Naboisho2

Saturday

Rather than a morning game drive, we went for a 3 mile walk across the savanna accompanied by our guide and an armed ranger — in case an animal decides to charge us. It was great to stretch our legs and see the landscape from a different perspective.  We learned a great deal about the social dynamics of the different antelope species.  For example, did you know that the stripes on a zebra not only confuse predators but also confuse biting insects and create local cooling wind patterns that enable the zebras to eat all afternoon rather than hiding in the shade as other species do?  We also learned about different aspects of the circle of life — how different creatures depend on other creatures for food and homes.

On our afternoon game drive, we got to observe how a brief heavy rain shower affects the behavior of the antelope herds. While the elephants are happy for the rain, the other species get jittery, probably not because of the rain itself but because the sky gets so dark that they revert to “sundown behaviors”.  After the rain stopped we observed two young lions and a lioness sunbathing to dry out, and two jackals snacking on fallen dates.  Near the lions we spotted a couple of elephants.  As we drew closer to observe them, the two turned out to be members of a parade of sixteen elephants of all sizes from babies to an enormous male. We radio’ed that opportunity to the other guides, who, in exchange, told us about a pride of ten lions.  We decided to curtail our elephant viewing and headed for the lions.  The pride consisted mostly of young lions playing in a field.  It was amusing to watch them wrestle, box, and running tackle one another in the late afternoon sun.  No matter what species we saw, the young always enjoyed playing with brothers, sisters, and cousins.  

We again stood on the savannah sipping white wine while the sun set (have we mentioned that this close to the equator the time of sunrise and sunset are constant within 15 minutes all year?) and then embarked on a night drive. What a night drive. In two hours (we ate dinner very late; the people at the lodge were very nice about letting us do that) we saw seven hippos out of the water heading onto the savanna to graze, five elephants heading into the water to bathe and drink, two bush babies jumping about in the trees, twelve scrub hares, six spring hares, three jackals, two bat-eared foxes and a genet (today’s viewing of the genet was outstanding). And hyenas! Four were hunting, and then we saw eleven at their den, including small puppies who were very interested in smelling our vehicle’s tires. 

The photos today include a new subspecies of Plains Zebra, called “flame-tailed zebra”, only visible at dawn, and a young male lion.