Safari Part 3b

August 31, 2009 (Ngorongoro Crater—on the inside)

Continued...

We spot hyena. Ugly beasties.

Meet the Cape Buffalo. A rather unassuming looking cow really. But apparently the meanest of the animals in Africa, and the one that nobody wants to go up against. More feared and deadly than any of the carnivores. The second most deadly to man, the hippo, is also a vegetarian. Maybe if someone just bought them all a burger they wouldn’t be so grumpy.

Then we head to a hippo pool. No hippo sex today. Mostly just hippos lying about.

But we spot our first cheetah off in the distance harassing the same line of wildebeest as the lions were. We will see this cheetah up close later in the afternoon, and Mike tells us he’s heard from the rangers that he is injured. He certainly didn’t look healthy, and a number of hyena were parked further off, clearly just waiting. Rather heartbreaking really.

I also see my first crowned crane, one of the prettiest birds I think we’ll spot out here.

We’re also introduced to the Cori Bustard, one of the largest game birds in Africa. A pretty bird, with gorgeous neck feathers that they puff out in mating rituals. Apparently very good to eat, and Mike says they’re an Arabic delicacy. The birds run about $2,000 a piece. An expensive turkey dinner that.

As we stop for lunch at the hippo pool, Mike gives us a brief rundown of Tanzanian history. Very short version here: Was first a German colony, but after WWII went down and the Germans got destroyed in Europe, it was transferred to Britain (hence Mike’s Scottish father). Was a British colony until 1968 when Britain finally gave up trying to colonize the world. Granted independence. Tanzania’s first President somehow (though Mike never did fully explain how) made a system where all 120 tribes in Tanzania get along and lived peacefully. As a result, it’s been a relatively stable and prosperous country since. Most of its economy now comes through tourism.

As we set off in the afternoon, a zebra lumbers across in front of us. Mike stops. ‘Look at this one, she’s very pregnant.'

She certainly has a large girth, and we obliging start to snap a few pictures. The zebra stops beside the car, as though she’s heard us, poses, and proceed to stick out “her” willy. This is not a pregnant female after all, more like a beer-gutted Fabio. He poses with a daintily cocked hoof (pun intended) and proceeds to show off his fabulous manhood until we drive away. Mike is mightily embarrassed for having misidentified this zebra and we are mightily amused by the zebra’s antics.

We see a few male elephant (although none putting on an obliging display) and a number of other lion, but nothing to top the morning’s excitement. And we never do see the elusive rhino. Mike thinks he saw one far out on a plain. And we all looked through the binoculars, but I couldn’t indentify it as something more than big and dark.

After a beautiful day in the Crater, we head out at dusk.

To be Continued....

Photos: Baby zebra. Ostrich. Cape Buffalo. The pregnant zebra.