Happy New Year
Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania
January 01, 2016
Happy New Year!
We started off very early this morning and were on the “road” at 6:20. The rain had cooled things down and we layered up a bit. Immediately we were rewarded with seeing an eagle owl. He was perched high up and looked like he was not going anywhere anytime soon.
Not very far into our drive we saw the lions and the cubs finishing off a zebra. Once they were full the jackals and vultures moved in for their share of the meal. One jackal was lucky enough to make off with an entire leg! The lions lazily lumbered around and headed to the water to drink their fill before taking a long nap! The cubs were not very playful this morning, they just wanted to eat and drink their fill and take naps with their parents Paw Patrol.
We headed away from the marshlands to a serengetti area. This word is from the Maasai people and means never ending plains. It was sparsely populated with acacia trees and shrubs, and has tall plants and grasses. I thought it would be easy to spot animals, but we quickly found out that it was very easy from them to hide in plain site. We stopped the vehicle right beside a hyena without even seeing him. It looked like he was in rough shape and it appeared that he was blind in one eye. He must have overheard our unkind remarks about his appearance because we saw one tear roll down his face. Awww!
We drove around for a long time without spotting a cheetah, so we paired up with another guide and started scanning the area. Our strategy paid off because after some time we finally found a cheetah on the move! We watched her for a while and took some photos, then took a break and had our boxed breakfast with French toast, sausage, bacon, crepe and watermelon Lookin Out. It ws really good!
By the time we finished breakfast, we had lost track of the cheetah, but several other vehicles had arrived and aided in the search. We were rewarded with finding her again. She really is a beautiful creature.
We then headed across the plains as Wolfgang spotted a large herd migrating. Along the way we drove right up beside a bat eared fox den. The parents and four babies were out for a while. Some of the young ones were nervous and darted in and out of the den. They are so adorable with their huge ears!
The migration was really neat to see. There are hundreds of wildabeest and zebras together. At the time they were mostly resting and grazing. We were able to get out and stretch our legs for a bit. While we were walking around I was able to take photos of red witch weed, white ink flower and the sodum apple flower Cheetah. We were also able to watch a pair of dung beetles try to move some dung to an appropriate spot to lay their eggs.
One our way back to camp we saw the lions again. They were looking very sleepy and were passed out on or near the roadway. We did not see the little ones, so they must have been sound asleep somewhere.
We did see a couple more cool birds, one of my favourites, the lilac breasted roller, the smallest falon, the Pygmy falcon and a very large and powerful eagle. The martial eagle is strong enough to carry a dikdik! I did spend some time today trying to get a good shot of the lilac breasted roller in flight, but was sadly unsuccesful!
We arrived back at camp to freshen up and have lunch. While we were resting another thunder storm came and went. It was nice to cool things down and knock down some of the dust Cute Bat Eared Fox!.
For our afternoon game drive, we headed to Lake Nbutu where we were able to see a few lesser flamingos. They are smaller, pinker and pink beaks). We also saw some water birds like the woodland kingfisher, common sandpiper and three banded plover.
After leaving the lake we drove through an area with lots of beautiful acacia trees. This was a great area for spotting dikdik, superb starlings, bee eaters and cordon blue birds.
Karen had requested to see monkeys and her wish came true, we were able to see the black faced or blue balled monkeys. Either way, they are aptly named. Those are some bright blue balls!
We caught a glimpse of Lake Maasaic, but headed towards an area that had trees that were a prime area for leopards. We were very delighted and extremely surprised to find some cats in the trees, but they were lionesses! Our guide, Wolfgang, said that this was the highlight of the day for him Leading Edge of the Migration. This was extremely rare to see and he had only seen it once in a distance. There were two adult females and one cub. The one female was lazily sleeping on a tree, while the other was standing watch and trying not to doze off. It was really a unique site and it totally made our drive!
New and/or Noteworthy:
Eagle owl
black backed jackal
tawny eagle two banded courser
African wattled lapwing
yellow throated long claw
coqui francolin
white browed coccal
African monarch butterfly caterpillar
common kestrel
lesser spotted eagle
crested lark (well spotted Wolfgang)
Usambiro barbet (sang their rattled duet)
skink
Batelier eagle (flying and on a tree)
little bee eater
fork tailed drongo
Pygmy falcon
martial eagle
lesser flamingo
woodland kingfisher
three banded plover
common sandpiper
lesser flamingo
capped wheat eater
dikdik
black chested snake eagle
black faced or blue balled monkey
Guinea fowl (in a tree)
