Breakfast at 5:40 and
off in our bus on the Somole Loop in the Park, accompanied by Moses, our
rifle-bearing guide. We saw Grivet Monkeys right away on the road and
continued on to some grassland where we walked a ways. Three weeks ago
when Phil was conducting his March tour of Ghana, he said everything was very
dry, but now all the water holes are full…this means the elephants are going to
be dispersed rather than gathering at the large waterhole in front of the
motel, so we may not see them which would be a big disappointment!
We saw a flock of
Rose-ringed Parakeets and Red-throated Bee-eaters. We climbed a hide
overlooking a waterhole and sat on a bench watching some Kob antelope feeding
and two males butting heads, along with a large Nile Crocodile and many wading
birds. I was so tired that I occasionally nodded off, my dreams all
mixing up with the reality of sitting looking at an African wilderness!
 |
| Kob antelope |
Finally we returned to the Motel and I chose to nap rather than eat
lunch. Bob brought me a Coke and a plate of pineapple, and I managed to
get about an hour’s nap before we joined the others on the bus at 3 PM. I
was considering taking the afternoon off to sit by the pool and relax, but that
seemed pretty foolish when African birds and mammals might well appear.
And the pool was full of screaming 20-something Europeans…
 |
| An Alert Baby Elephant |
We took off with Moses
again and right outside the motel grounds we suddenly saw four elephants -
three mature females and a half-grown offspring! What a thrill!
They were just off the road and ignored us completely, munching weeds while
waving their ears to cool themselves off. We continued on the Brugbani
Loop and immediately encountered a group of Patas Monkeys.
 |
| Patas Monkeys |
We took several
walks through grassy open areas. The African flies, almost the equivalent
of Australia’s, were starting to buzz around our ears, noses, and eyes.
Bob and I had brought our Aussie fly nets and quickly put them on and relaxed
while the other vainly tried to swat the flies away. We saw many new
birds including the Forbes Plover, which Bob thinks must have something to do
with the Boston Forbes family! I gave my
net to Moses on the way back to the motel; he seemed rather thrilled as he said
the fly season doesn't even peak until September when it must be really bad!
 |
| A Termite Mound |
 |
| Stanley's Bustard |
The group returned to the motel at 6:30 for bucket showers and got together for dinner overlooking the
pool. A table of boisterous young’uns next to us drove us out to the pool
in order to do the list in peace.
No comments:
Post a Comment