Where we have...Serengeti part 2

One can easily become obsessed with getting the perfect animal shot to the point of missing so many of the other wonders of the Serengeti or even Africa itself. There is the rush to see the Big Five or the uniqueness of seeing so many of the animals we grow up knowing only from behind bars in zoos or in pictures in books suddenly a few feet a way from you. They clearly are the stars of the show, but there is so much going on around one that I thought I'd devote this post to some lesser known actors in the magnificent performance that goes on daily.

The trees of the bush are under constant attack and have devised some ingenious ways to survive.

This tree is the Whistling Thorn Acacia. There are tiny little balls hanging from the tree that look like berries. When the animals try to eat them, stinging ants come out of the berries to deter the animals from having a snack. There are also three inch thorns on these trees that help deter grazing, but when the wind blows, a whistling sound from them is made and thus the name.

This is the Umbrella Acacia. It is a symbol of Africa. When it is low and young, it has the same three inch thorns the the Whistling Tree has, but as it grows taller and matures it looses the the thorns and concentrates on leaf production. The animals help give it it's shape by grazing as it grows.

This is the Candelabra Tree. The sap from it is poisonous and causes severe blistering when in contact with the skin and if gotten the eyes it will cause blindness. It also have formidable thorns. Neither animals nor humans go near this one.

The Serengeti is a birders paradise as are most of the National Parks in Africa. Here's a few.

A spoon bill and Marabill Storks.

 

A Fish Eagle.

 

An ostrich family.

 

Vultures.

The little guy below is a hyrax. These things were everywhere in the Tented Camp and were pretty fearless when approached by humans. They look like rodents, but have more in common with elephants and are in the same classification family. We had a lot of fun watching them.

This is tsetse fly trap. They are attracted to the color blue and the traps were all over camp. Their bite really hurts and causes swelling as a few members of our group found out. Fortunately the ones we encountered didn't carry sleeping sickness.

Then there are the antelopes. This is an eland, the largest.

The picture is a little dark, but this is a disk-dik, the smallest.

Finally a serval cat out in the daylight. They are one of the smallest cats in Africa.

There is much to see when one is out on a game drive it can almost become overwhelming and you see so many animals you would think you might become blasé, but as soon as one appears the cameras start clicking whether it is your first day out or last, for you never know when you are going to get that special shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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