Monday September 9
We went on a 12-hour game drive today through the savanna and along a marshy area that floods in the wet season. We saw 95 species of birds today, several of them new to us. We also saw several large herds of elephants (one with over 30 members), buffalo, hippopotamus, giraffe, zebra, and warthogs. We saw three types of mongoose and a few different types of antelope ( including dik dik), but no gazelles or wildebeest as they don’t like getting their feet muddy.
We witnessed several interesting animal behaviors: three African hoopoe seemingly having a disagreement about territory, a female elephant getting frustrated with the cattle egrets accompanying her herd and chasing them away by swinging her trunk to clear them, a giraffe scratching its ear on a broken tree branch, and we got to hear white-faced whistling ducks whistle.
Our trip back to the camp, retracing our path from earlier in the day, had a number of interruptions. The interruptions included a huge herd of buffalo blocking the road, a pair of vervet monkeys determined to complete their grooming in the middle of the road, and a very large bull elephant who strode towards us down the road. As he got near the front of the truck, our driver turned on the engine. The elephant swerved to the side and, standing about four feet from the vehicle, shook his head, ears, and dust at us before proceeding on his way.
Pictured: hippo family at the pool, an African hoopoe chasing his rival, a pair of dikdik, giraffe nursery, elephant in the road
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