Swimming with dolphins, Kizimkazi, Zanzibar

Who knew dolphins crapped so much?

We are a short way offshore, near the southern tip of Zanzibar island, a place called Kizimkazi.  It's  a calm morning, and we have just found a pod of around 17 bottle-nosed dolphins. Dula, our skipper, manoeuvres the boat into position and gives us the go-ahead to jump in. I'm already kitted up - mask, snorkel, fins - and I jump in. There they are, a few metres away.

They are amazingly relaxed, happy to swim right up to me. For the next hour, there are dolphins all around: under me, next to me, behind me - and when I dive down, over me.  All the time, they keep up a continuous chatter, with much squeaking and clicking.

Two females are clearly on heat. Maybe this is why they ignore us so completely, the males are far more interested in the girls, and what their male rivals are up to. There is great deal of sensuous rubbing and some of the males are visibly aroused.

At the end of a magical hour, they head off and, without visible effort, quickly disappear into the blue.  The end of the show...

We were incredibly lucky with our encounter - these dolphins are a well-known tourist attraction and, in high season, it can get hectic, with boats vying for position, lots of people in the water and some pretty atrocious behaviour.  There are concerns about uncontrolled visits stressing the dolphins (web link here.  If you catch it right, though, it's pure magic

If you're lucky enough to see the Kizimkazi dolphins, try to do your bit: take a bit of time to find a reputable skipper, someone who won't push too hard and put undue pressure on these wonderful creatures. And spend a bit of time learning about the do's and don'ts of dolphin viewing. You'll have far more fun as a result... I did!

Oh, I nearly forgot about the poo: it's true, they were voiding all the time. I suspect it was to do with  the level of sexual excitement. Any marine mammal experts out there who can shed some light?

Here's a link to a Kizimkazi dolphin video - not mine, sadly!

view video

Ndutu in the green...

It's been very wet, with trucks getting stuck and the gulleys full of water. But the sun has been blazing for the last 5 days, a strong easterly wind has been blowing and the plains are drying fast.  There is a haze of dust in the air, the sky bleached to the palest blue. Long lines of wildebeest are trudging across the plain, heading west in search of water. But it won't be long now before the rains break, the grass greens up again and the plains will be dotted once more with animals as far as the eye can see.

We're in the woodland, photographing a Woodland Kingfisher, gorgeous in aquamarine and black and a long red bill. In the crotch of an umbrella acacia, a smear of russet. In my binoculars, the image resolves itself - a leopard sprawled on a branch, paws dangling languidly. It is a large male, but shy. As we try to approach, he fixes pale green eyes on us and then comes down from his perch in one fluid motion. 

In a gulley lie three lionesses, flat on their backs, paws in the air, utterly oblivious to us a few metres away.  A herd of wildebeest and zebra approaches, feeding in the dense grass along the valley bottom. The lions aren't hungry - sleek bellies show they've fed recently - but one of them gets into position, a perfect ambush. One by one the zebra move past at a safe distance, unaware of the danger lurking nearby. A wildebeest wanders closer, head down and munching. There is a bush obscuring his vision and the lioness uses the chance to move, closing the gap to about 12 metres. She crouches, then charges forward, a tawny blur. The wildebeest swings around and runs - straight at her. This isn't in the script and she turns tail and flees. The moment is gone, her chance blown. She wanders back to her friends and settles down once more to sleep

Out on the plains, the cheetah are doing well. We find 2 mothers, one with 5 tiny cubs, less than 2 months old, the other with 3 well-grown youngsters in tow.

These young cats are very playful and are intrigued by the car. They try chewing on various bits of it, then one jumps up on the bonnet and peers at us, amber eyed, through the windscreen.

We watch a fascinating interaction when another cheetah moves purposefully towards them. Is he interested in the mother, or possibly a threat to the cubs? It turns out to be a young male, maybe a litter mate that got separated from them, or possibly one recently  turned out by his mother and is feeling confused and lonely. There are some tense moments when they all meet, with growling and flattened ears, but no violence, and eventually the family continues with the hunt, leaving the newcomer alone once more.

It's our last morning. We make our way slowly along shore of lake Ndutu. There are hundreds of baby wildebeest carcasses on the waterline - a herd has crossed the lake, and the babies, some no more than a week or 2 old, became exhausted struggling in the mud. A disreputable looking marabou stork  picks at a carcass in a bored way.

At the end of the lake, a crossing! But not your standard crossing, with hundreds of wildebeest flailing through the mud - instead, a family of banded mongoose runs to the water's edge. They are nervous, some of them standing up on their hind legs to scout for danger. Eventually, one trots into the water and they all follow, bounding through the shallows like tiny otters. Is this the first recorded mongoose crossing?