Tanzania – Be Back Whenever

Safari Tales #7 and #8

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.

Safari Tales #6 – Take down by lionesses

Safari Tale #5 Take Down – Mark and Susan normally rode with JoJo, Ann, Lee, and Aileen in the safari vehicle. Mark kept saying that he wanted to see a “Take Down” (e.g. a lioness kill a Wildebeest or an Impala). Mark knew it is pretty rare to see a kill, but he was still hoping for one. Our guide, Willie, said people hope for a kill, but often when they do see a kill they start crying. The joke for several days whenever we saw a lioness was, “I want to see a take down”.

On Day 5 in the Central Serengeti, low and behold, we saw one lioness stalking a herd of wildebeest. Then two more lionesses got involved in the hunt. Suddenly, the first lioness takes off and everyone thinks she started too early, but the other two lionesses cut off the wildebeests’ escape route and the hunt was on. We saw two kills in the same hunt. Willie, the head guide, said one kill was rare; you almost never see two kills in the same hunt. No one cried when the kills happened, but JoJo and Ann were hoping the wildebeests would all escape the lions. “Take Down” was our motto after the kill.

This was definitely the highlight of the entire safari!

Lioness #1 was carefully and slowly stalking the wildebeest.

The lioness was poised to start the attack.

This lioness is chasing one of the wildebeests. You can see the herd in the background.

This wildebeest was getting out of the way.

This is the lioness who missed the wildebeest she chased.

This lioness was successful on her take down. She’s standing next to the dead wildebeest in the grass.

After the kills, the lionesses headed back to their cubs to bring them to the kill. We followed around to watch. The lionesses and cubs didn’t appear at all phased by the vehicles watching them.