During October 22 - 26, 2012, we spent our time in Ruaha National Park. Staying in a 'banda' or cabin at Foxes River Lodge, provided us with the chance to see a vast amount of wild life. On our first night, lions were roaring only 30 meters from our cabin which, needless to say, kept us awake most of the night. We encountered elephants as close a 5 meters, saw many impala, kudu, giraffe, zebras, buffalo, clipspringers, dik-dik, hirax, mongoose, hippos, crocodiles, warthogs, baboons, monkeys and various species of birds. Below are a few samples.....
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| There were only the three of us on the plane. Dan, Tina and our friend Hannah.... It was a small plane... |
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| ... but Tina managed to sleep. |
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| Not bad for accommodations in a very remote part of Tanzania! |
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| Birds were everywhere! |
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| Nice evenings... |
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| Warthogs seemed to be a bit skittish |
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| Elephants crossing a ridge |
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| Giraffes do not have vocal cords, so they cannot make any sound other than the rustling of bushes when they walk around. |
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| Shhh.. do not wake the lions.. actually he was awake, very aware of us, but so full that he just lay there. |
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| This elephant was only 5 meters away. No zoom on this photo. No roof or doors on our jeep either.. errr. |
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| Zebras |
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| These are weaver nests. Like wild African Christmas decorations. |
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| Baby baboon along for the ride. |
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| A dead giraffe.... |
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| ... and the lions that killed it... |
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| ... very nervous at this point.... |
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| A symbiotic relationship between insect eating birds and insect riddled giraffes. |
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| The Wild African Tina |
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| Not sure how they blend in with the environment. |
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| That's one big rock! |
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| Greater Kudu Males |
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| Us! |
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| Elephant strutting her stuff |
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| These two Masai walked us back to our banda at night because there were elephants, lions and snakes in our camp. |
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| Our driver (left) and guide. Very knowledgable. We learned a lot! |
This is just a very small sample of the many curiosities we encountered. I think we will organize our photos into a book for a change. So many nice things.
We get back to work next week, but will be making plans for our Christmas / New Years break. I wonder where we will go...
