June 02, 2012
Besides it being a little cool out today’s safari was pretty great. Would have been loads better if I had binoculars and a good camera/photography skills. My favorite animal today was the rhino. He was too far away to photograph, but I still enjoyed watching him trudge alone. I really love the massive animals. The rhino was difficult to find because there are only 14 in the whole Ngorongoro Conservation Area (conservation areas differ from parks because people like there with the animals. The Maasai are allowed because they don’t disturb the animals. They are pastoralists, not hunters. Ngorongoro is actually the Maasai word for cow bell). The rhino is a solitary animal and never travels in a herd. This is why there are so few of them. If they happen by chance to run into another rhino, of the opposite sex and the female is in heat they will mate. Seems to contradict survival, but I guess some animals just like to be alone. I get that. Lions, however, like the few prides I saw today, like the company of other lions. Prides are a mix of males and females. Females get to choose their mates, and apparently there’s no ill feeling if a male isn’t chosen. It is possible that a male will kill cubs so that the female will go into heat sooner and be able to have his babies instead. I got quite lucky today seeing lions. There were 9 of them sleeping in the road. Since the sun didn’t come out today the grass remained dewy and wet. Cats don’t like water, so they slept in the dirt path.
Another cool animal story, surprisingly, is the ostrich. The females protect the eggs during the day because they are gray and blend with the environment better. The males are black so the spend all day absorbing heat so they can keep the eggs warm at night.
I saw many other animals, and it was all awesome, but not at all what I had expected. I thought I’d see more hard survival and tough living. I expected cracked, dried mud in the hot, hot sun, animals hiding and being territorial. Instead the zebras and wildebeest hung out like they were part of the same herd, once I even saw lions sleeping in the sun with them. Warthogs were always running somewhere, but not from anything. The hyenas roaming during the day struck me as strange, but I was glad because that allowed me to see babies. The flamingos were far away since the water was ceceding, but the lake looked bright pink there were so many of them. The only major disappointment today was that I didn’t see a cheetah. Everything else was pretty easy to spot in the huge, open expanse of the crater. By how peaceful they all were today it’s hard to believe that hunting and not-for-fun chasing happens at all. And that people can live there, too, all in harmony amazes me. The animal kingdom isn’t as hars as Discovery and Animal Planet would have you believe.
Other Animals Seen Today
Zebra
Wildebeest
Flamingo
Warthot
Hyena
Golden jackel
Thompson gazelle (small, only males have horns)
Crown crane
Elephant
Ostrich
Buzzard
Buffalo
Lion
Egyption goose
Black striped jackel
Grand gazelle (larger, all have horns)
Hippo
Eland (biggest of the antelope family)
Rhino
* * * * *
Now I’m sitting outside my room watching the sunset again. Today I officially miss having the company of my friends. The solitude has been great, and conversation with passing strangers pleasant, but now I want someone to laugh with. I feel like a rhino.
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