Safari Tale #7 Dancing Hyena – On Day 2 we had an optional walking tour in the Serengeti in the morning with the guides and a park ranger. We chose to do the walk along with Lee, Aileen, and Russ. The tour was very interesting because the camp guide and ranger pointed different things like scat (translation: poop). Hyena scat is white because they will literally eat anything, bones, glass, metal, etc.
This guy was out for his own walk and posed for some pictures.
The wildebeest migration was on from north to south and millions were on the move.
During the walk, we saw packs of zebras just hanging out.
As we were walking, Mark asked the guide, “Can we see a Hyena den?”. Mark thought the guide replied, “I will show you the Hyena dance”. Mark said to Lee, “Are they really doing a dance later?” Lee said “No, he said we will see a Hyena DEN, not DANCE.” That became a source of amusement every time we saw hyenas and most likely it becomes a t-shirt when we get back. In all fairness to Mark, some of accents were a bit hard to understand.
This hyena, known as the scavenger since they eat anything and everything.
This den was created by aardvarks, used by warthogs, and then became a hyena home as it is abandoned sequentially and taken over by the next animal.
Safari Tale #8 Favorite sayings of our guides – Willie was the oldest guide on the trip and had been doing this job for 37 years. When we would be stopped next to lions or cheetahs, Willie would say to Mohdy (a young guide), “When I was your age, I would run out there and grab one of cubs and bring it back to the vehicle”. Or “When I was your age, I would run out there and grab one of the lion’s tails and run back before I got caught. Go ahead and try it”. One time Mohdy replied, “You should go try it now because you have lived a long time. I still have many years to live.”
Momma cheetah and her cub just looking at us. No one was getting near her. She’s the fastest land animal, no matter how calm she looks here.