Safaris are all about the animals. Seeing these animals in the wild is a real
thrill. Today's post will focus on them,
but first a word about the “Big Five.”
Whenever you see marketing material about safaris, you
are almost guaranteed to hear about the Big Five. They are the Lion, Cheetah, Elephant, Cape
Buffalo and Rhino. We did see all of
them, but I have to ask, what is so special about these? There are a lot more animals than these, and
some of them are pretty interesting. I
found the most striking animal to be the giraffe. Not in the Big Five. Hippos were far more interesting than I
expected. Not in the Big Five. Ostriches?
Nope. Zebras? Nope. Wildebeest, Crocodiles, or any of the
colorful birds? No, no and no.
So what is the Big Five? According to Wikipedia (so it must be right)
it a list made years ago by big game hunters of the hardest animals to hunt on
foot. Really? This industry is still being driven by
that? Go figure.
Enough with the rant.
Onto the pictures and commentary.
Here is my list of animals, roughly in order of how interesting I found
them.
First up, my favorite, the giraffe. I think the reason I like them is because they
are nothing like anything I encountered growing up in North America. There is really nothing in the world I know
of that looks like a giraffe. Its scale
and proportions are unique. But even its
motion is very different. Its majestic.
After giraffes comes the Elephants. They are obviously huge. It’s amazing to see a herd of them just
walking along. You can really see them
communicating with each other, especially mothers and children, mostly by using
their trunks and sense of touch
Rhinoceros. These
are among the most endangered species on earth.
People value their horns, and attribute mystical powers to them. Seeing them in the wild was a special treat
Hippopotamus. I
did not expect to be taken by hippos, but they were fascinating. We were brought
to a spot where there were about 25 of them in a slow moving section of a
river. Each one was about 3 tons, so
they are massive. They were loud and
rowdy. And again, they are nothing like
wildlife you encounter in America.
Wildebeest score high on my list, less because of how
interesting they are individually, and more because of their herd behavior. Seeing the “Great Migration” was my number 1
goal on this trip, and it was a great spectacle. The wildebeest gather by the hundreds or
thousands on one side of the river. It’s
clear they are all afraid to make the crossing, but they all desperately want
to. Finally one will jump in, or more
likely, is pushed, and starts the crossing, and then the rest start
following. The crossing is chaotic with
jumping, splashing, strong currents, possible predators lurking. They emerge on the other side and suddenly
the wildebeest are calm and orderly. They
form a line and continue on their journey.
Next up are the cats:
Lions and Cheetahs. As much as I
like some of animals because they are so different, the cats are on the list
because they are so familiar. Cats are
cats, even when they weigh a thousand pounds.
I did find it surprising how indifferent they are to safari trucks and
the people in them. At one point, we saw
a male lion, and he passed within a foot of our truck as I stood taking his
picture, completely unprotected. Had he
jumped onto our vehicle, there would have been nothing I could do to stop
him. He passed, uninterested.
While you are on a safari, if there is one visual that
dominates, it is Zebras. They are ubiquitous
and their black and white stripes are striking.
I think we saw more of them than any other animals.
To me, Warthogs look a little like mini rhinos. We saw many of them, and even baby wart hogs.
Given the size of Ostrich, I don’t even think of
them as birds. They are huge and exhibit
all kinds of unusual behaviors. We saw
them roll around in the dirt to clean themselves. We saw mating rituals. Even their gate is fun to watch. One of the most common things I see for sale
in Africa is decorated Ostrich eggs, but truthfully, I see so many, I am not
sure how many are real, and how many are plastic.
We saw many other birds, which actually makes me feel bad
sometimes. I know many people are “birders,”
including some of my friends. They keep
life lists of species spotted. Carole and I have been to some of the worlds greatest locations for birders - the Galapagos, the Amazon Rain Forest, Africa, etc. While it
is fun to see these sometimes exotic animals, I just can’t get into the keeping
track of them. So here are some of the
many birds we saw.
Cape buffalo are part of the Big Five, so I was
expecting them to be more interesting.
But they are basically very similar to bulls. There are lots of them and they stay in herds,
but after a while, they are only so-so
I mentioned the cats already and now comes the dogs: Hyena and Jackals. For the most part, these animals are nocturnal. We were lucky to see them.
There were many deer like animals – I am sure they all
have interesting features and names, but most of them are just a blur to me.
I always like seeing Crocodile. They look so prehistoric. But they were the biggest disappointment of
the trip. I really wanted to see one
take down a wildebeest during the river crossing, but it was not to be. Pity.
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| There is both a 12 foot long croc and a cheetah in this picture |
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| Hippos in the river, crocs on the shore. |
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