Day 3 - The Serengeti
On the second night, we stayed in another permanent tent campground, not as nice as the night before. Beyond the campsite, the ground was black and barren. A fire had swept through this area. In fact, on our way to this campground, we saw the fire still smoldering in patches.
Dirty, stinky, hippos wallowing in their own poop. The hippo’s skin looks bright red. The color comes from a chemical that they secret to protect them from the sun. Their skin is very sensitive to the sun. That’s why they spend most of the day in the pool, splashing themselves with dirty water.
We saw four lions lying under the skimpy shade of a tree. Thirty feet away, a herd of gazelles was happily grazing, their little tails flicking back and forth. I had not expected to see predators and prey so close to each other. If I were a gazelle, wouldn’t I be too nervous to be enjoying my meal with the pack of lions so close by? It was then that I realized how ignorant I was about these animals’ natural behaviors. Even though I have seen countless Animal Planet and Discovery Channel documentaries on animal behavior in their natural habitats, I still depended upon my limited personal experiences with animals, which mainly consist of visits to the zoos and wild animal parks, to help me interpret what I was seeing. And as such, my interpretations were so far from what was natural. (Side note for the teacher: That’s why field trips and hands-on experiences are so important and necessary in developing new learning concepts for our students. Nothing beats the real experience.)
Elephants are amazingly social and caring animals. They are so fun to watch. We saw one elephant scratch his butt on a tree trunk. He would move his derriere from side to side against the trunk. All of a sudden, he bent his hind legs and squatted up and down. It was the funniest thing to see.
Another group of elephant was found standing in a circular formation. The adults had their rears together and heads facing outwards in all different directions. We saw little baby elephants lying under the adults’ bellies as if they were sick and the grown-ups were trying to protect them. We observed them for about a quarter of an hour and nothing had happened. As we were about to leave, the little ones on the floor began stirring. They wiggled their way up on four legs and the herd started moving again. Wasn’t that so cute. It was the babies’ naptime.
From afar on the horizon, we saw a herd of elephants moving slowly. Within an hour, the herd had gotten a lot closer and in fact was heading directly towards our Land Rover. Lead by the eldest matriarch, they walked in a meditative fashion, one behind the other. Cute little baby elephants were lifting their trunks trying in vain to catch the tail in front of them. They came within 10 feet of us, so close we could see the grooves under their eyes. We were so excited. Jonas was nervous. The elephants could have easily walked right into our vehicle and turned it upside-down. He told us not to make any noises, but we kept clicking away on our cameras. For a moment, the elephants paused as if contemplating what to do. Then the herd divided into three. Some crossed right in front of us, some crossed right behind our vehicle, and another group crossed the road a little further back away from us. They regrouped on the other side of the road.
The black mamba’s venom is very deadly. When this black mamba slithered out of the yellow grass towards our vehicle, our guide, Jonas, was so frightened that he actually rolled up his window, turned the engine on and moved our Land Rover away! It snaked in front of us, and just to make sure we knew who was boss, he struck a striking pose with the skin around his head flared open and his forked tongue hissing.
Zebras are smart animals. They habitually stand together in groups of two or more, resting their heads on each other’s backs so their heads are oriented in different directions allowing for better lookout against impending dangers.
Zebras and wildebeests make good migration company. Zebras have good memory and sense of direction along with better sight and hearing. They alert the wildebeests against oncoming dangers. Wildebeests, on the other hand, have a keen sense of where to find water, a necessity of life.
