Yellow-billed Stork, Lake Manyara, Tanzania.
My friend Karen Minkowski has visited Africa many times and has contributed often to The Intrepid Tourist, sharing her beautiful photographs and insights about animals. She recently went to northern Tanzania, visiting four national parks: Lake Manyara, Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Tarangire. This is the first of her reports of that trip.
I recently completed a wonderful safari in Tanzania’s northern circuit with three German friends. We ranged in age from 22 to 81 and travelled together very well; everyone was enthusiastic about everything we saw, and we had lots of great observations. We visited four sites over eight amazing, intense days that exhausted even the youngest of us! Our guide was excellent. He had a great sense of humor and worked hard to meet our requests.
Our first
destination was Lake Manyara National Park. Human settlement has reached one
side of the lake, and erosion of agricultural fields nearby may be the cause of
the brown appearance of the water on some days.
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Heavy
rains in the last years have resulted in a rise in the water levels, partially
submerging many trees. |
But birds were abundant. Below: Red and Yellow Barbet; Grey-headed Kingfisher; Little Bee-eater. The Barbet nests in termite mounds and feeds on termites (and other insects). The Kingfisher, despite its name, feeds primarily on insects on the ground and only occasionally fishes. The Bee-eater catches insects on the wing.
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| Red and Yellow Barbet. |
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| Grey-headed Kingfisher. |
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| Little Bee-eater. |
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| Blue Monkey. |
The next three pictures show two female elephants greeting one another. The sequence lasted just a few seconds, and I know nothing of the context. It seemed like a very intimate interaction, perhaps an elephant version of a warm hug.
Looking
from the Lake to the forested area.
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| Ground Hornbill. |
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