Day 9-10 Third Safari Camp Beho Beho

Day #9-10 ~ Back to Selous and Third Safari Camp Beho Beho (meaning Wind) 

After breakfast and a morning walk learning more about elephant dung, termites, how to brush your teeth with tooth whitening juice from a specific plant we went to see the kitchen at Mwagusi Camp.

Kitchen 

Last breakfast at Mwagusi Safari Camp

 It was hard to imagine how these cooks made our delicious meals with so few utensils and materials. The kitchen was spotless and well organized with a wood stove. We left this camp like the previous one with thanks to Alex and Isaac and all the staff for their welcoming and instructive time.

Do you remember on our way from Selous Safari camp to the airport we were surprised by some  leopards which had not been seen at all in the prior 4 days? On this leaving day the cheetahs come to give us a farewell. I realize I now know the difference between a leopard and a cheetah. Of course a black-backed jackal and vultures come along to remind us about carnivores and survival of the fittest.

Beho Beho

After a small plane trip to northwestern corner of the Selous we arrive at Beho Beho, one of the first safari camps in Selous (1972). It is perched on a hill with panoramic and breathtaking views of the plain below and is surrounded by many baobabs. Here we each get a cabin built of stone that has one side entirely open to the view. You will definitely know we are not roughing it when you see these pictures. But still we don't have air conditioning and are very hot. 

View from bedroom 

Lodge

Library and dining room 

The terrain definitely looks different from the Impala Selous camp. We are happy to see this place has a pool and room fan. The beautiful and casual main lounge had been the holiday home of the Bailey family since 1977. There is a separate animal watering pool about 50 yards from the open main lounge where hippos, monkeys, hyaenas, and elephants come to drink during our 3 days in camp. We can just look out from the lounge at animals gathering.


One morning Barbara and Peter can’t go into their cabana because there is an elephant standing at their door.  Like the two other places we are chaperoned at night from our cabanas to the lodge.  Our schedule is much the same as for the other camps with morning and late afternoon game drives, and the option of a boat trip on Lake Tagalala. The camp manager is Trish whose is from Chicago but has family in Seattle and her husband, a guide is from Ireland.

Trish camp manager

There are 3 other guides, 2 are from Tanzania, one is Masaii and another is from the Netherlands. We start our stay with lunch before the late afternoon safari and several guides join us. 

Lunch Trish Manager 

This first day at Beho Beho was my birthday. John has arranged an afternoon sundowner with champagne in a tree house camp site which overlooked the jungle. What an amazing place to celebrate my birthday. In addition, dinner that evening included a birthday cake which was delicious. It was fun to celebrate with good friends in Tanzania.. a great birthday present. I have to say to say I feel quite young, only the mirror tells me I am aging as was meant to be. 

I am struck by the beautiful landscape at this place. In addition to the baobabs there are also flat topped Acacia trees.  Their spreading canopy offers shade for animals and also has fruit pods as food for animals. These trees are draught resistant and their wood can be used for firewood.  In addition, we see a Sausage Tree with large, sausage-like fruits hanging from the tree. The fruits cannot be eaten but are used for medicinal purposes (it must not work for HIV, since it is estimated that there are 1.4 million with HIV in Tanzania, with a prevalence of 4.7% in adults with 33,000 AIDS related deaths per year). The cactus like Candelabra Tree sometimes intertwines with the Baobabs and Acacias.  Palm trees can be found along the banks of streams. Fiber husks of date and coconut palm trees are used in the production of mats and baskets and thatching. We don't see baobab trunks being destroyed by elephants here probably because there is much more water available. 

 Some of the trees have Little Bee Eater nests hanging from them. The Termite houses are intriguing. They are started by a single queen and king who reproduce quickly with 35,000 eggs a day for years! They develop a caste system of workers and soldiers, who are blind but have chewing jaws. 

They make dome-like conical mounds that can be more than 6 feet high. The worker termites bring leaves and wool parts inside so that a fungus grows. I don’t quite understand this process but something about the cellulose formed glues the droppings together so that rooms are built inside the termites house for the queen and king and a nursery. If there is a shortage of soldiers, then the queen can emit a chemical to make more! Termites provide a food source for insects, aardvarks and offer shelter to numerous animals such as warthogs, hyaenas and banded mongooses. Again we learn about the interconnection of the Savannah life.

Lion Stalks a Warthog and Hyaenas Feast on a Dead Elephant

On our October 8th morning drive we stalk a lion stalking a warthog.  The lion uses the hill and at one point our truck as cover so the warthog won’t see him.  This lion seems to be blind in her right eye, which is clouded over. Over short distances the lion can go 65 miles per hour--faster than the warthog, but if she doesn’t get close enough before starting the chase she won’t make the distance. Unfortunately, this time the lion starts too early and the warthog sees her coming and gets away.
Only 10% of the time are lions successful ~ a testament to their persistence despite failure. 

Stalking warthog 

Warthog 

Goes for it but starting too early and  is unsuccessful (note the cloudy right eye)

We see more yellow baboons hanging out with impalas despite the fact that baboons will eat baby impalas.  Perhaps this is how they manage their birth control issue. The plains are flooded with impalas and they are in no danger of extinction.  We briefly see a Side Striped Jackal or is it a Black-Backed Jackal? These are a bit foxlike and feed on small birds and rodents.

Hyaenas

We see several side stripped, running hyaenas and start to follow them. We chase several of these until we realize they are leaving the scene where the vultures are rather than going toward them.  We reverse direction following the vultures and come across a dead elephant being eaten by dozens of hyaenas and vultures. We hear the eerie laughter and giggle of the hyaenas and watch them push the white backed vultures away. We can actually hear the crunching sound of the hyaenas eating bones! 

White-backed vultures

For most the smell of rotten meat is bad but since I have no sense of smell I am not uncomfortable with this. But the idea of a beautiful elephant being eaten is upsetting. We don’t know the cause of death; the only natural predator of elephants are lions and that is said to be rare. Most elephants are thought to succumb to disease or “old age”.  There are crocodiles waiting in the wings to eat the elephant when darkness falls. We leave this site to find a more relaxing place for breakfast but our appetite is not great at this point. 

We see black faced vervet monkeys which have blue scrotums and red penises. We are told they have a big vocabulary. 

Vervet Monkeys

After breakfast we go back to the dead elephant and this time the vultures are feasting with many fewer hyaenas. They must be full. The guides will call a ranger so the tusks can be removed before poachers arrive. Some countries such as Tanzania and Zimbabwe stockpile and hold the tusks. Other countries such as Kenya, Zambia and Botswana burn them. Our guide tells us that after prostitution, drugs and international trafficking, wildlife tusk poaching is the 4th biggest crime and a huge problem. The Queen of Ivory is thought to be China.

We are told by our guide there are 2 ways to protect one’s young. One way is called the Hiders---that is those who hide their young like the giraffe so the predator won’t see them. The other way is called the Followers.. those who keep their young at their sides such as Impalas.

Cape Buffalos

Wildebeest

Masaii

I have seen the Masai guides guarding us at our camp sites but we know very little about them. They greet us when we arrive back from a trip but we don't get to talk to them. 

Masaii Guide 

One of our guides is Masaii and I ask him about his life. He tells me his father had 4 wives and 12 sons and 12 daughters.  He did not go to primary school until he was 10. He said he did not do well because he didn’t speak Swahili, only his own tribal language. His father eventually sent him to Dar Es Salaam to learn Swahili and he went back to school. Again he said he did not do well there because he did not know English.  He worked to learn English and eventually finished secondary school and went for guide training.  He is Catholic with 2 wives and has 2 children from each wife. His wives are friends and he does not want more wives or children. He said he did not originally plan to have a 2nd wife but she got pregnant and he took his responsibility seriously. One wife lives with his mother and the other in his own home. He also is financially responsible for his mother and her sister as well as his wives and children. His oldest son is 5 years old and he wants him to go to a better school than he went to so as not to repeat the same educational problems he had. It will cost him $500 per year to send his son to a better school where Swahili is spoken rather than the tribal language. This delightful man had good English and willingly shared his story. His goal is for his son to have more life opportunities than to become a guide like him. He was an exemplary guide and a pleasure to talk with about many topics. 

Tally...  Peter reports we have seen 25 animals and 53 birds so far!  John’s count is slightly smaller.

In the afternoon we all rest by the pool, nap and decompress from the last 10 days. It is true that we now have internet again and perhaps everyone wants to check in with the outer world.

I don’t want to read the news and decide not to until I am on the way home. Or, maybe never as it has been relaxing not to hear about the latest fiasco in America.  We take a 5 pm drive to the hippo pond which is not far from the safari camp. Here a great many decks of hippos in the shallow stream serenade us with a hippo symphony and belly dance.

Hakuna Matata ~ more in the next blog about our final day in Beho Beho ~ and more adventures.