Day 21

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
A 5:45 start puts us on the road a little after sunrise. Lovely country with varied vistas and lookouts, but initially no animals to speak of. Then a herd of 50 or 60 zebras comes into view, crossing the road in front of us. They are stunningly beautiful. It’s amazing how we can drive for miles without seeing much of anything, despite being constantly on the alert, and then suddenly there are animals that pop right up into view – a couple of giraffe, a lone rhino, or something we haven’t seen before. Each day brings new wonders.
Today now turns into the day of the kill. First it’s a carcass of a water buffalo stripped clean just off the road side. Of course we need a picture. Then, after a couple of waterbuck stags posing as if for a picture, a giraffe conveniently presenting itself for the same, we come upon a huge gathering of vultures around the carcass of an elephant! It’s hard to tell from our distance exactly what is going on except that there are vultures on the carcass, vultures in the surrounding trees waiting for their chance at the table and vultures in the air coming in for landings at the banquet.
Fresh from our movie the previous evening we now know that there is a pecking order among vultures. And from other reading we know that there is some kind of aerial communication system among vultures: one circling vulture is seen by another circling vulture who is seen by other circling vultures and on and on until the sky is filled with circling vultures coming lower and lower toward the goal of another cleanup job with free meals as a side benefit. A fascinating study of scavenger behavior.
This afternoon, after a snack, a little rest, an early dinner (Madras chicken and vegetable curry over rice, cooked by Paula and Beth) we decided to go for a 45 minute drive (have to get back before they close the gates you know) to a nearby water hole. The red/orange sun is hanging just above the horizon in the western sky. There seems to be a hush descending over the land and as we approach the water hole a parade of elephants crosses the road in front of us heading for the water. A lioness crouches attentively at water’s edge. One elephant takes his time filling up with water. It takes a while as you might expect, especially when using only your nose! The family of elephants trudges slowly off to the shelter of a grove of trees where I suppose they might spend the night. It’s a beautiful ending to the day.
We hurry back to camp and make it just in time before the gate closure. They are showing another National Geographic film at 6:30 so we head off to watch that. It’s about a small hyena clan ruled by a dysfunctional matriarch, the “hyena queen”, who eventually gets put in her place. Hyenas turn out to be highly intelligent hunters, not scavengers, and devoted parents. They are still ugly as sin but that’s a jaundiced human point of view. The photographer followed them for 10 years, so he, at least, found them fascinating and, by his description, was invited into the intimacy of the clan.
Bruce and Paula