Animals

Spot the animal

First of all, I would like to explain that the nature reserves/ parks in Africa are huge (some are bigger than Singapore). Animals are also camouflaged. It does not help that lions like long grass and leopards hide in trees. It is therefore, quite a task, to spot some of these animals.

Let's use this as an example - try spot the animal in this picture:

Picture taken from vehicle, without zoom

Try again:

Here it is:

No idea what it is? It is a leopard:

Leopard, Serengeti

Let's try another one - spot the animal:

Here it is, right in front of my 4x4, staring at me:

Baby lion, Serengeti

A guide's work in this part of the world is not easy; much worse for a guide/driver who needs to drive and spot animals from the driver's seat (obviously not as ideal as compared to standing up and seeing afar).

This is a totally irresponsible entry on the animals that my guides worked hard for. (Irresponsible on my part because I had not verified what I have learnt against books. They probably told me 9,999 facts but I could only remember 1%.)

Big 5

The 'Big 5' of a safari are leopard, lion, elephant, rhinoceros and buffalo. Funnily enough, it is a term coined by hunters (and not safari operators), and refers to the difficulty in bagging these large animals, mostly due to their ferocity when cornered and shot at. The value of these animals for its skin/ horns/ tusks also counts.

Big 5

So, let's start with the Big 5. [I am writing down the Swahili names so that I will remember. Same thing withe the collective nouns. Njunge tested me on the collective nouns and everything was 'herd' for me and of course I failed miserably. Apologies to my primary school teachers!]

Leopard (Swahili: Chui) [Collective noun: Leap]

A large spotted cat with short powerful limbs and retractable nails (hence it is able to climb trees while a cheetah cannot). Hides its kills in trees to prevent lions and hyenas from taking its food.

The leopard in the earlier photographs disappeared for a while. We heard some movements in the grass and very soon, it climbed up the tree with its kill (sorry for the lousy picture quality as I was busy looking through a binoculars):

Martin spotted this carcass on a tree at West Serengeti. The tree was just beside the road and we sat there for an hour each day for 3 days (after driving 3 hours to and fro each time) and failed to see the leopard come back for the kill.

Leopard's kill hidden in the tree

The 4x4s next to mine, looking at the leopard

The trick to spotting leopards in a safari? Look for the circus (The leopard trumps over most of the other animals, including the lion. All drivers will drop the lion immediately and drive like F1 drivers to the leopards.), the vultures in the trees nearby (which means that they have seen a kill) and the telling tail from a tree (leopards normally live on trees with short, big trunks).

Lion (Swahili: Simba) [Collective noun: Pride]

A very large cat. Tail long with black tassel at tip. Mates over 7 days without food. 

We saw this pair mating under a tree next to the road in Serengeti (the poor things were surrounded by paparazzi too):  

I suggested to Martin (jokingly, of course) that we could lure the lions nearer to our 4x4 with the chicken drumsticks from our lunch box. Martin told me in all seriousness that the lions do not eat when they mate. 

The other interesting lion spotting was also of a pair, possibly after their 'honeymoon', in Masai Mara Reserve. They walked towards our van and set my pulse racing.

The male walked passed our van on the right and crouched.

The female passed us on our left and positioned itself. 

This was why. And they did not even have to communicate. Can you see the lion's muscles, all tensed up? 

I could probably go on and on about the lions we saw. This one is special because is was the last one I saw in any safari AND I spotted it, before anyone else (first time I spotted something of significance):

Lion, Masai Mara

Awwwwww, isn't she cute?

Elephant (Swahili: Ndovu or tembo) [Collective noun: Herd/ memory]

Granny knows best in the elephant family. The matriarch will decide where to go, when to eat and how to react in danger.

We saw a herd of more than 20 elephants in Serengeti:

One of them playfully approached the 4x4 in next to us and gave the passengers a huge scare (they screamed to the guide," Quick! Start the engine!"):

When met with an elephant, stay still. The head will detect your smell and get its herd to move away. Alternatively, find the elephant tree that will neutralise your body odour. In any case, there is no point running – 2 elephant steps is equivalent to 11 human steps. You will be outrun and stomped. Do not attempt to hide in a burrow. The elephant will bury you alive and then stamp you to death.

Elephants at play:

Rhinoceros (Swahili: Kifaru) [Collective noun: Crash]

One of the biggest herbivores. Has 2 medial horns growing from the skin and not attached to the bones. The black rhino has hooked upper lip while the white rhino has a wide square mouth and a massive hump on the neck. 

My pictures of the black rhino are not very good but here is one of the white rhino:

White rhino, Lake Nakuru

Buffalo (Swahili: Nyati/ Mbogo) [Collective noun: Gang/ herd]

Africa's only wild cows. Large herds are fairly relaxed and will probably disperse if you so clap your hands.

Herd in Lake Nakuru

The lone males adapt the 'attack is the best defence', which makes them extremely dangerous. 

Bull in Lake Nakuru

Giraffe (Swahili: Twiga) [Collective noun: Tower]

Tallest mammal in the world. Walks with legs on the same side but gallops as per norm. Males are 1m taller than females and will feed on top of trees while females tend to bend down and feed from smaller trees (thereby lowering competition for food). Both sexes have horns but males have an additional single medial horn on the forehead.

Giraffes, Serengeti

During droughts, 'kindergartens' will be formed to allow some adults to go away in search of food.

Giraffes, wildebeest and gazelles, Masai Mara

3 horny males chasing 1 female, Bollywood style - too funny to not to share (Source: Derek):

Hippopotamus (Swahili: Kiboko) [Collective noun: Bloat/ crash/ herd]

Heaviest land mammal after the elephant. 

Hippos and birds form a symbiotic relationship, Lake Manyara

Hippos are so heavy they can weigh up to 3 tons galloping on the bottom of the river while submerged as lightly as astronauts on the moon for up to 6 minutes. 

Hippo pool, Serengeti

Number 1 killer of humans in Africa after the mosquitoes. Males often covered in scars from territorial battles:

Scars on hippo, Masai Mara

The closest encounter we had with hippos was in a campsite next to Lake Victoria in Kisumu (third largest city of Kenya). 2 hippos wondered into where we camped in the 3am and stopped 2 metres from our tent. They grunted and the dogs went berserk, barking. Lizzie and Lorna, who had their tent window open stared at the hippos staring at them. I could only pray that they would not run through our camp and trample on us. They probably stayed for 5 minutes and we had a great story to tell. 

Zebra (Swahili: Punda milia) [Collective noun: Cohort/ herd]

Unique stripes on each zebra, much like the finger prints on human. Starts the great migration (but do not finish them) because of its good sense of smell (it can smell the rain and will move towards rain).

Zebra crossing, Serengeti

Stuck in the mud, Serengeti

I commented to Martin how the zebras in Serengeti were so much noisier than those in Ngorongoro. Martin went on to explain that Ngorongoro is a crater and the animals do not migrate. In contrast, those in Serengeti do. Zebras live in family units and as it was the start of the migration season, the zebras were calling out to their family.

Wildebeest (Swahili: Nyumbu) [Collective noun: herd]

The wildebeests migrate in a clockwise direction from Tanzania's Serengeti National Park and in Kenya's Masai Mara Reserve (the 2 parks are essentially 1 piece of land called by different names in the 2 countries).

The only animals to finish the migration, which has no beginning nor end. The herds move when any one of it initiates, in search of greener pasture.

Start of the migration in West Serengeti

This is the famous Grumeti River, where the wildebeests will cross to get from Serengeti to Masai Mara, is infested with crocodiles, waiting for their prey:

Grumeti River, West Serengeti

This is where the wildebeest will arrive in Masai Mara (again, infested with crocs):

Mara River, Masai Mara

Some of the others

Cheetah (Swahili: Duma) [Collective noun: Coalition]

Black 'tear streak' below each eye. Plans ahead and stalks its kill as it can only last for 600m (that's 200m more than me) when running at its top speed at 70mph. Anything more and its body temperature will rise, resulting in death (same here!). The only one that I did not see. Sob!