A ROCKJUMPER FIRST OR THE BIRD OF THE DAY
I cannot decide what to title this blog so I'll let you decide after reading it.
We were up early again - 5:45 - and left after breakfast for our drive to Etosha. We decided to go an hour later as it was so cold yesterday morning and the birds don't get up until the temperature rises a bit. This time Norma and I nabbed another blanket each from the baskets in the lodge (three each) as it felt even colder this morning. As we were getting settled in our safari vehicle, Norma commented that it looked like we were getting ready for a sleigh ride at which point we both broke into a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells much to the amusement of Teacher and Glen. Glen noted every time he wanted to hear us sing, all he had to do was give us a blanket. Ah, I replied, but what are you going to do to get us to stop? On that merry note, we set off.
This time we drove straight to the waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp. There were many springbok and zebra but not much else. We continued on north to another waterhole, the Okondeka, in the most westerly part of what is known as the Etosha Pan - a saline flat area that contains brackish salty water during the rainy season. Along the drive we saw many of the same bird species but some very good new ones. We drove back to the waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp for another peek but didn't see anything we hadn't already seen before. We then drove to the waterhole near the park entrance. There was a large herd of zebra there enjoying the water. All of a sudden, Teacher let out a gasp as he called: "Mountain Zebra!". Glen, at first, doubted the sighting, but there they were - a small family group with two young ones, four females, and a handsome male. Wow! We were told by our hot air balloon pilot that you only ever saw their tracks, never the zebra because they are so skittish. Teacher has worked at Ongava for ten years leading tours into Etosha almost 365 days of the year and this was only his third sighting! That makes it almost 2000 to 1 odds of a sighting. We watched as the herd began to drift away but the youngest calf didn't want to leave. The male came back to urge the calf on and eventually the calf found his mother and suckled. Thanks to the young calf's disobedience, we got to watch their behaviour for about a half hour. You will see in the pictures that these zebra are striped quite differently from the more common Plains Zebra. They have wide stripes on their rear ends that run horizontally and their legs are striped as well. We all agreed that the Mountain Zebra was the bird of the day.
After lunch, a nap, and blog writing, we headed out again again starting an hour later because it is so hot at 4:30. We left at 5:30 instead. Our first big animal sighting was a Black Rhino who panicked at our approach and ran away from us. At the waterhole, a Greater Kestrel was waiting to attack the thousands of Quelea when they went to the water so no display tonight. Then word came that two white rhinos had been spotted nearby. This time it was a young male who had been kicked out of the nest by his pregnant mother before she gave birth. He attached himself to an older male who was looking out for him and, I guess, teaching him the ways of the world. It was fascinating to watch the interaction between the two of them.
When we did our lists that night, Glen said that it was the first time anyone had checked off both rhino species and both species of zebra in one trip let alone in one day! In fact, he doesn't think it has happened ever on any Rockjumper trip. We feel very privileged to have had this experience.
So you can decide which title this posting should have.
I forgot to mention in my last posting that we enjoyed seeing the seven black rhinos last night interact with each other. Each time a new one would approach the waterhole, the ones already there turned to greet them by touching noses. It looked as though they were catching up on their latest news before drinking. It was a real reunion. Interesting too, there was only one rhino at the waterhole this night.
A word about cameras. Mine still isn't working properly so I am being pretty selective about what I take a picture of. While we were viewing the white rhino males, another vehicle was doing the same. In the front seat was a man with a very expensive camera according to Glen. He was using the rapid shutter feature that you would use to catch the action at a sports event. Click, click, click, click, click. He must have taken 5000 pictures of the rhinos. What on earth does one do with 5000 pictures of one scene? Why not take a video? He completely missed the interaction between the two males - not only that, he was taking all of his pictures through the windshield which Glen said would distort the images making all of the pictures he took worthless.
I cannot decide what to title this blog so I'll let you decide after reading it.
We were up early again - 5:45 - and left after breakfast for our drive to Etosha. We decided to go an hour later as it was so cold yesterday morning and the birds don't get up until the temperature rises a bit. This time Norma and I nabbed another blanket each from the baskets in the lodge (three each) as it felt even colder this morning. As we were getting settled in our safari vehicle, Norma commented that it looked like we were getting ready for a sleigh ride at which point we both broke into a rousing rendition of Jingle Bells much to the amusement of Teacher and Glen. Glen noted every time he wanted to hear us sing, all he had to do was give us a blanket. Ah, I replied, but what are you going to do to get us to stop? On that merry note, we set off.
This time we drove straight to the waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp. There were many springbok and zebra but not much else. We continued on north to another waterhole, the Okondeka, in the most westerly part of what is known as the Etosha Pan - a saline flat area that contains brackish salty water during the rainy season. Along the drive we saw many of the same bird species but some very good new ones. We drove back to the waterhole at Okaukuejo Camp for another peek but didn't see anything we hadn't already seen before. We then drove to the waterhole near the park entrance. There was a large herd of zebra there enjoying the water. All of a sudden, Teacher let out a gasp as he called: "Mountain Zebra!". Glen, at first, doubted the sighting, but there they were - a small family group with two young ones, four females, and a handsome male. Wow! We were told by our hot air balloon pilot that you only ever saw their tracks, never the zebra because they are so skittish. Teacher has worked at Ongava for ten years leading tours into Etosha almost 365 days of the year and this was only his third sighting! That makes it almost 2000 to 1 odds of a sighting. We watched as the herd began to drift away but the youngest calf didn't want to leave. The male came back to urge the calf on and eventually the calf found his mother and suckled. Thanks to the young calf's disobedience, we got to watch their behaviour for about a half hour. You will see in the pictures that these zebra are striped quite differently from the more common Plains Zebra. They have wide stripes on their rear ends that run horizontally and their legs are striped as well. We all agreed that the Mountain Zebra was the bird of the day.
After lunch, a nap, and blog writing, we headed out again again starting an hour later because it is so hot at 4:30. We left at 5:30 instead. Our first big animal sighting was a Black Rhino who panicked at our approach and ran away from us. At the waterhole, a Greater Kestrel was waiting to attack the thousands of Quelea when they went to the water so no display tonight. Then word came that two white rhinos had been spotted nearby. This time it was a young male who had been kicked out of the nest by his pregnant mother before she gave birth. He attached himself to an older male who was looking out for him and, I guess, teaching him the ways of the world. It was fascinating to watch the interaction between the two of them.
When we did our lists that night, Glen said that it was the first time anyone had checked off both rhino species and both species of zebra in one trip let alone in one day! In fact, he doesn't think it has happened ever on any Rockjumper trip. We feel very privileged to have had this experience.
So you can decide which title this posting should have.
I forgot to mention in my last posting that we enjoyed seeing the seven black rhinos last night interact with each other. Each time a new one would approach the waterhole, the ones already there turned to greet them by touching noses. It looked as though they were catching up on their latest news before drinking. It was a real reunion. Interesting too, there was only one rhino at the waterhole this night.
A word about cameras. Mine still isn't working properly so I am being pretty selective about what I take a picture of. While we were viewing the white rhino males, another vehicle was doing the same. In the front seat was a man with a very expensive camera according to Glen. He was using the rapid shutter feature that you would use to catch the action at a sports event. Click, click, click, click, click. He must have taken 5000 pictures of the rhinos. What on earth does one do with 5000 pictures of one scene? Why not take a video? He completely missed the interaction between the two males - not only that, he was taking all of his pictures through the windshield which Glen said would distort the images making all of the pictures he took worthless.
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