The other day, as we were leaving the Mt. Etjo Safari Lodge, several zebra stopped to check me out. Also, notice the beautiful brown impala, who was calmly walking in front of them. There are two kinds of zebra in this area. The Burchell and the Hartman Mountain zebra. Do you know which kind these were and how you can tell? These are the Hartman zebra, which are confined to Namibia's western plains. Notice they do not have stripes on their under belly, which is the difference between the two types.
Saturday, we went looking for the elephants and hippos. On the way to the elephants we came upon a large water hole. We drove along the waters edge and looked through our binoculars. At first we didn't think we saw anything-pretty calm on the water front. Then we spotted a couple of heads sticking out of the water, and then there were more! We saw 5 hippos! An adult male and female and three babies in-between them (protective mode). Pretty soon we saw their ears in the water. Sorry, no pictures-they were too far away. Hippos come out of the water only at night to graze and can live up to 40 years! Do you know what animal is known to kill the most natives? Hippos! Hippos kill more people than any other animal in Africa! When surprised, they head for the nearest route to the water, and will run down anything in its path.
Safari Tip: Do not get between the hippo and the water!
Now on to the elephants....Elephants are not close to the lodge this time of the year because they require a dryer land for grazing. So, to get to the elephants it is a very long drive. After we left the hippos we proceeded through a dark forest, with many dead and downed trees. When we asked about the trees, we were told you can always tell where the elephants are because of the stomped and knocked down dead trees (in addition to their tracks). After much unsuccessful exploration it was getting dark. Since this terrain was less traveled and rougher roads than others, we decided to turn around and return to the lodge. As we were turning back lo and behold we spotted a family of elephants! You can look in the second row of the first picture and you will see the termite mound (remember those?) and a baby elephant next to it. We determined he is only about one week old! He was surrounded by very protective adult female elephants. See the large female in the right picture? She just left our jeep after she came up close to it and made charging motions towards it. It was a few scary moments! I didn't get a picture-I am sure you will understand why. Once she determined we were not a threat, she returned to her group. What a magnificent find! I asked Rudie, our PH, what his most favorite animal was and he said it was the elephant. He seems to have a love for all the animals and insects (later). He has history with the elephants though and made friends with them. One very large bull elephant regularly comes to his jeep, lays his big trunk on top of it and visits with him for awhile. We had an adventurous ride back to the lodge ( I think we got off the beaten paths for awhile) and surged up a river bed around a downed tree in the road. I thought I was on a Raiders of the Lost Ark Disneyland ride! Rudie is a great guide, driver and PH so we made it home safety. Whew!
The two pictures at the bottom of the first set are of a Dik Dik (remember, I spoke of them before?) who was taking a nap at the side of the road. They are small antelope, with tiny spindly legs. The very large beetle-like bug to the right is seen everywhere. It is an armored cricket. If you look closely, you will see his antlers out front and his armor on his back.
The next set of pictures are one of Rudie and myself looking out-exploring with our binoculars.
Safari Tip: If you go to Africa, you cannot go without a good set of binoculars. So much to see!
The open road is much of what we have traveled on almost every day. During this time you never know what you are going to see. Sunday early morning we were putting a stalk on a few blue wildebeests on the open range. Our guide noticed they were extra "squirrely" and moving around a lot. He thought it was unusual. After much tracking (and not a whole lot of luck) we discovered the small tracks you will see in the riverbed. They were from a leopard cub. We later discovered the mother's tracks. We figured the wildebeests sensed the leopard was around and were on high alert. This explained their anxious state. The other night when coming back from the safari lodge Rudie noticed two beady flashing eyes up on the mountain side. We stopped the jeep and beamed a light on them. They flashed again; we think it was a leopard waiting for game to come to the water hole. Leopards are considered one of Africa's big five dangerous animals. They are effective and ruthless killers. I will tell you more about leopards later.
The two bottom pictures are of a baboon and blue wildebeest I saw at the water hole just this morning. I was able to video a troop of baboons as they were crossing the waterhole. You might want to look them up. They are considered one the most widespread primates in all of Africa. There are two varieties of Wildebeest-blue and black. These are majestic animals similar to buffalo.
So much to see and do! Later I will tell you a couple of scary leopard stories, and we will explore the hunting lodge a little more. Hope you are learning to love Africa as much as I do......
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