Hippo
My tented cabin
At night, the sound of hippos snorting and grunting was so loud, it seemed they were right outside the door. The hippos are most active at night. They get out of the water and forage around. Then they get back in the water and squabble over who gets the prime spots in the deep calm backwater of the river.
Hippo
We saw several leopard tortoises alongside the road. One had a
big paw print crushed into its shell. Sometimes the lions think they
might be able to get at a tasty treat inside the crunchy shell.
Leopard tortoise
Many of the animals have symbiotic relationships. These oxpeckers
were cleaning the insects off of this male impala.
Oxpecker on impala
We drove north all the way to the Kenyan border. We covered the entire length of the Serengeti in Tanzania. Along the way we saw a big herd of cape buffalo. The animals here are more skittish because we are closer to areas where there are poachers and hunting. As the herd of buffalo moved away this one stayed to watch us and make sure we went on our way.
Cape buffalo watching
us
We saw many beautiful smaller birds on safari. The superb starling,
the long-tailed wydah, and the lilac-breasted roller were some of my favorites.
We crossed paths several times with a bird-watching group with impressively
large viewing lenses.
Lilac-breasted roller
In the morning we drove to the airfield. The workers were clearing
the grass in preparation for our take off. We had a beautiful flight
back to Arusha passing over the active volcano. We saw Lake Natron
from the sky and the tip of Kilimanjaro.
Our plane
Our final afternoon in Tanzania was spent souvenir shopping at the Cultural
Center in Arusha ...loading up on carvings and fabrics and anything that
was too bulky or heavy to carry along on safari. Then I took
the long flights back to Amsterdam and San Francisco.