Early up again this morning I woke up at 4:30am, we have to meet our Guide in the lobby for our walking safari today. We aren't sure what to expect - the group of Richardson advisors that came a few years ago saw a Lion on their walking safari but I'm not sure what is right around the resort this time of year. We only walk for about 90 mins so we can't get very far.
This will likely be the last night of the blog - we leave tomorrow morning to go to Zanzibar which is an island off the coast. We won't be doing too much there and the last 3 mights is at a beach resort where there will be a whole lotta nothing being done. Maybe I'll just do one overall post in Zanzibar just to post some ictures and memories - not sure.
We quickly just grabbed a croissant from the breakfast area and then went outside to meet the Guide and were introduced to Bernard (Guide) and Vicky and Benson (armed escorts)
Bernard explained that there were 5 golden rules - 1) Everyone walks single file with a Guard at the front and a Guard at the back. 2) Don’t run (if you act like prey you’ll be treated like prey) 3) speak quietly and silence phones I don’t know the last 2 and neither does Jay but I feel like the first 3 area likely the most important.
We got a LOT of information - I didn't take many photos because most of the animals were pretty far away but here is the info we got:
Buffalo - a single Buffalo is more dangerous than a few or a herd. Be very wary of single Buffalo because they’re always on their guard against predators and very aggressive.
Impala - there are essentially 2 Impala lifestyles, the bachelor and harem lifestyle. The bachelors are working towards getitng a harem which would consist of up to 20 females, the most a male Impala will hold a harem for is for 21 days. During that 21 days their instinct is to mate as much as possible and watch for predators so don’t eat enough or get enough rest, which makes them easier to overthrow by another strong Impala who has been eating and resting and fighting rather than mating.
Dikdik - they mate for life so you'll always see them in pairs. Their primary predator is Cheetah and if one of the pair is killed the other has a very small chance of survival and will often not run and sacrifice themselves as life isn't worth living without their mate. Jay said " thank you for the story by the way. Set the expectation."
Zebra - What colour are Zebra? Jay said white with black stripes, just to be contrary I said black with white stripes (I was right), how they know is they studied embryos and until 3 months gestation they're all black. Zebras migrate with Wildebeest but they're smarter - they have a good memory and when they come to the river crossing with the crocodiles during the Great Migration Zebras never cross first. They wait until crocodiles are full and not eating any more Wildebeest and then they cross. Zebra also always look healthy with full belly, even in dry season, but it can be bloating. So way to tell if they're healthy is by hair on their neck. If their mane is sticking straight up they're healthy, if it's laying flat they're not.
Wild basil - The Maasai use it like a cologne. Bernard said the Maasai can smell like cow and if they want to see their girlfriend they will freshen up with wild basil.
Warthog - If a warthog sees a predator, like a lion, and it has young then the mother will fake an injury, walking with a limp to draw the predator to her. But Warthog are fast, he said they called them a 12V engine and when the lion gets close they'll run really fast away. They're also known for having stamina and can have sex for 20 mins. They also walk with their tails up so that the young can follow the tail in long grass.
Elephant - African Elephants are not like their more gentle Asian Elephant brethren, they can be very aggressive especially if you don't heed the warning signs they'll give you before they charge. An Elephant will tell you they're uncomfortable by flapping their ears, among other things. They also communicate by Infrasonic Communication, an example is if a family of Elephant find a watering hole they will stomp their feet and the vibration can be heard up to 10km by another family of Elephants and they will make their way there if needed. They're also very respectful of eachother. If one family is at the watering hole and another family arrives they will wait until everyone is done before proceeding to drink. Elephant tusks were being poached and so in South Africa there were a number of baby Elephants born without tusks over several years so the government stepped in and got aggressive on poaching because they didn't want this to become a new birth adaptation because Elephant do need their tusks in the wild to help them survive. Elephants have no natural predators, Lions will go after a baby but not a full grown Elephant.
Termites - The Queen can be 5cm she lays 30,000 eggs a day - termites don’t make sound, they communicate by chemical pheromones. Their nests can either be underground or above ground in towers and if you're lost in the Serengeti most above ground termite towers are built facing West so you can find your direction by using the mound.
You have to remember that when you are doing a walking safari you are not watching the animals, the animals are watching you. When you are in a car the animals just see a large moving box, the scents are masked by diesel and so the animals might be curious but they don't see you as a threat within the vehicle, he said sometimes Lion will even come right up to the vehicle and rub on it and lay in the shade (and we told him that happened to us yesterday).
Dung Beetles - the Beetle who wins the female is the one who has the biggest balls. He repeated this phrase a couple of times before we realized he meant dung balls. The male is the workhorse in the relationship, creating dung balls for up to 60 eggs to be laid in a season. Fresh dung is the best and they can scent it within seconds. They never use the dung from a predator because it contains so much bacteria from the blood and meat it eats so only grass eating animals.
That was pretty much the tour, I might have missed a few things but it was very informative!
When we got back we all had a quick shower because even though we only walked for 90 mins it was starting to get hot. Mom and I went down to the pool area to sit on a lounger under an umbrella and read around 9:30am and met Jay down there for lunch about noon when the breeze let up and it started to get too hot, even in the shade.
As we were sitting for lunch Abraham found us to let us know that our flight tomorrow to Zanzibar was delayed by an hour so we don't have to leave at 8am we'll leave at 9am instead. It's an hour drive to the airport from here and they want us there an hour in advance of our flight. It will be interesting to see what kind of aircraft it is, I feel like it might be the smallest airplane we've ever been on and we flew on a 20 seater from Male to the island in the Maldives were our hotel was.
At lunch I got a mocktail (Strawberry puree, vanilla syrup, lemonade and lime) that was really good and added tequila to it which made it scrumptious (synonym #4), and asked for extra tequila and that made it even more luscious (that one seems like a stretch but the definition is spot on (of food or drink) having a pleasingly rich, sweet taste.)
Jay asked how long we thought he would make it in the wild if he just left the hotel, started walking and kept on going. He figured he'd last at least through the first night. lol
Now we're back in the room, it's 3:30pm. I doom scrolled for entirely too long and decided to write up the blog before switching back to reading my book. We relaxed until dinner and went for a drink around 6pm then headed up to the restaurant. Jay and I both got steak rare that was more like blue but was still good, it came with the fries with Parmesan and truffle mayo. Mom had the same pizza as last night but announced it in such a way that I was like “you had that last night”. “I did?” “Well it was good and you liked it so that’s good”. She had had 2 beer at happy hour and a HUGE glass of champagne with dinner (at least 2 glasses worth).
