The sun was at it's zenith and the heat hit us hard. The chilly air and mist on the crater ridge was now a distant memory. Beneath the azure sky we dropped layers and yet still sweated. The suncream was pulled from my trusty National Geographic bag (which made some people think I was actually affiliated with them; I, rather shamefully, did nothing to dissuade them from this...) and applied liberally.
The hat band in my Indiana Jones replica fedora (yes, really) was getting uncomfortable, but even though the Patrol roof 'popped' and did provide shade, we were up and peering out of it so much that covering the bonce was a must. Phillipa has brought with her some floppy monstrosity that Angela (her twin sister) had worn in South Africa. It had nothing at all to do with Indiana Jones and so my interest ended there :-)
We were both taking on water constantly, but Salvatory hardly touched a drop. He would go most days on a single small bottle. He did say he would drink more when we hit the Serengeti proper however, as it would be much warmer than in the crater. Phillipa and I shared an apprehensive glance...
We had not travelled far before seeing our first buffalo. Now, I don't know about you, but these never rated highly on my 'must see' list. 'Funny horns, don't do much' was my initial summation, but when we got up close I had to change my mind. They do have funny horns and they don't do much, but their size is staggering... It's quite captivating being so close to such a huge animal, and the fact that they don't shift around much made it easier to get some good snaps:
While I snapped away like a horny paparazzi outside Scarlett Johansson's bathroom window, Salvatory explained a little about Tanzania's history.
Tanzania was originally a German colony (remember 'Yellow Fever Forest'?), until World War 2. After the war the German colonies were divided up between the allies and England took over Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Zanzibar was passed to the Sultanate of Oman and this perhaps explains why the Muslim faith is much greater in Zanzibar than on the Tanzanian mainland.
The fact that Tanzania became a English colony also explained something the Phillipa and I had not even noticed yet - they drive on the left, in right hand drive cars... The plug sockets are also three pin, 240v, and so all our chargers fit straight in - and thank god for that; with our 15kg baggage limit we had no room at all for anything else!
Salvatory explained that with the English in charge there was a burgeoning NHS, good schools and good prospects (Tanzania remains to this day the jewel of Africa in regard to stability and opportunity) - once England left however, and the country was given back to Tanzania the organisation began to fall apart (I am quoting Salvatory here). He really missed English rule and felt it was to their detriment to have lost it. An interesting point to give to all those people who think colonisation was all bad...
Anyway.. :-)
We moved on from the buffalo and Salvatory's eagle eyes caught another black rhino. Honestly, the distances this guy could spot game was amazing - he would comment on details I could only see with the binoculars...
This rhino was definitely not our friend from earlier. We were too far away from the initial spot point, and as a further giveaway, this one had her baby with her!
Cubs, children - no matter what the species or what they are called, no matter what they are capable of, no matter how dangerous when grown - all young frolic and play and run around the legs of their parents, and the baby rhino was no different. It would run around the mother and then off a short distance away, before stopping and looking back, checking Mum was still close. If she was too far away, the baby would run back and then begin again. It was fantastic to watch, and just a shame that we were again watching through the binos (there are only 6 black rhinos in the crater, they are that rare, and so I guess we cannot complain that they kept their distance - who could blame them? After all, their only real predator has been man).
After all the above, I'm afraid I have no photos. The distance was just too great... Rest assured though, it was wonderful to watch :-)
We spent the rest of the afternoon driving slowly back to the lodge.
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| Secretary Bird - called thus due to pencil-like feathers on the back of the head, and because the Arabic for 'hunter' sounds like secretary (and the Arabs named the bird!) |
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| Black back jackals |
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| Our lodge is hidden in these clouds |
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| Zebra babies have brown stripes - they get darker with age until perfectly black |
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| Classic Africa shot! |
And then, driving across the crater to the lodge, we saw yet another black rhino - I mention this only as I was able to get some pics of this one :-)
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| This guy was sleeping, but popped his head up for a sniff from time to time |
And then we headed up the crater ridge to our temporary home. The day was not over however. We were about to see an elephant closer than we could have ever imagined - and he was not happy...
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