Sleeping With Lions

I have just returned from a wonderful two-week photo safari in Tanzania.

Here are some impressions from my time in Tanzania. It was a time of both dead silence and many sounds. When there were no animals about, the night was totally silent. Other nights were busy with the sounds of the larger wildlife. Some days my eyes were overwhelmed by the vast numbers of animals (wildebeests and zebras), while others challenged us to find the very elusive leopard.

At night, as I lay in my tent (a large, nice tent with indoor plumbing and electric lights), I listened to the grunting of hippos ashore to feed. I heard the plaintive cries of hyenas, and the roaring of lions. If we ventured out of our tents after dark, we had to be escorted by a spear-wielding Maasai warrior. This was a good precaution, as early one morning a male lion was walking around the tent of one person in our group! Unlike at home, when birds aren't heard chirping and singing until dawn, birds in Tanzania started their morning serenades long before sunrise.

A muddy spotted hyena

The sounds of hundreds of thousands of wildebeests and the shrill cries of tens of thousands of plains zebras filled our days as they milled around waiting for one of their number to start moving as part of their annual migration.

We enjoyed bowls of creamy hot soups made of pumpkin, zucchini, cucumber and other vegetables. We all looked forward to finding out which soup would be part of dinner each night. Fresh bread made from scratch complemented the soups. I loved the sweet, juicy pineapple and delicious slices of mango. Everything was fresh and made from scratch.

The warm smiles and cries of 'jambo' (hello) from lodge staff greeted us throughout the day. Every person I encountered, from the resident chef to our Maasai escorts at night, was friendly and helpful. Our guides/drivers, Angelbert and Tom, took such good care of us. They both have an uncanny ability to spot even the smallest sunbathing lizard on a rock, a colorful small bird on a tree branch, and a camouflaged leopard walking through tall grasses. I started calling Tom 'Gentleman Tom' because he was always there to lend a hand. When I slipped on a very muddy step while exiting our Land Cruiser and twisted my leg, it was Tom who came to my rescue. 

We saw many beautiful birds, an amazing sunrise and sunset,

and so many wildebeests and zebras on their annual migration that the horizon was blackened by their presence. We watched in awe as a mother lion carried her four cubs to a new, hidden location. She picked each one up by the back of the neck and moved it, and then she went back to get the others one at a time. The next morning we laughed as she repeatedly tried to corral her wandering offspring. She would get three of them back into the brush, but as she went after the last one, the other three would emerge to follow her. One little one (we assume it was the same cub) kept wandering off in the opposite direction. Finally she got them all tucked away and settled down to nurse.

Spending 90 minutes with two cheetah brothers as they walked slowly across the grassy plains, taking time for a quick roll in the damp grass, was a real treat, as was photographing them as they seemed to pose in a tree. The day before, a different cheetah chased -- and barely missed -- a gazelle that was on the dinner menu. Unfortunately, slipping on a muddy step while exiting the vehicle and twisting my leg prevented me from standing up on the seat to watch the chase.

Of course, not everything we saw was pleasant to contemplate. We saw a baby zebra with a hind leg it couldn't use. We saw several baby wildebeests that had been separated from their mothers in part of the massive herd. One was running back and forth desperately trying to find her in the huge herd. Another stood alone a good distance from the herd. Lone animals, particularly the young ones, stand no chance of escaping hungry lions, leopards and hyenas. One of our guides noted that only half of all wildebeests born in a given season (most are born within the same month) survive to their first birthday. 

We spent several minutes watching dozens of vultures of various kinds, along with marabou storks, battle with hyenas over the carcass of a wildebeest. The birds won the battle, with the hyenas leaving for a bit, and then returning at a respectable distance. Vultures are not attractive birds by any measure, but the marabou stork gets the prize for ugliest animal in Africa.

Toward the end of the trip, so much rain fell that some of the roads were washed away. We even spotted a catfish on a flooded road!  Our planned visit to a pool that usually was occupied by dozens of hippos was shortened dramatically due to the rains, which had turned the pool into a raging torrent of water, sending the hippos to calmer waters. We even spotted a large catfish on a road that had flooded with overflow from a river some 100 meters away.

Despite all my visits to Africa, the thrill of seeing magnificent elephants, mischievous baboons and vervet monkeys, birds of vibrant colors, graceful giraffes and a variety of antelope and gazelles always calls me back for more. Each day, each sunrise, each sighting is unique.

I haven't uploaded or edited most of my images from this trip yet, but more will be shared soon.