The 2022 Africa Journals, Chapter 21: A Bountiful Buffet before Breakfast

 Chapter 21:

A Bountiful Buffet before Breakfast

A sense of humor is good for you.  Have you ever heard of a laughing hyena with heartburn?--Bob Hope

Sorry, Bob.   That hyena isn't laughing.  That noise is what they make when they're fighting over a carcass, ripping it apart, and gorging themselves.   Most often, they have stolen the victim from another animal that hoped for a meal. ( More about that later.)

Spotted hyena with wildebeest leg.

As usual at Enkewa camp, I'm awakened by staff with a tray of tea and cookies.    There's not much time to indulge, though, because we leave on a game drive soon.  Shortly afterwards, a security guard escorts me with a flashlight to the main lodge.  Once we have assembled and the vehicles are ready, Virginia and I climb into Johnson's Land Cruiser and off we go.

As we make the rocky climb out of the valley where Enkewa camp if situated, I wonder what gems the guides have in store for us today.   It soon becomes apparent that we are headed for a busy part of the Mara.

The sun is just beginning to show itself when we spot a clan of hyenas with the sun immediately behind them.   Pointing a camera in that direction produces some magical lighting  and I take a hundred or more photos, something that is easy to do with a camera that shoots 3 to 5 frames a second and you hold down the shutter button.   Some cameras shoot 16 and 20 frames per second..

The clan of hyenas are eating the carcass of a wildebeest that is so fresh, it is steaming in the morning chill.

Hyenas are among the scavengers that clean up carrion.   Sometimes they take down an animal themselves, but they are more than apt to steal a pray from lions and cheetahs and leopards, often "laughing" as they dart in to chase away the big cat.  They are voracious when they have a carcass.

A brave black-backed jackal sneaks in for a scrap.

The spot in the sky to the left of the mountain us a hot air balloon ascending with a basket full of tourists.    It is a popular thing to do in the Mara.

A hyena grabs a leg and takes off with it.

It's still early enough for a sunrise photo of wildebeest and zebra.

I have been wanting to get a shot of a wildebeest with the sun shining through its beard and I ask Johnson to stop for a moment when I see the ideal situation.

Wildebeest are the main entree on the menus of many predators in Africa,  including big three cats--lions, leopards, and cheetahs, as well as hyenas and African wild dogs.   Lions have little trouble taking one down, but cheetahs and leopards by themselves find the animals too large.    When they try, they seek out the frail and young.

Wildebeest, also called gnus, are about 4-1/2 feet at the shoulder.   Both males and females have horns though the male's horn are larger.  With their rectangular shaped heads and heavy forequarters, they tare an odd-looking animal as taper to small hindquarters and skinny legs.

Wildebeest follow the grass, often migrating 1000 miles in a season.   "The Migration," as its is popularly known, is a spectacular occurrence that brings tourists and photographers from around the world to watch thousands of the animals, especially when they cross river.   Crocodiles are also drawn to the crossings.

The name "gnu" comes from the sound the animal makes, much like the bleat of a goat, though the wildebeest are in the antelope family.   Wildebeest. are often found with zebra.   The joke is the zebra show the wildebeest where to go as the wildebeests are too dumb to know.   There's another reason.   Zebra eat the tall, rough stems of grass, exposing the softer  grasses below that the wildebeest prefer.

The rufous-naped larks have been singing to us all morning and I finally catch one on a perch and out in the open instead of concealed in the grass.

And then, we reach the place where the guides wanted to take us.    Coming towards us along a track in the long yellowed grass is a female leopard.   This is Luluka and she has two cubs waiting for her in a thick thicket not far away.

She is one of the queens of the Maasai Mara, very loved and sought after for photographers and tourists alike.

Finding leopards out in the open is a treat.  Usually they are resting high in trees during the daytime.

Leopards and cheetahs are identified by the patterns of their spots.  With leopards, the ring of black spots on the neck, called a "necklace", also has identifiable markings.   I suspect the single black dot under her necklace is a huge clue.   

Lions, on the other hand,  are identified by scars, physical characteristics, prides, and by long-time observance from cubs to maturity.

Playing with photos by creating a black background to show off her coloring.

We follow her progress at a distance.   Eventually, she reaches a shallow ditch and climbs into her den.   We watch for a while, but it becomes apparent that she is going to remain in the den, feed her two to three weeks old cubs, and take a nap after the night's hunt.

Into the den.   We are not the only safari vehicle there.   This is a popular part of the Mara and IT'S A LEOPARD!!    Johnson put us in the right place.

While we watch the leopard den, a hot air balloon rises into the sky, watched by a black-shouldered kite perched on a dead branch.

Hot air balloons over the Mara.   This is a bust day for balloons.   I've never seen this many before, so there must be large groups visiting.

Leaving Luluka the leopard, Johnson spots a lion stalking a warthog, also known as Pumbaa, from the Disney movie Lion King. Both are in long, yellowed grass.

We thought for sure that Pumbaa was a goner, but it spotted the lion in time to make his escape.

Pumbaa means to be foolish, silly, weak-minded, careless, or negligent in Swahili.

 Disney used the Swahili word and applied it to the warthog character win the movie.   Now, even the guides in Africa call a warthogs "Pumbaa."  

Despite their comparatively short legs, warthogs are incredibly fast.   Almost three feet at the shoulder, and weighing 120 to 150 lbs, they are a member of the swine family and a cousin to the wild boar.   They live in groups called "sounders".

Warthogs often den in abandoned aardvark holes.   The hogs enlarge the hole and then back in so they can protect themselves with those vicious-looking tusks.    They emerge from their dens ar full speed to get a head start on any predators that might be lurking nearby.   Top speed is about 35mph.

When I was staying at Governor's Camp a few years ago, the security guards who were escorting us to dinner in the dark, urged us to look into a deep thicket.  People clustered around  and oooh and aaahed over the sleeping warthogs.

I couldn't get close, so when everyone else left, I asked the guard to see them. When their flashlights illuminated the pair of warthogs in the bushes, the hogs blasted out like they'd been shot from a cannon.   Of course, it scared the dickens out of me and the guards got a big laugh out of my  reaction.

In the distance, the balloons are descending.    Several of our group are in a green and yellow balloon and will be picked up for the rest of the game drive.

I did this once, in the Outback of Australia in Alice Springs.   I even got to hold open the skirt of the balloon as it was being inflated.   It was a wonderful experience, but in Africa, I'd rather be on the ground and closer to the animals and birds.

A few zebra walk past us, one with a foal.

Are zebras white with black stripes or black with white stripes?   From the Internet:  Since white stripes only exist because pigment is denied, black is understood to be the “default” colour of a zebra. Beneath all that fur, zebras have black skin, too. A shaved zebra, without any stripes, could be almost unrecognizable as an all-black animal.

Near us, also observing the balloons are a pair of lappet-faced vultures, so called because of the fleshy skin folds on their faces.    With a wingspan of eight and a half feet, they are the largest vultures win Africa.    They are also considered the most shy, though this two sat and let us take photos.

Next up was a sub-adult lion walking across the savannah, its face covered with black flies that torment all the animals.   I occasionally ask the guides to rub insect repellant on their faces, their face, but they never oblige.

The lion reaches a shade tree and greets a brother lion with the typical face-rubbing.

There are three males from the Black Rock pride in the shade.

Sleeping face to face.

While we are taking photos with a number of other vehicles in a semi-circle, a white van arrives.

I am not sure if this is the same one that drove right up to the tree and parked, far too close to the lions.   The rest of us just stared and grumbled at this very unethical incident.   Even the guides were muttering in disbelief.

The beautiful Eurasian roller.

We find some zebra wading and drinking in the water.

Zebras waiting  for us to leave so they can get a drink.

After all the morning sightings, it is only a little after 9 A.M.    We meet  up with the other two Land Cruisers at a place called Toile Hill.   Unfortunately, it is aptly named.   There is toilet paper behind almost every bush.   There are no restrooms in the Mara, except the ones in camps, and those are only for the guests.

Termite mounds often substitute as privacy shields if you need a rest break.  Instead of asking for a potty stop, we announce that we need to check the tires.

While the guides set out the breakfast, I think about all the sightings we have had in a little more than three hours.    It is a cornucopia of Africa!    Indeed, a bountiful buffet before breakfast.

The only critter that joined us for breakfast was this Ruppell's long-tailed starling.  Collected by German naturalist and explorer Wilhelm Peter Eduard Simon Rüppell who made several trips to Africa studying and naming dozens of plants and animals.   One one voyage, he had to battle pirates that seized his ship for two weeks.

We find topi and zebra along the "river" that runs through the depression in front of us.    Then, we slowly make our way back to camp for the mid-day break and lunch.

However, we still have two hours before we reach camp and we head toward the Black Rocks.

Right below the huge dark rocks that is Black Rock pride territory, there is a small herd of Cape buffalo.

Lions and Cape buffalo are mortal enemies.   Lions prey on buffalo calves and buffalo will kill any lion club they find.

See the lions at right?

Ho-hum.   Observing but not interested in participating.

White-browed coucal, about 17 inches in length.

And with that, we're soon back at camp.   Time to download photos, have lunch, and a rest break until 4 P.M. and the evening game drive.

(NOTE:  I usually try to post these chapters every three to four days.   This one took a lot longer than normal.   There is much work involved in putting one together.)