Day 11: Meeting the Lion King in Beho Beho

Meeting the Lion King in Beho Beho
Day #11 October 9 

Older and Wiser

At 6 am before leaving for the safari drive we watch  elephants in the pool in front of the lodge. One elephant is stalking Barbara and Peter’s cabana so Peter can’t get into his room to get his binoculars. The guide tells him to leave it there and loans him his binoculars. Later in the afternoon we see hippos, kudus  and monkeys at this same pool. They seem to take turns using the pool which is filled with water each day by the camp staff. 

 We have a new guide each day and this time it is Saning'o, the Masaii guide who told me his personal story the night before.  Interestingly he is the one to give us a history lesson on Selous and the war between Germany and Britain over this land in WW I.  We go by the gravestone of Selous and he tells us how this area became a British Colony in 1918 and then became the United Republic of Tanzania in 1962.  Hard to believe that Germany and Britain were fighting in this remote area in World War I—this seems inconceivable but countries do ridiculous things.

Taglala Lake
On this morning we drive to Taglala lake where we are served a surprise breakfast with all the fixings for our last day here. It is amazing they have tracked table cloths, place mats, ice, dishes, and even glasses all this way. The cooks have set up a kitchen where they fry eggs and toast. A typical British breakfast. 

This time they have even set up a toilet for us! 

View from toilet seat

Afterwards we take a beautiful lake trip viewing the storks, black winged stilts, grey heron, open-billed and marabou storks and common sandpipers by the water’s edge. 

Two African Spoonbill 

Southern Ground Hornbill

Spoonbills

All eyes on you!

Monkey Tree

On the drive back afterwards we see a herd of cape buffalo, 18 giraffe waiting to drink, yellow monkeys playing with their babies and a warthog who we are growing to love.  What will we do when go home and don’t see any animals by the side of the road (other than the deer that plague Vashon gardens)? 

Late afternoon drive 
For the afternoon drive I elect to go and John decides to go with me since it is our last full day on safari. The rest of the group are ready for some relaxation by the pool. I think watching the hyaenas and vultures eat the elephant may have been enough for one day. 
Of course I want to drive but John who is nervous about me driving takes over. What else is new?  

Of course we are not allowed to drive although we are all tempted. We ask the guide to take us to the hippo pool which we had seen the night before but are distracted by a large male lion who is roaring at something but we don’t know what. Raul, our Netherlands guide, thinks he is roaring for the rest of his family. So instead of going to the hippo pool we decide to stay with this lion which Raul calls Mr. Orange. 

Lion King or Mr. Orange

Raul tells us about a study where the biologists were trying to find out what kind of lions were most attractive to other lions.  To everyone’s surprise the favored lion had black and long hair rather than short blonde hair!  We watch for 30-40 minutes and are only a few feet away while Mr. Orange roars 3-4 times. 



Finally, he seems to see who he is looking for. We rush our vehicle to the bottom of the hill to see what he has found. There we see a small lion cub alone who rushes towards him and they play happily together. It was a very touching scene and made me think these male lions are more involved parents than is sometimes presented. 

October 10 ~ Our Last Morning

Marie, Barbara and I decide to do the last morning drive before leaving.  The others stay home to sleep in. John thinks the prior night’s roaring lion was such a highlight that nothing can surpass that and he wants to leave with this as his last memory. 

Raul is our guide again and has heard there is another pride of lions around. Indeed, we run into a young lion lying on the road; in the background sleeping are 10 other family members.

There are 3 adult females, an adolescent and 7 one year old cubs. No father is present. Our guide calls these the black panthers. We watch them for 30 minutes sleeping and occasionally opening their eyes but they look like they have recently eaten and are not hungry. 

We leave them for a while to have some breakfast. 



Afterwards we come back and suddenly they get up and start walking all in a file. 



We follow them and they end up at a campground with the cubs sleeping under a hut roof. The females circle the area and one checks out the bathroom. I can’t imagine what it would be like if we were campers here!  What a spectacular finale to our Beo Beo safari trip.

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On the way back the Cape of Buffalo say good bye to us. 

Water Buffalo

We reluctantly leave this magical place and catch a Cessna plane for Dar Es Salem. Even one baobab decides to show a blossom before we leave. There is beauty everywhere. See if you can find it on the next picture. 

We will sadly leave Barbara and Peter who are going to Ireland next. We continue on to Zanzibar with Marie and Steve. Wow what safari adventures we have had! 

Trish and guides

Hakuna Matata