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| Young male lions, Ngorongoro Crater National Park, 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 third of her four reports of that trip.
As we descended into Ngorongoro Crater, four or five young muddy male lions were emerging from a cloud of dust whipped up by Land Cruisers on the Crater floor below us. We assumed they were part of a “coalition”, a group of related and sometimes unrelated males who have been forced out of their natal pride(s) or have chosen to leave. They will probably form their own prides, giving them a greater chance at reproductive success.
They
chased each other and tussled, full of energy in the cool morning. I love how
their tails are flying.
Some of
the males had short manes, others had not yet begun to grow them.
After the
lions moved on, we spotted two Serval cats, well-camouflaged in the tall, dry
grass. Here’s one of the pair. Among the wild cats, Servals have the highest
rate of hunting success, feeding on rodents and other small mammals.
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| Serval. |
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| Golden wolf (golden jackal). |
Very
recent DNA studies show a closer relationship to grey wolves and coyotes than
to the Golden Jackal of Europe and Asia.
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| Golden wolf (golden jackal). |
The Secretary Bird, a relative of eagles, hawks and other raptors, eats just about anything on the ground it can catch but prefers snakes, including venomous ones. The bird stomps its prey to death with its strong legs and feet.
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| Secretary bird. |
On a relatively cool morning, it’s not rare to see hippos grazing until the sun sends them back to the safety of the water.
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| Hippos. |
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| Grant's gazelle. |
A herd of
buffalo at rest. These are females; the males were off to one side. You can see
the difference in horn structure between females and males (below). The males
have a thick, boney base on top of their head where the horns have fused. This
“boss” protects the head when they fight other males for dominance.
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| Female buffalo. |
These old
male buffalos may be a threesome or a part of a larger bachelor group. They’ve separated
from the mixed herd of adult females, their young, and the stronger, dominant
males, who may have kicked them out. Though these three are well past their
prime, I saw, years ago, a small group of these old guys fend off a lioness.
Their massive horns are intimidating and can inflict serious injury or death.
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| The Northern Anteater Chat. |
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| Rosy-throated Longclaw, probably a female, well-camouflaged in the dry grasses. |
Hippo
aggression? In the first photo below, a wet (dark) hippo walks toward the resting
hippo on the left. In the next picture the hippo has stood up and looks
threateningly at the one on the right. About fifteen seconds later (third
photo), the aggressor moves closer to the wet hippo, its face thrust out; the
wet one seems to be cowering a bit, but a fight did not ensue.
I may be
interpreting this hippo interaction completely incorrectly!
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| Lesser flamingos in Lake Magadi, on the Crater floor. |
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African
Wild Cat on the outer slopes of the Crater. |
Note: Karen's final post about her Africa trip--Tarangiri National Park--will appear next week.
