For our last morning at Sand Rivers (Selous) we went on a two-hour bush walk, learning about smaller scale ecology and species. As we were preparing to leave, Kevin strolled around near our cabin… only to find a hippo was wandering there too! At first, the hippo decided to hide behind a bush. In playing hide-and-seek, a hippo is at a great disadvantage — they do not hide well. After deciding it was safe, the hippo headed back to the river. It was certainly an up-close and personal encounter for Kevin and the hippo. During the walk we saw a small herd of wildebeest, the first sighting of them on this trip.
After a two hour flight on another Cessna 208, we landed in Ruaha National Park. As with Selous, the land was set aside as a “game reserve”, primarily for tourist hunting, in the late 19th century. Ruaha was converted to a national park by the British after they took over Tanganika post-WW I. Ruaha covers about 20,000 square kilometers. There are a number of camps within Ruaha; ours (Kigelia) is one of the smallest and most remote, with just six rustic tents and located about an hour’s drive from the airstrip. Of course, with birding and other wildlife viewing it took us closer to three hours to arrive at the camp.
We saw many wonderful new species today, including more hornbills than we knew existed— flocks of the, rising up out of the tall grass as if they were pigeons. The highlight was undoubtedly watching an 18-month-old leopard nap in the crook of a tamarind tree. As with other camps, an escort is required after dark; in this case because elephants enter the camp every night. We have been told to just stay still and quiet if they come to rub their sides on the supports to our tent ( we are excited by this prospect). The landscape here is covered in baobabs— a sure sign of a large elephant population as elephants are the necessary baobab seed dispersers.
Pictured: leopard, blue wildebeest from our bush walk, Kevin’s hippo, tree hyrax
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