Gathering the Memories

I'm not quite ready to start downloading and editing my images from Tanzania, but I am thinking about the amazing photo ops and experiences we had. 

This trip was filled with new and exciting experiences nearly every day. Everyone on the trip, including our guides, agreed that seeing a herd of 30 elephants as we entered the Serengeti (led by the matriarch and followed by 27 other females, babies and youngsters, with two bulls, one of them in musth, bringing up the rear), was the highlight of the trip. We spent an hour one evening watching two female lions and their cubs playing. This same family kept us entertained one morning playing in a tree, with one of the older cubs trying to figure out how to get out of the tree. We also spent time watching two leopard cubs posing and playing together on a kopje.

A pair of secretary birds was busy with its courtship activities as it built a large nest at the top of the tree. The male eventually flew off to gather more nest material. A pair of cheetahs was also doing its pre-mating ritual, with the male making chirping noises and the female growling. We watched as a not-quite-ready lioness walked away from the male lion pursuing her. 

I love lying awake at night listening to the sounds of lions, hippos and hyenas (an animal I consider to be evil personified). I say this about the hyena because it eats its victim while it is still alive. The hyena isn't big enough and doesn't have a strong enough set of jaws to suffocate its victim by clamping down on the throat as cheetahs, leopards and lions do. I was fortunate not to hear the screams of a baby wildebeest as it fell victim to a hyena one night, something that took place behind the tents of a couple of others who were part of my group. 

I did however, watch and photograph a lioness as she chased, caught and suffocated a terrified wart hog. This lioness and her sister were still learning the art of suffocation, so the wart hog suffered far longer than it would have with a more experienced lioness.

It was heartbreaking to see a baby wildebeest that had become separated from the herd and that was walking toward a hyena. I learned that while a mother wildebeest will call for her missing calf, she soon moves on, seemingly having forgotten about her doomed offspring. We saw several wildebeests, who have very skinny legs, limping along on three legs, knowing that they would not survive for long. 

We also saw moments of tenderness between a newborn baboon and its mother and between a nursing zebra foal and its mother. It is the scenes of life and death in the bush, which is neither easy nor kind, that keep me going back to Africa. Life in the vast openness of the Serengeti, in the marshes and deserts of Botswana, is life at its most basic, at its rawest. Life there is harsh, yet beautiful. The fight for survival is a daily occurrence.

I was fortunate to get to spend time with two women who made the trip so much fun. I hadn't met them before the trip,  but we definitely 'clicked.' One day the three of us were in the vehicle with the only male being our Tanzanian guide. He showed so much patience as we laughed so hard we cried at times. That day was memorable not only for the animals we saw and photographed, but also for the laughter and good times.

Once I download and process my digital images (of which there are thousands), more memories of special experiences will flood my brain. I will share some of these images in the future. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy these images from previous trips to Africa.

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