The 2022 African Journals, Chapter 17: Olympians All

 

Chapter 17:

Olympians All

 

Never put an age limit on your dream.

-Dana Torres, four- time Olympic swimming champion.

 

 

 

I’m spending some free time on my lovely deck at Finch Hatton resort, trying to catch a pied kingfisher diving into the water and coming out with a fish.    It’s a challenge with  inherent monumental frustration, but oh-so-fun.   You never know where the bird is going to hit the water.

 

All you can do is focus on the bird as it hovers and try to follow its quick flight path from side to side and up and down.   Then, depend on your reflexes and fast shutter speed to catch something.   Anything.   I could get them coming out of the water, but not going into it.

 

On the way to lunch, a Skyes monkey is spotted high up in a tree by the bridge and we all try to get photos but it’s well hidden by branches.   Yes, we are armed with our cameras because of the sunbirds in the flowering bush beside the dining area.   Staff has set baskets on side tables for us to place our cameras in, rather than putting them on the floor.

 

We fill the baskets and the rest go on the floor.

 

After lunch, I’m back on the deck and a bunch of Syke’s monkeys appear across the narrow neck of water beside my tent.  After a while, I see one on the shore the and watch it.   It approaches a long-dead tree trunk and sits down.

Then it sticks its hand into the log, withdraws it, and licks its hand.  Not until I get the photos on my computer do I see what it is eating and even then I’m not sure with it is. 

You need a lot of room to include the tail in a photo.

Note how wet the monkeys hand looks.

 

 

Some small, whitish things can be seen on its hand and lips.   Other photos show a sticky, slimy substance somewhat like saliva or honey.   The monkey carefully licks its hand, turning it over and inspecting it for more, and then puts it back in the log.

 

These are several guesses:   termite eggs or some other kind of insect eggs.   As for the slimy stuff, I’m left with saliva, and that’s a poor guess.

 

 

Later, we’re out on our game drive.  

 

Tsavo scenery

The vervets came out to play on the lawn at camp.

Vervets

Vervets

Suddenly, the driver turns and heads back in the direction of camp but instead of turning in the drive, he drives farther than we have even been from the lodge.   On and on we go with this Ferrari Safari, and then he takes us down a hill and into a flat meadow.

 

A tent is set up with a table full of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and an assortment of cheeses, nuts, and crackers.   It’s what’s called a sundowner, but this one requires audience participation beyond eating and drinking.

A tall, slender Maasai is holding a spear and shield.   This is Isaac and he is posing for us.

 

I ask him to look fierce and that brings a smile to his face.  

 

“No, fierce.   Mean.”    He giggles.

 

No matter how solemn he tries to look there is always the hint of a smile.   Our ribbing doesn’t help.

This is as  fierce a look as Isaac can manage.

We are going to be treated to the Maasai Olympics, a demonstration of the three traditional Maasai warrior weapons:   a spear, a bow and arrow, and a rungu (akin to a knobkerrie).

 

The spiel is that the tradition of boys having to kill a lion with a spear for his right of passage to become a warrior is now being supplanted by the “Maasai Olympics.”  With tourism becoming a major part of Kenya's economy, many young Maasai have turned to protecting lions, elephants, rhinos, and other iconic African animals.  Javelin throwing contests provide the young men a chance to earn prize money as well as show off his prowess.

 

Rungu

So, we are participating in a much smaller version of the Maasai Olympics.

 

 

First up is rungu throwing.   A target is set up with a basket attached behind it to receive the rungu, which is a hand-carved long stick with a hard knob on its end.  

 

I did okay once I threw a couple and got the feel of the rungu’s weight and balance.    Not great, but I did make a basket or two.   Randy did very well.  

 

The archery target is at the left.   We stood ridiculously close to all the targets.

Up next was archery.  I practiced western-style archery when I was younger but this archery was different in a couple aspects:  the bow is not held vertical but at a 45 degree angle tilted  to the right and the arrow is placed on the left side of the bow string.

I did well.   I would have had three bulls eyes had one arrow not hit an arrow already in the target.   I think it was Sylvia who did exceptionally well.

It was too dark for throwing the spear by the time that came around.

 

This was a hoot!   Everyone who wanted to participate did.   The sun set while we were pretending to be warriors and many of my photos with my cell phone did not turn out.

 

Nonetheless, Marg captured these videos:

 

 

Pointing to my two bullseyes.   What would have been a third is lying on the ground after hitting another arrow.

And with that, Randy and his Six Wives returned to Finch Hatton luxury resort where we dined a fresco under a full moon, entertained by a bushbaby dashing about the roof tops and serenaded by the sweet song of a tiny nightjar.

***

Red-headed agama

We got a peek at two elephants here.   This one.....

...and her calf.

Gray-headed kingfisher.

A couple zebra.

Maybe a pet hyrax isn't such a good idea.   Look at those teeth.

The 2020 Africa Journals

Chapter 13

Running on Vervet Time

We’re on a land safari today in Chobe National Park.  Lion tracks were seen in the dirt on the road and our driver is following them.

We find the lions.   It’s a breeding pair and both are sacked out in the shade.   We watch for a while and then go back a short distance to a picnic area under a large tree. 

The birds are the first to come looking for food.

While we enjoy our tea or coffee and cookies, I see some monkeys called vervets approaching.   They swing up into the trees and soon are perched above us and watching intently.

 

Vervets are small monkeys, ranging from 16 inches to 20 inches, with the males being larger than females.   They band together in groups up to fifty or sixty.

Yes, this is a male.

Research has shown that vervets have distinct alarm calls for warning or predators.

From Wikipedia:   Vervet monkeys have four confirmed predators: leopards, eagles, pythons, and baboons. The sighting of each predator elicits an acoustically distinct alarm call.^[19] As infants vervets learn to make the variety of calls from observation alone, without explicit tutelage. In experimentation with unreliable signalers, individuals became habituated to incorrect calls from a specific individual. Though the response was lessened for a specific predator, if an unreliable individual gives an alarm call for a different predator, group members respond as if the alarm caller is, in fact, reliable. This suggests vervet monkeys are able to recognize and to respond to not only the individual calling, but also to the semantics of what the individual is communicating.^[20] It is believed that vervet monkeys have up to 30 different alarm calls. In the wild vervet monkeys have been seen giving a different call when seeing a human being approaching, leading researchers to believe that vervet monkeys may have a way of distinguishing between different land and flight predators.

 

We had fun photographing the monkeys for a while and then, suddenly, things changed.  

Some vervets began coming down from the trees and moving closer to us while others remained in the trees, maybe trying to distract our attention.   The vervets have decided our break time is over and we should leave and let them scrounge for snacks.

One climbed into our vehicle and searched the seatback pocket.   It found an empty chip bag.   It was empty and the vervet dropped it.

See how distracted Mary and Marg are?

Others tried to get into the cooler box where our snacks were kept.

Another was on the roof of our vehicle.   I didn’t see it until I turned to go back and get something from the Land Rover.   By that time, I was about five feet from it.   It hissed at me and I backed off.

We left shortly after that.

A centipede on a long journey,

Lilac-breasted roller

Giraffe and friends

Lilac-breasted roller.

Carmine bee-eater

Fish eagle

Slender mongoose.