Day Two: The Secrets of Selous Impala Camp

The Secret of Selous Impala Camp - 

Shy Masai Giraffes, Yellow Baboon Troops, Exotic Birds and Animal Parades to the Watering Hole

September 29-October 2 (days 1-3)

Selous Camp is a magical and unpretentious place consisting of 8 tents on wooden platforms, each with private balconies set in the bush on the side of the Rufiji river, which is East Africa’s largest river.  Each tent is solar powered and is guarded at night by a Maasai warrior.
  



Our first night we experience a symphony of music which will be replayed in various melody iterations at our subsequent two safari camps. I wish I could transport these amazing sounds home. I imagine I am hearing the sounds of grunting hippos, babbling baboons, laughing hyenas and what I think are bird sounds but in truth I am too ignorant to be able to identify whether they could be a jackal or giraffe or waterbuck. Do you know the difference between a hippo and elephant sound? Barbara and Peter see a hippo sauntering in the bushes out front of their tent cabana near the river and this clarifies one of the sounds for them.

We are greeted at 6 am by our Maasai guard dressed in his traditional garb of wooden club, spear and lovely fabric. I wonder if the Maasai really wear this clothing or if this is just for the benefit of tourists?  He welcomes us by saying “karibou” and quickly this becomes one of the Swahili words we learn. Another phrase used by many during our trip is “Hakuna Matata” and I am reminded of Disney’s Lion King. The Maasai for our tent is extremely handsome, smiling with white teeth that look like they have been professionally cleaned and his job is to protect us from animals at night and take us to the thatched lodge in the morning. He has been sitting outside our tent all night!  There are approximately 1.6 million of the Maasai people, with about half being in Tanzania and half in Kenya. They speak the Maa language and have been encouraged by the Kenyan and Tanzanian governments to abandon their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle, but they have continued their customs.

 From our breakfast table we see a Giant King Fisher and African Golden Weaver. Of course I don’t know these names but our guides Festo and Dennis begin to educate us. We take 2 land cruisers for our game drive down bumpy roads and our guides stop to look at tracks in the dirt and to point out and describe the habits of an animal or bird or insect. 

I am amazed at the guide's ability to see these animals without binoculars or even regular glasses. We see a pregnant warthog that is quite ugly with a long black mane of hair, 2 sets of warts below the eyes, tusks from the mouth and a rather sexy trot gate somewhat like a small pony. 

I wonder if these animals are as smart as a pig but struggle to want to photograph them. I wonder what is considered beautiful in the animal kingdom? The Kudu seems rather elegant with a velvet, bluish-grey, smooth coat and long hair down the center of its back and cut tail.

Greater Kudu

A tower of Maasai giraffes

The world’s tallest animals reaching over 16 feet look at us rather shyly with their gorgeous eyes and eyelashes. They seem to make direct eye contact with us and I wonder what they are thinking. 


The brown blotched coat color of the males tends to darken with age and we are told the head horns are covered with tuffs of hair for females but not for males.  We learn they live 28 years and their pregnancies last 14 months but their next pregnancy will be 5 years later. Their baby is 5 feet tall at birth and must be at least 6.5 feet high to breast feed which is important because they aren’t able to eat leaves for 2-3 weeks. Our guide tells us they are not social animals and that the mothers will abandon their babies when predators are near. Sadly we are told 50% of giraffe babies die at birth or during infancy. The babies are dropped 5 feet on the ground at birth from the mother’s womb as she delivers standing. Festo says they are dropped because they need a “kick start” to live!  They sound like very unloving mothers.. but we later learn from another guide this is not the case. In fact giraffes move away from their babies in order to divert predator’s attention and thereby protect them. Moreover due to their great height and excellent eyesight they have the capacity to keep monitoring their baby’s safety at a distance which is not true for most other animals. Since elephants have poor eyesight they would not use this strategy.  Later I think that giraffe babies high death rate may also be due to water draught as well as predators. So I wonder if dry season has more deaths than wet season... this I must look up when I return.

Giraffes browse the top of tree leaves with their lips and with their very long tongues (18 inches) get some moisture from leaves. Unlike the camel they can’t store water and need to drink 30-40 liters of water a day. I can’t imagine how difficult it must be to get their long necks down to drink water while standing! And how do they manage to have sex when they don't lie down? 






Giraffes are “ruminants” and like antelopes and buffalos have a 4 compartment stomach which is a more efficient digestive system with about 230 ft of intestines; they only have to eat a few hours each day. When they eat the leaves go in the first stomach & later curds are brought back to the mouth for further chewing and then sent to the 2nd stomach to absorb the nutrients more quickly.  This is in contrast to elephants who need to eat 18-19 hours a day because of their simple stomach and poor digestive system. Since elephants need to move 4 hours a day to get food, they are left with 1 hour per day for sleeping. On the other hand giraffes only sleep 20 minutes a day! I wonder if elephants and giraffes ever sit or lie down? Wow they must have good backs.

Troop of Yellow Baboons

 There can be 20 to 70 baboons in one troop with a large dominant male. We see them busy playing and foraging on the ground picking out seeds and nutrients from elephant dung which is largely undigested due to their inefficient digestive system. We continue to learn that what is difficult for one animal can be beneficial for another. Indeed these animals are interdependent and assist each other in the survival process. I am fascinated by the baboons mutual grooming efforts which seem obsessive, and I wonder if it has a purpose other than relationship building. 





Often we see the baboons playing alongside the impalas in a symbiotic relationship. Baboons help protect impalas because from their tree heights they can warn impalas of approaching predators such as lions or jackals or hyenas. On the other hand, baboons eat baby Impalas. Either the impalas have a bad memory, or feel this sacrifice is worth the price they pay for the safety the baboons offer.

Incredible Birds

As we travel our guide pauses to point out the many species of birds and I try to capture them on my camera finding it difficult to keep the lens stable when zooming in or to get the right depth of field or lighting.  We even stop to watch matebele ants carry termites across the road. 

John and Peter begin checking off bird sightings in their bird books. The spectacular lilac breasted roller happily models for me and waits so I can capture the lilac breast streaked with white and turquoise blue underparts.

Lilac-Breasted Roller

 This is East Africa’s commonest roller & continually sparks the savannah trees at all our safari camps. Later I find I have more than 50 shots of this bird & obsess over which will be the best one. We also see Little Bee-eaters with their metallic ultramarine blue eyebrows and red eyes. A Lessor Striped Swallow perches on a Cassia tree with a yellow flower in bloom. I wonder if I was able to get a focused shot. 

Acacia Tree 

No time to check or compose a picture as there is a smorgasbord of potential pictures. I spot a rather dull colored black striped kingfisher with grey-blue rump. I relate to this muted color - and the fact this kingfisher eats insects not fish, is not flashy but is buff.

Safari Schedule

At all three of our safari camp sites our schedule is similar. We awake at 5:45 in the morning and meet at the main lodge at 6:15 for coffee and a granola-like biscuit. We must start when the weather is still cool.  We drive searching for animals realizing that every drive offers unexpected findings and a new adventure. Around 9:30 we stop at some amazing view spot for breakfast usually consisting of fruit, cereal, eggs and often bacon. It is an English breakfast and I wonder what the Tanzanian people would normally eat? 

Amazing Breakfast View 

After breakfast we continue driving until 12:30 to 1 pm. By then the heat is stupefying. I am sure it must be over 100 degrees. We are dripping wet, zombie like and go back to our rooms for cold showers before lunch. After lunch, naps are in order---there is little energy for anything else. Electricity to all our safari camp sites is solar powered & the shower and tap water are collected rain water or pumped from a nearby river. We drink bottled water. This is the “yellow or dry season” that is approximately July to December. As it is October we are at the end of the dry season and river beds are dry and animals are searching for water river sites. There is 3 months of rainy or green season from February to April. None of our camps are air conditioned, 2 of them have small pools and only 2 of them have fans!  (Our 2nd Mwagusi safari camp has neither fans nor a swimming pool). 

Our tent cabana at Selous

View from deck of tent

At 4pm we reassemble at the lodge for our evening safari either by vehicle or boat. We stop around 6:30 for a sundowner drink by some amazing sunset spot, snapping pictures, sharing and returning to the camp site around 7:30 for a delicious evening meal. I find that being forced to be “off the internet grid” fosters more self-reflection and being "in the moment" in regard to what we are seeing, feeling and learning.

Parade to the Animal Watering Lake ~ A Staged Production

Our first morning stopping to have breakfast was jaw dropping. We arrived at a table set up near a lake which is chocked full with a deck of hippos, their babies and crocodiles.  I wonder if the crocs attack the baby hippos?  What is their relationship like? At the end of the lake we see a single file of scores of impalas coming to drink from the lake-- eventually, more than a hundred of them congregate. 

Impalas

The impalas leave when a herd of blue wildebeests, which are the most abundant big game species in East Africa,  congregate to drink. 







In turn the wildebeests leave in file when a dassel of zebras takes over the area. The zebras are smart letting the impalas and wildebeests to go first to assess potential danger from predators such as lions or leopards. 

A dazzle of zebras

Baby zebras

Wildebeests and Zebras coexist 

It is hard to know what to watch or take pictures of first.. the posing lilac-breasted roller, the yellow billed stork in front of the hippos, the sparrow weaver in front of our table, or the next set of newly arriving Kudos showing off their amazing curved horns at the water hole. 

Yellow billed stork watches hippos ~ will he go in the water to get fish?

Yellow billed Stork 

And then the hippos decide to move and show us their stuff!  Are they loving? cute? will she or he step on the egret? I am not sure how to determine gender of these animals?

And then there are the two African Fish Eagles atop a tree watching all this choreography. It feels like we are the audience to a wonderful staged production, with different animals coming on and off the stage which is only 150 ft away. Sadly no leap of leopards, or pride of lions, or cheeky cheetahs, or any parade of elephants are in this play. All seems calm and serene and I think perhaps I am dreaming. And this is only the first morning! Yikes a lot to take in.