Ruaha
National Park ~ Mwagusi Safari Camp
Elephants, and Leopards
Days
5-8
 |
| Leopard |
Ruaha National Park is said to be another of the Tanzania’s
best-kept game-viewing secrets.
Despite heavy poaching in the 1980’s elephants
here number the greatest of any in Tanzanian Park. Since we didn’t
see any in Selous National Park we are hopeful.
We arrive at this beautiful small tented camp situated on the north side
of the Mwagusi River although this river is completely dry, as it is well into the dry season.
Our walk-in tent has a balcony with a view of the sandy dry river bed.
 |
| View from deck of dry river bed |
The camp
manager is Alex, a woman from Italy and Isaac, a Tanzanian is our guide. When
we arrive Alex tells us to put our things in a trunk as monkeys can enter our
place and explains that our tents will be zipped up at night. She assures us that lions don’t know how to
unzip tents! Again the rules are not to
walk alone at night and that one of the staff will take us to dinner in the
dark at night. She gives us a whistle to
use if there is any emergency. Again the place seems to be environmentally
friendly with solar power and most food is from local farmers and markets.
The food here is delicious. We ask to see the kitchen are amazed at how they prepare this food with limited equipment.
 |
| Kitchen Building |
 |
| Chef |
Like the Impala Selous Camp, after lunch we settle in
with a siesta and venture out when it is somewhat cooler at 4 pm. At this camp
there is no pool or fan… we are incredibly hot and I hear some mumbling about
missing the Impala pool. Out in the vehicle the wind feels good. We notice many, many Baobab trees here.
This beautiful tree is an iconic symbol of
Tanzania and other African countries with its swollen trunk with elephant-like
bark and thick root structures. Some trunks can measure more than 9 meters. Even at this very dry season they have no leaves. In the rainy season they have a
dense canopy, bear white flowers, have fruits and soak up water. So at this dry
time of the year once you get deeper than the hard outer tree bark you find sugared moist
water. We saw baobab trees said to be 700
years old and are told they can live from 2000 to 7000 years; one in South Africa is said to have been carbon dated at over 6,000 years old.
We could see that many of these majestic these
trees have been damaged by elephants who in the dry season pull off and spit
out the bark after extracting salt and juice, which are important to the
elephant’s survival, but there is concern about Baobab extinction in this area because of
all the elephant damage. This was not the case in our 3rd camp, which also had many baobabs, but the elephants in that area had ready access to water year round.
 |
| Black-Backed Jackal |
Yes, there are Redbill Buffalo Weavers and
Hornbill birds, yellow monkeys, elegant impalas and a herd of over 300 Cape Buffalos but our attention is
captured by the parade of 50 plus
elephants with their babies.
A Parade of Elephants Searching for Food and Water
 |
| Digging for water |
 |
| Baby models mother's behavior |
 |
| Elephant eating leaves |
Over the next 3 days we
notice how elephants use their trunks to dig
into the riverbed to find water or pull down leaves to eat.
Interesting the elephant uses his or her trunk like a straw to suck up
water and then squirts it into his mouth and over his body to cool down. They
flap their ears when stressed or when cooling their body. Their tusks seem
enormous with some having uneven length or only one remaining. Female elephants
live in herds of 10-20 and are very protective of their young. 95% of their
babies survive which contrasts with giraffes where up to 50% die. The old bulls tend to live a more solitary
existence.
 |
| Barbara |
Because of the elephant’s poor digestive system, absorbing
only 40% of the nutrients from food, elephants need to eat grasses and bushes
and trees 18-20 hours a day. This means that their dung is full of seeds that
germinate and nutrients that feed monkeys and other small animals. They only sleep one hour a day. Later I take
a picture of an elephant leaning his body against a trunk as if asleep. Elephant
pregnancies are 24 months in length and they continue to breast feed for up to
2 1/2 years. They can live up to 80 years. But as I discussed in the prior blog they are decreasing in numbers. Finally, we have seen our elephants.
Cape Buffalos
While the elephants seem to mesmerize me I must say something about the Cape Buffalos because they seem more interested in me than the elephants. They look like cattle yet have massive horns that spread outwards and arch up and inwards. The older bulls have more massive horn sets than females. We think we are seeing a herd of several hundred of these.
Although seeing the elephants was enough excitement
our guide has heard about a cheetah coalition (the name for a group of cheetahs) from another guide. He reeves up the engine
and drives like mad to see if we can find the cheetahs. While leopards are out
at night, cheetah’s hunt during the day.
There are only 24 cheetahs in this huge park, far fewer than leopards, so we will
be lucky if we see them. Wow! We see 5 cheetahs which have not been seen in years.
Cheetahs who have a yellow coat with black spotting are considered to be the
fastest animals. The pattern of black rings on the tail with their white tip is
considered to be their individual identifying finger print. They usually prey
on medium size antelopes and drag them into a bush to avoid the attention of
lions and hyenas. We notice these cheetahs have tear-like marks on their faces.
Kudus
While kudus seemed somewhat rare in Selous, here in Ruaha they
seem to abound, and we see many herds. They have amazing spiraled horns that can measure 180 cm in
length. (these have been used in Jewish ceremonies) Their smooth coat is marked with 6-10 white stripes with a white stipe
between their eyes. They are usually in small herds of 4-5 and like other
antelopes are herbivores. They can get
in fights with other kudus and if their horns get interlocked they cannot unlock
them and both kudus will die of starvation.
At this camp site we have dinner with a camp fire on
the dry river bed and can see an elephant not far away. Ratatouille, veal, fish, potatoes, spinach and
fruit cup seems our usual menu. Seems very healthy. What a day we have seen 4 of the 5 “big
five”... elephant, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo but not the Rhino which we don’t
expect to see even though mentioned as being here in our travel book.
Leopard in the Tree
On day 6 we see a leopard lazily sleeping in a tree. I try to remember
how it is different from a cheetah. While leopards have tan coats also with
black/brown spots they are nocturnal and often take their prey high into a tree
to evade predators. Whereas cheetah hunt during the day and may seek an
elevated position on a rock. They are both pretty solitary but I think the
leopard does not have a white tip on its tail like the cheetah does.
 |
| Add caption |
Later we go back to see what I think is a 2nd leopard again in a tree
and our guide tells us it has been 3 days since feeding on an impala.
Dik Dik
This is the smallest antelope and is very cute. They are only 1 foot tall at the shoulder and 2 feet long. The horns on the male are only 3 inches long. They appear tiny and are very graceful runners. We see
them briefly and they run away from us so I don’t think I can get a picture.
Interestingly the animals here seem less afraid of
safari vehicles in comparison to the Selous vehicles.
 |
| Banded Mongoose |
More
amazing birds
 |
| Guinea Fowl |
Elephants Get Water from Baobab Trees
I mentioned earlier that in the dry season the elephants get water to drink by using their flexible trunk to rip the bark off the Baobab tree causing considerable damage to these trees but allowing elephants to survive the draught. It is fascinating to watch how the elephants bring down the bark to be able to chew the moist part of the tree.
 |
| Cuts the bark by holding one end with foot and pulling with trunk |
Steve tries to get the perfect sunset picture.
Despite heavy poaching in the 1980’s elephants
here number the greatest of any in Tanzanian Park. Since we didn’t
see any in Selous National Park we are hopeful.
We arrive at this beautiful small tented camp situated on the north side
of the Mwagusi River although this river is completely dry, as it is well into the dry season. 
Although seeing the elephants was enough excitement
our guide has heard about a cheetah coalition (the name for a group of cheetahs) from another guide. He reeves up the engine
and drives like mad to see if we can find the cheetahs. While leopards are out
at night, cheetah’s hunt during the day.
There are only 24 cheetahs in this huge park, far fewer than leopards, so we will
be lucky if we see them. Wow! We see 5 cheetahs which have not been seen in years.
Cheetahs who have a yellow coat with black spotting are considered to be the
fastest animals. The pattern of black rings on the tail with their white tip is
considered to be their individual identifying finger print. They usually prey
on medium size antelopes and drag them into a bush to avoid the attention of
lions and hyenas. We notice these cheetahs have tear-like marks on their faces.
I seem to be energized with the need to see more,
although the midday heat here is even more stupefying and seems not be abating. I
learn I cannot live in this temperature and prefer rainy Seattle. How
interesting it would be to see this place in the rainy season with blooming
baobabs (although with fewer animals as well). 
Day #7 starts out with seeing a loving lion couple! Later we see a giraffe and a 3-week only baby
and a zebra with a 3-day old baby with brown color. Then we come across another 3
female lions who have had a successful hunt. These must be the lions we heard
roar from our tent the night before for this place is just across the river bed
from our tent. 
Day #7 starts out with seeing a loving lion couple! Later we see a giraffe and a 3-week only baby
and a zebra with a 3-day old baby with brown color. Then we come across another 3
female lions who have had a successful hunt. These must be the lions we heard
roar from our tent the night before for this place is just across the river bed
from our tent. 
No comments:
Post a Comment