My season kicked off the other day with a
4-day trip to Lake Manyara and Ngorongoro.
Lake Manyara is looking great this early in
the season, with plenty of water still, and lots of Lesser Flamingos too. Much of the lake is fringed with pink
and flocks can be seen flying from point to point a lot of the time.
A herd of 19 giraffe comes thundering out
onto the lakeshore, then turns to stare back into the woodland. We scan and scan for lion, but the bush
is just too dense.
As we enter camp, we are surrounded by a
herd of peacefully munching elephant, shattered trees lying all around.
During the night, the peace is broken by a
troop of baboon, barking out in alarm as a leopard does the rounds.
We leave at first light for a leisurely
morning in the southern part of the park. Breakfast is on the lakeshore with a
dense wodge of flamingos barely 30m away.
More keep flying in and, as we eat, there is a constant babble of
goose-like honking.
Probably the highlight of our Manyara stay is
a large tom leopard strolling along the road ahead of us. He disappears into the trees as we
approach and we catch a glimpse of spotted coat in the bushes, before he melts
into a thicket. We sit quietly for
20 minutes or so, hoping he will re-emerge or climb a tree, but no joy. Another group saw him later, and a
female crossed the road nearby – most likely a mating pair.
***
A wonderful sight on the descent into the crater: a caracal,
the most beautiful of all the African cats. She is carrying a mouse, and as we
watch, a well-grown kitten comes out of hiding and proceeds to eat. They aren’t at all shy and we spend a wonderful
few minutes with them.
Up before 1st light so as to
make the most of the early morning in the Crater. There is a thick fog and as we make our way around the rim,
we almost run into a buffalo on the road.
In the weird light, its dark body is almost invisible and we all but
nudge its bottom before stopping.
On the descent, there is the caracal pair
again. The kitten is once more
feeding on a mouse, presumably caught by the mother. The light is very uncertain, but we get close-up views of
the wonderful facial markings and long tufted ears that give this cat such an
exotic look. Gorgeous…
On the Crater floor, a large bull elephant comes
walking along the road towards us; we pull up and wait for him – he walks right
by, pausing to glare and flare his ears at us, just in case we haven’t grasped
quite how massive he is.
Not long after, a pair of hunting
lions. They are in a good
position, with plenty of game nearby.
A wildebeest walks right towards them, oblivious. A short rush… and the lion stops
dead. It turns out that he is a
youngster, still short of his 2nd birthday, and probably lacks the
confidence to take on a fully-grown bull wildebeest like that, with scary
looking horns!
And to round it off – a magnificent Martial
Eagle atop an acacia, plucking and eating what looks like an Egyptian Goose. What a spectacular bird….
