UNIQUE SAFARIS. BUSH REPORT April 4, Serengeti National Park and Loliondo Game Controlled Area

Transcription

1 UNIQUE SAFARIS BUSH REPORT April 4, 2008 Serengeti National Park and Loliondo Game Controlled Area We have been very busy in the month of March and amazing encounters have continued to impress clients with the beauty that is the bush. The beginning of the month started out dry, with herds concentrating in areas of the Serengeti where the rain clouds appeared. One day Naabi Hill would be filled with herds and the next day they would be all the way in Kusini. So, keeping up has been an art form and this is one of the reasons why unrestricted mileage is an important factor for Unique Safaris. Short rains began again nicely and we have now experienced heavier rain at the end of the month and the beginning of April. March has been a month filled with life and death. Young animals of all species and successful hunts and kills were recorded in large numbers. One client commented, Thank you for giving us the best father-daughter trip of a lifetime. Another client commented I recorded 25 different species of mammals in the first hour after I arrived in the Serengeti! The photo above was taken in the Loliondo Game Controlled area near Buffalo Camp. They are a coalition of four male cheetahs. The social structure of cheetah is quite fascinating and while we tend to think of only mothers and young cubs remaining in social groups, research has demonstrated that there is great variation in cheetah group size. Cheetahs of the Serengeti Plains by T. M. Caro is an excellent source for a greater understanding of cheetah social structure. Clients are enjoying the ability to travel off-road completely unrestricted to explore and find sights such as this, unperturbed by other vehicles and in close proximity for good photos but confidence of the animals. The cheetahs in this photo are not looking at us, but they are on alert for any lions or Maasai that might be approaching as they eat their kill. The minute they saw the red shuka of nearby Maasai walking in the Loliondo Game Controlled Area, they abandoned their kill and ran off. The Great Migration lived up the spectacle that people hope for. The herds moved constantly due to the unpredictable rain so driver guides had to think where to go to find them at times. There were many times in March when the herds where in the Kusini area. One young child said, There

2 are so many and the ground looks so dark, it reminds me of watching ants. This family was so mesmerized by the sight of the herds, hundreds of thousands of wildebeest with calves, that they chose to spend 4 hours parked watching the movement and activities. Even the children were content, knowing they were seeing something very special in nature. Another family witnessed a long line of wildebeest moving towards Hidden Valley and yet another could not believe the numbers of wildebeest in Ndutu area. He felt as if he were in the middle of a huge traffic jam in Chicago as they slowly drove through hundreds of thousands of wildebeest on the move. The huge herds were seen in Kusini, Naabi Hill, Ndutu, the Gol Kopjes, Hidden Valley and large zebra herds were also seen in the Moru Kopjes in the month of March. Lions, lions, lions galore. One family had the dubious pleasure of having a large male lion come to their vehicle, somehow thinking this was part of his territory, and marked the vehicle in three locations with scent! Another client started out with great fear when they approached lions. In fact, she was so convinced that the lions would jump inside the vehicle that she would drop to the floor. It is always wonderful to see people gain confidence and understanding of the wildlife and she quickly became enamored of all the predators they encountered and the ability to witness their behavior close up. On a game drive to Hidden Valley in the Serengeti, one group felt they saw lions every kilometer! Hidden Valley was a wonderful place to visit in March. Not only lions, but also large numbers of wildebeest and zebra were seen, along with mating lions and many kill sites. One driver, who had a family with young children, remarked to them, this is a day full of sympathy because we are seeing many lost babies (separated from mothers) and wildebeest carcasses, but this is part of the normal struggle for survival. On this day, hyena was seen everywhere walking through the herds scavenging for food and lost babies too. Although lions sleep often 20 out of 24 hours of the day, they are nevertheless always interesting to observe and often surprise us in their behaviors. While a vehicle was watching a small group of lionesses and cubs feeding on their wildebeest kill, a huge male appeared from the other side of the kopje. This male obviously was a part of the pride that was eating and obviously had already had his fill of food. He disappeared into the grass to lie down and rest. However, when the vultures began to land nearby the kill, he ran back to the kill site to defend the kill from the vultures. The male then took the remaining carcass right past the vehicle with all the cubs following him into the brush. Lions were also observed resting in the lower branches of yellow bark acacia trees in the Seronera Valley. Some lions in the central Serengeti do prefer to climb trees to increase their visibility in the tall grass (thermada triandra for those botanical buffs out there) and escaping from the wet ground after a rain. One group had a tremendous day of lions in the Gol Kopjes, managing to see three different and very large prides. One pride was near the Barafu Kopjes and had 15 individuals. There was a second pride of 10 lions in the Sematu Valley and the last pride was 20 individuals including 12 cubs! Forty-five lions in one outing were amazing. Another large pride of lions, numbering 18 individuals, was seen in the Moru Kopjes in March. As many of you might be aware, there are areas of the Serengeti which have previously been open for game drives and in some cases unrestricted game driving. Yet many of these areas have been redefined by the new Serengeti Management Plan, a 150-page document created in 2006 as a long-range plan for this vast eco-system. When there are periods of heavy rain or extreme

3 drought, certain areas are closed to protect the environment. You will find that some areas you would like to see might not be accessible and other areas might be open by special permit that we apply for. Unique Safaris constantly monitors these rules and we always will seek to drive in the more remote areas and away from other vehicles to the greatest extent possible. Near Lake Masek in the Ndutu area, a small pride of lionesses was seen with two wildebeest. One had been hunted and killed and the other had died when she became stuck in the mud of the salt lake. Approximately 75% of mortality is a result of natural causes as opposed to successful hunting, but predators of all kinds benefit from natural death as well. The lioness was unable to pull the wildebeest out of the mud by herself and the more powerful male had apparently had his fill from the other carcass and moved to the nearby bush to rest rather than to help pull out the other dead wildebeest. Two lionesses worked together to remove the wildebeest and bring it back for eating. Shortly after a huge mother hippo appeared nearby with a young cub, wanting to join hippos on the other side of the lake. As she approached the lions, they moved the kill inside the nearby brush. Another unusual experience occurred when clients were watching two lionesses on a rock, posing nicely for photographs. Suddenly these lions became restless and agitated. The driver guide looked around to see if he could see what they saw; but they shortly discovered that the lions were being swarmed by bees. The lions moved off the rocks but kept biting at the bees. Leopards were spotted on almost all safaris in the month of March. One family saw four leopards in one afternoon (yes, all different leopards). One had a reedbuck kill in the top of an acacia tree. Another leopard only 15 meters from the vehicle allowing the client to have a full screen photo, something he had only dreamed of being able to achieve. Another driver guide spotted a leopard on the ground stalking nearby reedbuck. They remained to observe this hunt for 45 minutes, but the leopard was not successful and climbed a nearby tree instead. Cheetahs were spotted in the Gol Kopjes and following the movement of the herds all over the southeastern plains and Seronera Valley. Young cheetah cubs seemed especially abundant in March. One family spent almost 3 hours watching a mother with two cubs, who were not more than 3 months of age. The cubs were very entertaining, but the mother was looking very hungry, so the group stayed to watch her stalk nearby Thomson Gazelle unsuccessfully three times. The driver guide could sense the hunger and need for food, so he encouraged the family to be patient as there were many animals to select from. Patience paid off and this mother finally pursued a baby wildebeest and had a successful hunt. The hunt was not easy for this cheetah because the wildebeest calf was very fast. Even the cubs were as patient as our tourists and they did not interfere in the hunt. They stayed hidden in the long grass to give their mother a better chance for success. The mother caught the calf and then called for her cubs to join her to share the meal. At this very young age, the mother still needs to show the cubs not only how to hunt, but also how to begin eating and she started their feast by opening the soft under parts of the wildebeest first. Cheetahs spend most their day resting. They hunt by sight and they seem to have preferred hunting times since the majority of hunting has been documented to occur between 7:00-10:00 AM and 4:00-7:00 PM. Cheetahs have five main hunting methods, as reported by the famous researcher, Richard Estes. But in the open Serengeti Plains, you will mostly see cheetah using one of two particular hunting behaviors. The first is stalking their prey, walking semi-crouched, freezing in mid-stride or dropping to the ground in a crouch if the prey looks up, interspersing these behaviors with trotting or sitting immobile until the cheetah is close enough to spring an attack. In

4 general, in this approach, cheetahs need to be able to get not further than 600 meters from their prey to be successful in their run. Cheetahs will also flush smaller concealed prey such as cape hares or neononate gazelles and pursue them in a much shorter run. Independent cheetah are successful in only 54% of their runs made at older gazelles, but are more than 98% successful when hunting smaller fawns and hares by flushing them out on short runs. Cheetahs are also notoriously weak in defending their kills from hyena or lions and in fact will give almost no defense. According to the research of the famous George Schaller, cheetah lost up to 13% of their kills to larger predators in the Serengeti. They almost never lose their kill to jackals or vultures, unless the numbers of scavengers are very significant. Cheetahs do live in coalitions and are more often successful in hunting when they are not independent. Another good cheetah sighting was a mother with 4 cubs about 6 months of age, all watching the clients intently as they finished eating a wildebeest calf. Gestation for cheetah is days and while up to 8 cubs can be born in one litter, it is unusual to even find 6 cubs that emerge from the den. Cubs will remain in a den for approximately 8 weeks and mothers will move cubs to new lairs, never using the same lair for all 8 weeks. Cubs have adult teeth by 8 months of age and will nurse up to about 4 months of age. Cubs will accompany mothers on the hunts beginning at 8 weeks and mothers introduce them to solid food at this time. Cheetah cubs are very playful and entertaining during the first 6 months. From 6 months onward, their play evolves more into practicing basic hunting skills, but they usually are not adept at hunting until months of age when they leave their mothers. Littermates will often remain together after leaving their mothers. Much of the research on cheetah was done by George Schaller, Richard Estes and T. M. Caro, but the Cheetah Watch Project is a current and invaluable source for cheetah behavior and genealogy for the Serengeti individuals. ( Where there are herds and kills, there are always plenty of hyena and other scavengers. One group saw a two lions beside two dead wildebeest in the late morning, starting to feed on one. Later that day, when they passed this same site, they saw no lions, no hyena, no vultures, but they saw only the empty rib cage of each wildebeest. Some of our driver guides are Maasai and they always enjoy taking clients to the famous Gong Rock in the Serengeti. This large rock has indented pockets that when hit by rocks produces different sounds. Our guides visit the rock and tell people about the history of the Maasai tribe (only one of 132 distinct tribes in Tanzania). This gong rock was used by the Maasai for celebrating after a successful cattle raid on the nearby Sukoma tribe by Lake Victoria. Many groups reported good sightings of serval cats, with one group patiently following a cat during a successful hunt. Serval cats hunt field mice, cape hares, other small rodents, but also hunt birds, jumping by surprise into the air to snatch their prey. One sighting was of an unusually un-shy serval cat and he tolerated the vehicle and camera for 45 minutes as they vehicle followed the cat which seemed intent on hunting. Serval cats prefer the long grass for hunting, but as he passed into a small open area, all of the cameras were busy, busy! We had one sighting of the very difficult to see caracal the animal of our logo. The caracal was only briefly in an open area and the cameras were very busy until it disappeared again into tall grass. Large groups of elephants were seen in the Maasai Kopjes. A breeding herd of 25 individuals passed right by the vehicle, which is always a breathtaking experience.

5 We tend to overlook mentioning the other wildlife that is observed, so it is not to minimize their beauty or contributions to maintaining a healthy Eco-system. Bat-eared fox, mongoose, topi, eland, hartebeest, impala, Grants gazelle, jackals, Cape buffalo, giraffe, warthog, monkeys, hippo, crocodile, hundreds of species of birds, almost all species of vultures, even aardvark was observed for the second time this season. Upon driving out of the Serengeti and on the way to Oldupai Gorge, there were two male lions, one of them a very dark-maned male, sitting near the road and to the clients they felt they were truly saying goodbye to the Serengeti. Most clients who experience the private mobile camp report that this was a highlight, not only from the perspective of food and service, but the intimate experiences in the bush that cannot be felt any other way. One family commented that while their days were filled with incredible animals, their nights were also filled with the sounds of wildebeest, zebra, lions, hyena, frogs, crickets and birds and they went to sleep hearing and dreaming of the spectacle of the Serengeti. Another group was welcomed into their mobile camp by a herd of giraffe browsing on the acacia trees by their tents. Could you think of a more beautiful welcome? This same group was visited by five lions in the middle of the night, looking for water in the wash basins. Animals visiting the mobile camps are not a threat, but are a treasure to experience. These predators are not interested in what is inside the tents, but only in the game that might be nearby for hunting. The last night in the private mobile camp is an African feast. Our cook prepares a traditional meal in front of the clients and it is served under the stars and enjoyed with your driver guides. One group, having a hard time leaving the Serengeti, asked for a breakfast under the sky as their way to enjoy their last moment in the Serengeti. They began to notice small black particles that were settling on their plates and the staff knew immediately that Ol Donyo Lengai, an active volcano near Ngorongoro Crater, was erupting again. Lengai is a holy site for the Maasai and the volcano has been erupting and sending ash into the sky for the past 8 months. This is not a massive eruption, but it has been smoking for quite awhile now. Some clients have even been able to fly close to the mountain when they take the flight into or out of the Serengeti. Ngorongoro Crater The Crater also offered some wonderful sights in the month of March.

6 Clients will stop at the famous Oldupai Gorge on their way into or out of the Serengeti. The area around the Gorge usually does not disappoint for wildlife as well. One family saw a huge group of 45 giraffe as they approached the river by the Gorge. Just an amazing site. Giraffe are not found on the Crater floor. There is not enough vegetation for them and the do not migrate down into the Crater because of the increased blood pressure that would result from walking down the steep descent and the need to carry their heads lower, increasing pressure dangerously. However, giraffe are abundant in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, especially in the area between Oldupai Gorge and the Serengeti National Park. Giraffe prefer to eat the leaves of acacia trees and can feed on enormous amounts of vegetation. However, nature has a way of protecting itself and the acacia trees actually emit a bitter taste to the leaves and release a pheromone that signals nearby acacia trees to do the same. This is nature s way of forcing the giraffe to seek new trees in other locations. Only bull elephants are found on the Crater floor. The larger cow-calf herds do not have enough vegetation to sustain them on the Crater floor, but they are abundant in the forests along the rim of the Crater. One lucky group saw a herd of 60 females and calves crossing the road by Crater Serena. The early morning light was gorgeous, the elephants abundant and they could also see smoke rising high in the sky from Ol Donyo Lengai. I would love to see their images! If anyone who has been on safari has some images that you would like to share in the monthly bush reports, please send them to me and I would be happy to display them in the report. The Crater was quite wet in March, making it muddy and rough going to some areas of the Crater floor. However, it also made for a green, lush environment. Down on the Crater floor, March served up some amazing experiences. Serval cats are often difficult to find, but one driver guide observed a serval cat eating their fresh kill of a young Kori bustard! Rhinos were seen with quite a bit of frequency. One group saw 5 rhinos in one day, with two of them right by the vehicle. Another was fortunate to see a mother with her young calf, only 3-4 months old. And yet one other group was able to get very close to a rhino that was sleeping by the small hippo pool on the Crater floor. The flamingos on the soda lake were prolific in March. One photographer was enjoying taking pictures of the birds and the surrounding scenery when he noticed 5 golden jackals stalking the big flock. One jackal suddenly jumped up high into the flock and brought down one flamingo. The fight was not over, as he then had to defend his kill from the other jackals and he seemed content on not sharing his kill with anyone. The excitement to have caught this on film was very great. A large pride of lions, 14 individuals, had just killed a male eland, which is a very large kill. Eland are the largest antelope in Africa and in all areas other than the Crater, they are extremely shy. The eland on the Crater floor are habituated to vehicles and not afraid of being hunted. Eland is a favorite meat for lions, but the kills are harder to achieve due to the size, speed and their ability to jump 10 meters in the air. The pride each fed on the eland according to their rank, with the male starting, followed by females by rank and then the cubs. There were hyena, jackals and vultures surrounding the kill site, but no one would be able to approach or scavenge until this large pride was completely finished and would begin to leave the kill.

7 On another occasion, a pride of 13 individual lions was seen just leaving after finishing their feeding on a buffalo kill. It is always a spectacle to see the hyena and vultures immediately swarm to the leftovers and finish the kill. Another interesting observation was a fight, but not between predators, but rather between two Egyptian geese. This was quite a serious fight, obviously between two males and it became a fight to the death, unfortunately this was the first time the driver guide had seen such a battle. For those of you who have been to the Crater, you are aware of the infamous kites that swarm to the designated picnic sites to be able to steal the food from your lunch boxes or hands. For those of you who are planning to come soon, we send our warning again, to not feed the birds or allow them to steal your food. While it can be entertaining, it can also be dangerous if you are cut by their talons or beaks and develop an infection. We often have people eat inside the vehicles at the Crater picnic locations to avoid these encounters. If you visit the sites at a time other than lunch, there are no kites there at all! Another hazard is the Vervet monkeys, who equally enjoy terrorizing tourists at lunchtime. The monkeys have a healthy respect for the driver guides and usually won t threaten to steal food when the guides are close by. On one occasion, while the driver guide went to use the toilet, he heard his clients yelling for him and he knew what must be happening. A Vervet monkey had jumped into the vehicle and was searching frantically for food. As soon as the driver guide approached and threatened him, he jumped out of the vehicle with only one banana. There are more and more cheetahs down on the Crater floor, but they have a difficult time hunting and keeping their kills from the numerous lions and hyenas. Cheetah will often hunt early morning to avoid detection, but they feed with more apprehension than even usually seen in the Serengeti. Upon early arrival on the Crater floor, clients saw a mother with three very young cubs, trying to hunt. They watched her attempt to chase a gazelle on three occasions unsuccessfully. In this case, the cubs were making the hunt very difficult as the played in the open and chased after their mother. The cubs were likely only 2 months old and probably joining the hunt for their first few times. Leopards are also found in the Crater, but are very difficult to spot. While driving through the Lerai forest, not far from the Fig Tree lunch site, the driver guide heard the alerts from the Vervet monkeys. Knowing that this often signals a nearby predator, he searched the trees and found a male leopard on the branch of a yellow barked acacia tree. As more vehicles drove up, the leopard was unsettled by the noise and jumped off the branch and hid in the surrounding grass. The colors of the leopard contrasted in this particularly beautiful tree make for some wonderful photographs.

8 Lake Manyara National Park Lake Manyara always is an interesting park, in part because of its totally different habitat with underground springs and temperate rain forest at the entrance. The park is always spectacular for birds and is still one of the best places to see hippos close up, along with good elephants and giraffe. The park is famous also for tree-climbing lions, but lions can be seen in trees in many other parks on the northern circuit as well. Clients are often greeted by very large troops of baboon and monkeys who inhabit the forest area. Hippos were seen outside of the lake on numerous occasions and playing on the shore. There has also been very large numbers of flamingos on Lake Manyara There was a pride of 5 lions in the trees at the area called Maji Moto Ndogo so this was exciting for clients to actually see the famous tree-climbing lions of Lake Manyara. However, it was embarrassing to the driver guide that a ranger vehicle shortly appeared, with some people in the rear of their pick up. One of these people had on the red shuka of the Maasai and the large male immediately started growling and then all 5 lions climbed down from the tree and ran into the brush to hide. While Maasai are not supposed to hunt lions, they still do have contact with lions in the bush and lions do react to the color of the shuka and run away. Many of our clients enjoy visiting the nearby village of Mto wa Mbu. This village is famous for the variety of bananas that are grown here, along with a particular kind of rice that is very popular in Tanzania. The village is also interesting because there are over 80 distinct tribes that are represented here and it is a good time for our driver guides to explain the unique tribal diversity of Tanzania and how this country has been able to treat tribes equitable and avoid ethnic violence. Some of our clients also participate in a village hike, through the countryside and to a banana plantation, to better appreciate the day to day life of villagers in this area.

9 Tarangire March can be a difficult month in Tarangire due to the increased rain and the height of the tall grasses. However, the park is outstanding for birding and the resident elephant population never fails to impress people. If you are a birder, or an elephant enthusiast, you should not miss this park. One lucky group of clients saw cheetah in Tarangire in March. This is an unusual time of the year to see cheetah since the majority of the herd animals that they prey upon are outside of the park in the rainy season. They saw three cheetahs together trying to hunt unsuccessfully at this time and looking very hungry indeed. The elephants were fantastic and our photography groups could barely put their cameras down. The Tarangire River was full and elephants were daily in the river swimming and playing. We also passed to the famous Silali Swamp, but the swamp is very wet and remained excellent for birding, but not for mammals. Birds and Wildflowers!

10 For those of you who also enjoy botany, one of our driver guides recorded some of the more beautiful wildflowers in bloom now: Glorisa suberba, Aspilia mossambicensis, Emilia coccinea, Pink ink flowers, White ink flowers, Pavonia and Ipomea jaegeri. Here is a partial listing of some of the species sighted in March. One of our dedicated birding trips recorded 432 species. Another couple on a shorter private trip recorded 336 species. These are in no particular order, but full species lists are available if you would like to request this. African jacana, Hartlaubs turaco, mountain buzzard (all in Arusha NP), Ross s turaco, purple crested turaco, D Arnaud s barbet, Usambara barbet, red and yellow barbet, long-crested eagle, crowned eagle, lammergeyer vulture, Fischer s sparrow lark, rattling cistocla, hammerkop, Goliath heron, Madagascar heron, African fish eagle successfully fishing, lappet lark, Nubian woodpecker, pintailed whydah bird in full breeding display, cliff chat, white browed scrub robin, rosy-breasted longclaw, yellow wagtail, bearded woodpecker, cardinal woodpecker, green backed woodpecker, African hoopoe, green wood hoopoe, Narina s trogan and many, many more! Stay tuned for the next BUSH REPORT from UNIQUE SAFARIS.