Everyone wants to see the lions and giraffes and elephants and zebras when traveling on safari to Africa. There are a lot of other birds and beasts to see that can sometimes be just as fun to watch.
Monkeys (including baboons) were near the top of my list. As it turned out, some of them were quite difficult to photograph, since they spent much/all of their time in the trees. Baboons and vervet monkeys, however, were often on the ground and in good light.
Hippos are a really interesting animal to watch – if they’re active. We saw several pools where the only part of the hippo visible was their backs, and occasionally their eyes just above the water. One morning, very early, we arrived at a large hippo pool. It was partially overcast and the cooler part of the day. The hippos were putting on quite a show and we watched for an hour or so until it started warming up.
Birds are always a favorite of mine. The secretary bird, the crested crane and storks were on my list of must sees. I wasn’t disappointed, as we found several together at one pool. On the last morning, we came upon a saddle-billed stork fishing in a small pond. That was the final check on my list. It spent at least 20 minutes stabbing the carp and trying to get it positioned to slide down it’s throat. A bonus was the still water in the pond which provided a beautiful reflection.
Hyenas, jackals, various antelope and many other birds and beasts can be viewed in Tanzania Galleries.
msummersphoto 