't know what we might see on the way to delay us, Malisa wants to get going.

Great White Egrets and Abdim Storks

We are not the only ones heading for home – a great number of egrets and storks fly low on the way to their roosting sites for the night.

Road Block

More and more ungulates are joining the migration this point, with the road being blocked in several places by wildebeest and zebra.

Uh uh. It looks like there may be a road block of a different kind here; I hope we can manage to get through the puddles.

The cars in front of us have made it, so we should be OK. It probably looks worse than it actually is.

We're through!

Great White Egrets
As we cross the narrow strip of land between Lake Masek and Lake Ndutu, we see hundreds and hundreds of egrets fly low over the water as they are coming home to roost. The light is gorgeous with the setting sun giving the whole scene a warm, yellow glow.

It's a spectacular sight, and we stay as long as we can before having to make the journey to the lodge for the night.

Ndutu Lodge

This is the third time we have stayed here at Ndutu Lodge, and as yet we've never arrived early enough to be able to have the time to sit around the camp fire before dinner.

Today is no different. By the time we have a shower and change, we are the last to arrive in the restaurant. The food here has always been excellent, but as they are under new management, we are a little concerned that this may have changed. We needn't have worried, it every bit as good as it always was.

Another good thing about Ndutu Lodge which hasn't changed, is that they serve Savanna Cider.

Mini tomato tart

Chicken curry with coconut and banana, mango chutney, rice and poppadum; with vegetables on the side

Chocolate mousse

Thank you so much to Calabash Adventures for arranging this trip.

Breakfast Picnic

We are unable to get into the actual picnic site as the ground is too sodden and muddy, so we set up our table and chairs on the side of the road instead. We are the only people here, so it doesn't really matter.

New for this year, are the posh chairs, with little foldable tables attached, complete with cup holder.

Another great breakfast provided by Matawi Serengeti Camp

What a great idea to have a shape cut out to include the cup handle.

We may be the only humans here, but a couple of lions have walked right through the site this morning.

On the other side of our table are fresh hyena prints. We are definitely out in the wild here.

Butterflies

We have seen more butterflies on this trip than any other safari in the past, with some places featuring literally hundreds of them. They are very difficult to photograph as they rarely hang around for very long, although I managed to catch this one as it landed for a few seconds.

Tiger Butterfly

Swallows

Swallows dart around, pausing briefly to pick up crumbs left on the ground.

Lesser Striped Swallow

White Rumped Swift

In the distance we see a car being helped out of the mud by several other drivers.

Martial Eagle

This huge eagle is easily recognisable by its relatively short tail. Such a powerful bird, it has been known to just fly down and pick up baby antelopes. Farmers fear it as it will attack livestock, which in turn makes it one of the most persecuted eagle in Africa. It is classed as 'vulnerable', heading towards extinction as a result.

Here you can better see the short tail without the confusion of the branch behind

Marabou Stork

These really are such ugly birds.

Nile Crocodile

Hippos

Dwarf Mongoose

Lilac Breasted Roller

He's found a bug

He briefly lands on the road

Then takes off again

The roads are still very muddy

Sausage Tree

Named for the huge sausage-like fruits hanging down, which in fact are poisonous when raw. They can, however, be dried, roasted or fermented to make an alcoholic beverage.

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

Lobo

Malisa suggests we head north towards Lobo, partly to get away from all the crowds in Seronera, and also in the hope of seeing some elephants. I have been very surprised at the lack of pachyderms on this trip.

We need to get out of this mess

Another flooded river crossing

Cape Buffalo

The first thing we see is a large herd of buffalo; although all we can really see is the top of their backs sticking up over the long grass.

Olive Baboons

A large troupe of baboons walk past our car on the road.

Little Bee Eater

Pin Tailed Whydah

Fan Tailed Widowbird

Orangi River crossing

Apparently this was full and overflowing yesterday. It's amazing how quickly it dries out in this heat.

Red Billed Hornbill

Lilac Breasted Roller

Topi

The landscape is very different up here.

Impala

Grant's Gazelles

Eastern Chanting Goshawk

Turtle

Malisa spots the tiniest little turtle, his shell not much bigger than my thumbnail, trying to climb the mountainous (to him) tyre track in the road. We stop and make sure he gets out of the way before we carry on. He's heading for a small pond at the side of the road.

As soon as we stop, we get eaten alive by the &*%@# tsetse flies!

White Headed Vulture

The rare and endangered White Headed Vulture beaming down on us.

It seems the only animals around here are the tsetse flies. We take a joint decision to return to Central Serengeti

Another turtle

Topi

Klipspringer

Yet another Lilac Breasted Roller

Pallid Flycatcher

Little Bee Eater

More Klipspringers

He's not happy with us!

Another turtle – the water here is incredibly clear!

We meet a ranger who tells us there elephants the other side of the kopje. We check it out, but they are so far away that I don't even bother to try and take a photograph. Instead we stop for our lunch picnic. More in the next blog entry.

Thank you Calabash Adventures for organising this safari.

Despite the long journey, I was way too wired to sleep last night: I only managed one hour and 20 minutes in total and am really hanging this morning. Malisa didn't get much sleep either apparently, as sharing out the presents we brought for his family created a Christmas Day atmosphere.

It is still raining when we leave the hotel this morning, and I am amused to see a number of motorcycles with large umbrella attachments. This is not something I have seen before, but my attempt at photographing them through a wet windscreen is rather unsuccessful.

Arusha National Park

Another change of plan this morning – as a result of recent heavy rains, large parts of Lake Manyara National Park is under water. The lake itself has swelled so much that some lodges – including Maramboi, which we have stayed at three times previously – are closed due to flooding. Tillya therefore suggested we go to Arusha National Park instead. Another reason for doing so is that the flamingos are largely still there, rather than having migrated to Lake Natron, where we were hoping to see them tomorrow.

It is still raining as we enter the park, but that does not deter the animals, of course.

Common Waterbuck

Cape Buffalo at an area known as Little Serengeti

A somewhat damp Olive Baboon

One of the rarer species, which is not found in the other larger northern parks, is the Black and White Colobus Monkey

Giraffe

I can't believe how small the Dik Dik looks next to the giraffe.

The tiniest little Olive Baboon baby - probably no more than two hours old, still struggling to walk

Warthogs

A sounder of warthogs are startled by our approach, and make a run for it.

Others join in, not realising why they are running. Warthogs are known for their stupidity and the way they blindly follow their leaders. These two, however, appear to be unsure about which way to run initially.

They soon realise the errors of their ways

They reach the road and cross right behind us, much to our delight.

They might be ugly creatures, but they have such elegant legs!

A little one gets left behind and makes a mad dash for it.

This surely has to be one of the highlights of today: a warthog mother in her den with a two-week old baby suckling.

Hadada Ibis

I find it interesting how certain birds and animals are more prevalent at certain times of year - we've only had a couple of brief sightings of this bird on our previous six safaris in Tanzania, whereas here there are a number of them!

Augur Buzzard

Trying to balance on a thorny bush, he has a bit of a flap on.

They are seriously impressive birds when they spread their wings.

It is interesting how different cameras and lenses render colours differently. The previous images were taken with a Canon 1DXII with a Canon 100-400mm and a 1.4 extender; whereas the one below was a Canon 7DII with a Canon 600mm f/4. Both shot with a Cloudy White Balance, yet the green colour is very different.

A six-week old baby giraffe - look at those ears!

We stop for ages in this one place, as it seems to be all happening around us: birds aplenty, mongooses, giraffes, buffalo, warthogs.

I always find it amazing how giraffes can eat around the thorns on the acacia trees

Ashy Starling on a giraffe

Banded Mongoose

The Cape Buffalo attracts the flies and the flies attract the Red Billed Oxpecker

Common Fiscal Shrike

Masked Weaver

Hammerkop

Red Billed Oxpeckers

Common Waterbuck

While photographing the backside of this antelope to demonstrate the difference between a Common Waterbuck (with the toilet seat shaped white marking on its rear), and the Defassa Waterbuck with its more solid markings (see inset), we notice that he is struggling to walk.

On closer inspection, it seems he has a nasty flesh wound on his upper thigh, probably caused by a hyena. It is causing him a great deal of distress, and he appears very weak and painfully thin. Not long for this world I fear.

We move on to “see what else nature has to offer us”.

Hippo in Big Momella Lake

Pale Flycatcher

African Scops Owl

Without warning, Malisa grinds the car to an abrupt halt and reverses back. What has he seen? There, skilfully camouflaged in a tree, is an owl. An African Scops Owl – one of the handful of birds / animals on my wish list this year. Good job Malisa!

He is well hidden, but we leave the vehicle and explore on foot to try and get a good viewpoint. Thankfully there are no big cats here in Arusha National Park, so it is reasonably safe to do so.

He changes position, we follow.

Owls looks seriously weird when they blink!

Eventually he flies off to another tree, and we move on.

Common Sandpiper

Juvenile Augur Buzzard

He is such a noisy bugger, squawking loudly

African Pied Wagtail

Big Momella Lake

As I said at the beginning of this blog entry, today's visit to Arusha National park is totally unscheduled, with a plan to see the flamingos. And see them we do!

Lesser Flamingos are much smaller but brighter in colour than the Greater Flamingos.

And thus ends the first morning in the bush. Thank you once again to Calabash Adventures for arranging our latest safari.