Hassam stopped at two of these incidents, his argument being that it might be him one day needing help, somehow we didn't think so. This gave us the opportunity to wind down from the excitement of the leopard experience and to take in the scenery around us.
On the side of a slight incline stood a distant Coke's Hartebeest.
The Hartebeest is widely distributed across Africa with many regional variations. The sub species found in Tanzania is known as the Coke's after the person that "collected" the first specimen Colonel Welman Coke. Hartebeest and Topi are very similar with a stand that shows a very sloping back. The main difference are the horns. In the Hartebeest are curled while in Topi they are swept back. The name Harte is a corruption of the Dutch word hert meaning deer.
Then as if to emphasise the difference we came across a Topi.
Topi are another social animal and are seen in groups of females with a dominant male. The females are also very loyal to their group and will fight off any rival male and female along with the male.
The horns here are decorated with mud, something seen regularly with Topi and this may be how they acquired their name the Swahili word for mud being matope, prounounced ma-toe-pay.
Small birds could be seen feeding in amongst the grasses. This a Fischer's Sparrow Lark
The scenery was dominated by Yellow-bark Acacia dotted around amongst the open grassland. In April when visiting Portugal I likened the Portuguese grassland in Alentjo to our local nature reserve at Martin Down in Hampshire. I referred to the Alentjo as being Martin Down on speed. These grassland are even greater in comparison with the Alentjo and I have no idea what these would be compared to the small area in the north west of Hampshire!
We came across a small group of Giraffe, this male striding out in the open grass. The males are quickly identified by the flat top to their horns, the females having a more feathered appearance.
On the other side of the road a female and calf.
And with them the ever present Zebra.
There is radio chatter all the time in the cruiser, but it is mostly in Swahili, and you dismiss it. The first time you gather that maybe we are heading for something special is when the vehicle speeds up, and the careful attention to the puddles and ruts seems to subside a little. This was the case now, we were off to something. As we turned past a pool where the rocks look suspiciously like Hippos and didn't stop we knew this was definitely the case. Away in the distance we could see a collection of trucks, and as we got closer we had a good idea what they were looking at. Once again Hassam did an excellent job of positioning us in the best position, and more importantly one that could no be compromised by any other vehicle.
Laid out flat on an open piece of short grassland were a pair of Lions. These are often referred to as a "honeymoon couple".
Females can become fertile at any time of the year, and when they do the male will take the female away from the pride for anything between five to eight days. In that time the couple may mate anything u to three times an hour, every hour leaving no time for other activities like hunting and eating. Clearly this type of activity requires copious amounts of rest between bouts.
Lions are the most sociable of all the African cats and live in prides of between three to six lionesses and their offspring and dominated by an unrelated male, or a collective of males known as a coalition. When pride numbers get too large the pride will break up, the young males typically being ejected from the pride after two to three years.
Males will usually dominate a pride for three to five years, typically at the age of around ten, the males dominance wanes and his ability to defend his pride reduces and usually ends with the male being defeated by a younger lion or coalition. The defeated male is then sent out on his own, and may eventually die as it becomes unable to hunt for itself. Any cubs left over are normally killed by the incoming male to ensure their genes progress. In this situation the females come into oestrus within fifteen days. Females live longer anything up to 15 years, and are the main hunters of the pride.
There was some movement from the female lioness, maybe a noise from one of the trucks or someone getting out.
She then moved into a different position with the hind legs hunched up.
The male Lion was a really impressive beast, he looked to be very much in his prime, with a gorgeous flowing mane, almost made me jealous.
Time to clear the head and take a look around.
Having woken up, a male lion's thoughts then turn to....
And, apparently a Lioness's thoughts too....
It was all over in a flash and the Lioness goes all coy.
The gestation period is about three and half months after which the Lioness will give birth in a well hidden den away from the rest of the pride. Only about 25 percent of Lion cubs reach two years old, but those that do are looked after by both their mother and the other females in the pride. That is for the future, but for now it was back to resting to recuperate.
Here the larger picture.
The rest period did not last long, and the female was up again, yawning.
And clearly in the mood once more.
They mated once more, this time the positioning showing way to much to photograph. After they rolled over together, but someone getting out of their vehicle disturbed the Lioness, and she decided to move away from the Lion.
The Lion then slowly dragged himself up to follow her.
And both walked together to an area of longer grass, and perceived privacy.
The male settled down but the female was a little more edgy, and she continued on towards a small gully with a stream.
I thought maybe she was going to drink, but she stopped on the edge before turning back to the male and flopping down in the longer grass.
Like with the leopards as we watched the lions, land cruisers were coming in and leaving, nobody though obscured our view, and we once again had a grandstand position. However it was time to move on and we headed down the track we had come along. A little further along a large truck had stopped to look at something in the grass. We pulled over, and out of the grass appeared another Serval Cat.
I hadn't expected to see one Serval Cat and counted us extremely lucky with our earlier sighting, but here we were watching another, and this one was hunting, and you could see it stopping to listen in the grass.
Slowly it came closer to us, and we managed to get some great views.
It then dropped down looking into a patch of grass. Everything about the position it was adopting said it would likely pounce, something I was hoping to see as they can leap high off the ground to pounce on the prey. Helen asked me to do something and as I took my eye of the Serval it pounced! Such is life.....
The Serval then headed away from us through the grass and we turned around and continued our drive. The beauty of the drives are that you have no idea where you are going until you get there. We stopped for a Yellow-throated Longclaw.
These are named after the very long rear claw, that is supposed to help them walking through the long grass of the savanna. They are ground nesting birds of the open grasslands, they are very similar to the Meadowlarks of the new world that habit very similar areas.
The openness of the landscape and the isolation of many of the trees lends itself to photography every time we stop.
It was time to stop for lunch and we headed for the Seronera Visitor Centre, which is located about half a kilometre from the very small village of Seronera, there is a cafe and picnic tables that are sort after by all. We managed to get a table under an umbrella and were visited by Dwarf Mongoose.
And the Rock Hyrax, of which its claim to fame is that it is a close relative to the elephant. In fact the manatee and the rock hyrax and the elephant share a common ancestor, Tethytheria, which died out more than 50 million years ago. That's been long enough for the animals to travel down very different evolutionary paths. Though they look and act radically different, they do remain closely related.
Despite initial appearances, Hyraxes still have a few
physical traits in common with elephants. These include tusks that grow from
their incisor teeth (versus most mammals, which develop tusks from their canine
teeth), flattened nails on the tips of their digits, and several similarities
among their reproductive organs.
Picnic tables became a valuable resource, and we found that guides or representatives from travel companies would stand close to us. One such representative even placed a cool bag on the other seat. Another group appeared as we were finishing our picnic, and made it so awkward that we decided to leave, a mistake. Then then ensued an argument with the group that forced us out and the owner of the cool bag. The cool bag won out and he started to set his table with tablecloth and wine glasses.
We wandered around the centre, Helen sat and read while I engaged it that time wasting pass time of trying to photograph swifts on the wing. In the time I had I managed one acceptable shot of a White-rumped Swift.
It was time to move on and as we walked past the picnic tables we could see the table was still neatly laid with nobody in attendance.
Just outside the visitor centre I called to stop for a Dark-chanting Goshawk on the top of a Candelabra cactus.
A little further on we passed a river, in a dead tree opposite was a Black-headed Heron.
While on the shore of the river was another a little closer.
On the far bank of the river Hassam pointed out a Nile Crocodile, it would appear this is a regular spot for this crocodile. It was difficult to estimate size, but this was a good sized one between three and four metres long.
We then followed the river that went though narrow gullys and opened out into wider expanses of water. Here a Three banded Plover was feeding in the water.
And then another species of long legged wading bird, Abdim's Stork.
The Abdim's stork, also known as white-bellied
stork, is a black stork with grey legs, red knees and feet,
grey bill and white underparts. It has red facial skin in front of
the eye and blue skin near the bill in breeding season. Among the smallest storks, this species is
welcomed and protected by local Africans who believe that it is
a harbinger of rain and good luck. The name commemorates the Turkish Governor
of Wadi Halfa in Sudan, Bey El-Arnaut Abdim
We then pulled over to view a stretch of the river that had widened large enough to support a small herd of Hippopotamus. But first right in front of me was a Red-necked Spurfowl.
A member of the pheasant family, it paraded in front of distracting me from the Hippo beyond.
The Hippo were a little way off, and not exactly moving about much. I did though manage to capture some movement.
Just as we were about to leave another Three-banded Plover flew in and landed close to us on the red soil in front of the truck.
Hassam wanted to get closer to the hippo, and we moved along the river to a spot where we could drive up a bluff in the river and look down on another herd wallowing in the river, or mud.
One Hippo was separated from the sleeping herd and for once was a little more animated, which for a Hippo during the day was not much
Hippo are often labelled the most dangerous animal in Africa and the most number of human deaths are attributed to them. To look at them here you would struggle to understand this, but most deaths occur if a canoeist stumbles upon the herd, or the Hippo is separated from the water or its young by someone.
Despite its large size a Hippo can easily out run any human speeds having been clocked at around 30 mph. The massive front teeth are spear shaped lower incisors, and re-curved canine, made of ivory and not keratin like the molars. These are used primarily as fighting tools in territorial disputes.
One hippo was on the far bank actually out of the water, but it didn't stay there long dropping without an air of grace into the water to join the others.
On the other side of the river was also a Nile Crocodile, that was also a little upset by something.
We sat waiting for the herd to do something, but a part from a few grunts, and tail thrashing which was not something you wanted to dwell on. Every so often one would push its head up, and the hope was this would annoy somebody and there would be an altercation, with the mouths being used in anger. This wasn't happening, then just as we were about to leave one got a little upset and duly obliged. You can just see the lower incisors.
As we left the river a very confiding Common Sandpiper was on the top of the bluff.
The skies were getting very dark now, and we could see the rain away in the distance, the likelihood was that it was coming our way.
We soldiered on though stopping for our first Dik Dik of the trip.
If you see one Dik Dik there is every chance you will see another as these dwarf antelope are very monogamous. One feature of this antelope is the pre-orbital gland in front of eye used to place a sticky secretion on plant stems to mark territory.
On a distant Acacia was a large Martial Eagle, this time an adult and showing the slight crest on the head
The skies were extremely dark now, we were about to experience the "rains down in Africa".
We came across a truck stopped alongside a dead tree. Looking into the tree we could see white items, which could only be feathers, floating about in the air around the tree. As we came closer it was clear the feathers were being plucked from the victim of a large adult Martial Eagle.
The eagle was cowled over what looked like a stork, closer views revealed it to be an Abdim's Stork. What struck me first about this magnificent bird was the piercing orange eyes and the way the eye brows accentuated the mystery and menace of this eagle in a way that reminds you completely of the dragons, maybe Drogon from Game of Thrones.
As it plucked the feathers from the unfortunate stork it would pause and look around and every so often call. It was not clear who it was calling too, or whether it was for contact or to warn others off. Behind us in a dead tree was a Tawny Eagle, and there was of course the other adult Martial Eagle we had passed earlier close by.
Here the crest raised and those incredible cold eyes.
The Martial Eagle is one of the world's most powerful avian
predators. Due to both its underside spotting and ferocious efficiency as a
predator it is sometimes nicknamed “the leopard of the air”. In its common, scientific and most regional African names,
this species name means “war-like” and indicates the force, brashness and
indefatigable nature of their hunting habits.
The aggressiveness of the hunting Martial Eagle, can seem in contrast with their other behaviour, as it
otherwise is considered a shy, wary and evasive bird. Martial eagles have
been seen to charge at much larger adult ungulates and rake at their heads and
flanks, presumably to separate the mammals from their young so they can take
the latter with more ease.
Prey, including birds, are generally killed on the ground,
with infrequent reports of prey taken from trees. Some larger (and presumably
slower-flying) avian prey may be taken while in flight, victims of successful
hunts as such have consisted of water birds such as herons, storks and geese, this maybe could have been the outcome here.
The calling continued, but no one came so we maybe can assume it was a warning, "its mine".
Crowned as the largest eagle in Africa and the fifth
heaviest eagle (on average) in the world, the martial eagle has a wingspan of
up to 2.6 metres, and it can lift prey weighing up to 8kg (although typically
they lift only 1-4 kg). They have
extremely keen eyesight (3.0-3.6 times human acuity) and can spot potential prey
up to five kilometres away!
Feathers were floating around everywhere, and as is the case with the natural world nothing seems to go to waste. A pair of Superb Starlings could be seen catching the feathers in mid air and taking them off to a nearby hole in a tree.
What we couldn't see clearly was the feet and claws. The Martial Eagle is related to the Booted Eagles which have feathering on the legs and tarsus. The claws are also massive and eagle tends to use these to kill. They hunt in a long, shallow stoop, and at the point of impact it shoots its long legs forward, killing victims on impact using the long hind claw to dispatch the victim.
If this isn't a dragon image then I don't know what else to describe it as:
"Eyes that turn skin into a sickly pallor, claws able to lacerate even the sturdiest to mere ribbons of flesh and bone, blood so black that night held an intense radiance that could blind your eyes. With his tongue he could smell your dread and taste your fear".
We had a chance to move and get to a spot where there was no branch in the way or partially obscuring the view. As we moved I realised the other drama that was surrounding us us, the impending storm was creating a stunning landscape.
A clear view now of the impressive Martial Eagle, still showing a wariness.
But continuing to pluck the feathers from the stork.
From this angle the menace and strength of the bird becomes even more apparent.
My favourite photograph of this incredible bird.
The stork looks so small.
And finally to finish a portrait.
Another truck pulled up, and this finally disturbed the bird, and it flew off with ease carrying the lifeless corpse of the Abdim's Stork. It landed at the top of an Acacia tree with its back to us. Rain was beginning to fall and we decided it was time to move on. The Tawny Eagle was still present in the dead tree on the other side of the track. The skies to the south still fairly bright giving a nice silhouette of the eagle.
A wider view shows the dark clouds rolling over us.
The rains then came, and after putting the roof down we drove though flooded tracks while around were flooded fields with water pouring off into the tracks. Driving was slow and difficult and we agreed with Hassam we would head for the camp. It looked like the rain was to be with us for some time and game viewing was not goingto be any good in the storm.
Here is some idea of what the conditions were like and the driving, apologies for the squeaky windscreen wipers!
As we neared the camp it was clear that there had been a considerable influx of Zebra and Wildebeest, with the herd sizes much bigger than we had seen earlier in the morning. We turned up one track to get a better view of the herds.
The rain was easing but it had done its damage, the trails and paths were now almost all mud, getting stuck was a real possibility. We finally made it back to the camp, and decided to spend the last hour of daylight with a beer in the mess area watching the final light of the day.
As the light faded a Yellow-winged Bat flew around the acacia bushes, hanging in the branches. They are attracted to the insects that gather at dusk. They are about the size of a Barn Owl, and at first we thought they were owls until they flew into the trees and hung upside down.
Tomorrow we move on from the Serengeti, re-tracing the route back to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area. But before that we have time in the morning around the camp, and then another game drive until about mid day. Plenty of time to find something else
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