Mike Mockler Northern Tanzania |
BIG CATS, BIG HERDS AND BIG BIRDS The most extraordinary feature of this tour was a total of nine different leopards, including a mother and cub. The group also saw twenty different cheetahs and many lions, including delightful, photogenic cubs. A magnificent male sprayed one of the vehicles to mark his territory. There were many excellent photo-opportunities. In recent years, Mike has frequently tweaked the dates of this tour but it is becoming more and more difficult to choose the best time. Fortunately, Mike’s chosen dates proved ideal once again: after many weeks of drought, rain fell in the days just prior to the group’s arrival in all of the different locations. Tarangire National Park was surprisingly green, in view of the parched landscape not far away, and provided magnificent elephant-viewing. Big herds, many with young calves, performed over and over again, with mud-wallowing a special pleasure for the elephants and human observers alike. Highlights of the Ngorongoro Crater included some fine bull elephants with huge tusks, a black rhino at point-blank range and an intriguing sequence of events involving a female cheetah that was hunting young wildebeest. While stalking her prey, she sank down into the grass, concealing herself so successfully that a group of zebras walked past her without seeing her, even though they were so close they nearly trod on her. Although large parts of Serengeti National Park were very dry, there was good game-viewing in certain lush, green areas where there was a good selection of wildlife. There were even a few modest gatherings of wildebeest and zebra from the migration herds, apparently confused by the erratic and localised rainfall. They were further north than they would normally be at this time of year but Mike expected to find the main herds in the area where the group would be staying for the final days of the tour. And so it proved! In fact, there were massive herds of wildebeest, zebra and gazelles as far as the eye could see. This was the famous migration at its very best! Throughout the tour, there were big numbers of many birds, including lesser kestrels, Abdim’s storks, wattled starlings and yellow wagtails. In the Ngorongoro Crater, massed lesser flamingos were seen in gorgeous light and there was even a rare sighting of the elusive African black duck. Photographers enjoyed photo-opportunities with four species of whydah in their lovely breeding plumage, plus many different species of cuckoos, falcons, harriers and eagles. Of the many big raptors, the star was a comical young martial eagle bathing in a large puddle right beside the vehicle. Tourist numbers were well below normal as a result of the worldwide recession, so there were very few vehicles around in the game-viewing areas. All in all, once again, this was a wonderful safari! NOTE: More images from Mike's trips to Northern Tanzania can be found on the Africa pages of the Photographic Gallery. |
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