An Africa odyssey

[JohnM]

Egyptian goose.



African jacana (aka ‘Jesus bird’ because it often appears to be walking on water.) Jacanas are also common in northern Australian wetlands.



Black-winged stilts, black crake.



Glossy ibis, grey heron.



Yellow-billed stork and grey heron.



Greater flamingos.



Squacco heron, hamerkop.

 

[JohnM]

Bohor reedbuck, little egret.



Yellow-billed stork and African spoonbill, great white pelicans and Egyptian goose.



Thomson’s gazelle.



Pied avocet.



We stopped at the Amboseli airstrip to partake of our packed picnic lunch.



Needs an orthodontist.



African fish eagle.



Back to the entry and the resident (single-tusked) elephant was putting on a performance drinking from the tap.



Excellent day.

 

[JohnM]

Out of the park and on our way back to our lodge, via a Maasai village visit ‘experience’. I guess it needs to be done, especially for first-timers, but it’s a tourist trap for trinket-selling.



Making fire. Friction first ignites some dry powdered cattle dung.



Then the trinket-selling began in earnest. A masterful divide and conquer strategy as the men split us into couples then guided us separately in different directions along two rows of pleading-eyed women sitting behind their offerings. Anything that you showed any interest in was immediately picked up by the ‘guide’ and then the handful was subject to negotiation from an outrageously high asking price and pleadings of starvation and apocalypse at every counteroffer. Those guys were masters of their craft.

 

[JohnM]

Back to the lodge. After a bit of chill time in our tent, we walk outside and bam! This view hits us in the face. The cloud had suddenly cleared. Quite incredible after being so thick all day, and perfect timing for our imminent sundowner in the bush.



While waiting to go for the sundowner, there was a good example of whistling thorn Acacia bulbs and bodyguard ants in the lodge grounds. These hollow bulbs are called domatia and serve as a secure home for aggressive Crematogaster ants, while the tree feeds them with sugar-rich secretions.

Elephants have a deep aversion to the ants. If an elephant tries to feed on the branches, thousands of ants will instantly swarm its trunk, a highly sensitive organ packed with nerves, and bite the delicate inner lining of its nostrils.



Kili is a dormant volcano. There are three volcanic cones on the mountain, Shira, Kibo and Mawenzi. The summit, on the Kibo cone, is called Uhuru Peak.