Safari, Part II - The Big Five and other dangerous beasts

"Have you seen 'The Big Five'?" anyone who's been to a game park or national park in Africa will ask you upon your return.

While one might think the "Big Five" refers to the biggest five animals, or the "most important" to spot, it in fact refers (as I learned from this sign, at the entrance to Ngorongoro Crater Conservation Area) to the five animals that were the most difficult to hunt on foot.

 

Unfortunately, on this trip (as on our South Africa trip in 2007), I only saw four of the "big five" animals-- missing the (black) rhino which seems definitely to be the most elusive, having been over-poached and now endangered throughout most of Africa. The Ngorongoro Crater is one of the top rhino-viewing areas of Tanzania, but we did not have the luck on our day.

Here are glimpses of the other four we saw, then followed by other predators and scary animals!

Elephants!

Elephants were also heavily poached for their tusks' ivory throughout the 20th century until major conservation efforts started in the mid-1900s. There are actually many tribes, such as the Waliangulu in Kenya, whose livelihood depended on elephant hunting, which brought up another touchy issue that was well discussed in a good book I read on this trip, The Shadow of Kilimanjaro, by Rick Ridgeway.

Buffalo are some of the angriest animals you can meet on foot. While driving through the Crater Highlands, we had one dart through the trees and come within 3 feet of our Land Cruiser  (alas, not having enough time to take a photo!).

Leopard

 

(If you can't spot the leopard in the above picture, don't worry. It took me about 10 minutes with binoculars to see it. It is hiding in the "V" in the center of the picture. Whoever spotted this leopard first has unbelievable eyesight!)

Here is a picture after I discovered photo-editing:

Here is an easier-to-spot one in the tree, facing away

Watching a leopard stalk some impala (I still remember Wendi saying, "I feel bad for the impala!") was a highlight of our South African adventure.

We were lucky to see a LOT of lions, in all parks except Lake Manyara. I think there are something like 3,000 lions in the Serengeti, some of which wear tracking collars.  We saw some in pairs, some prides, some cubs, some eating, and a little stalking (but no kills), but they were mostly sleeping under trees!

We were about 3 feet from this (sleeping) male lion, who never even raised his head to acknowledge our presence!

Here is a series of a couple of lions eating a fairly freshly-killed buffalo

("Red Lipstick!" our guide, Robert, exclaimed)

(tugging on the stomach)

Lion Pride including mamas and cubs (which were probably about 8 weeks old)

Suckling

Lazy Papa

Raar!

this mama had a tracker on

(AC)

 

Ngorongoro Crater Lions

In Tarangire, we watched this lioness stalk a waterbuck for quite sometime, but alas, there was no true chase

Doesn't it look like this lion is coming after me? :)  It came right past our vehicle!

(AC)

Another "big cat" we saw was the cheetah, which is quite common in the Serengeti (not found in the Crater). They are quite cute! We saw a pair watching some antelope but again, no chase :(

We spotted a few hyenas, looking to steal/scavenge some food. They just look so shady.

On our way out of the Serengeti, we came across two jackals crossing the road 

There were large "caution" signs by the river crossing instructing people NOT to get out of vehicles, for the following reasons...

Croc

Hippos (which kill more people in Africa than any other animal)!

While they look quite slothful, they are FAST on land!

So there you have it! What a great time we had visiting the northern NPs in Tanzania (country # 53, I think).  It's nice to be off the bumpy, dusty roads and I'm almost ready to start walking again :)