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Ruaha & Selous - January 2018


mopsy

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OMG- I don't think I have ever seen even a picture of a hyena pup that small (let alone in real life)....amazing....mind you, I'm loving all your pictures (my very first trip to Africa included the Selous and Ruaha so bringing back many wonderful memories), but I am a sucker for a baby animal of any kind. Just awesome!!!

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22 minutes ago, lmonmm said:

OMG- I don't think I have ever seen even a picture of a hyena pup that small (let alone in real life)....amazing....mind you, I'm loving all your pictures (my very first trip to Africa included the Selous and Ruaha so bringing back many wonderful memories), but I am a sucker for a baby animal of any kind. Just awesome!!!

 

Hi Imonmm

 

It was a wonderful sighting we were incredibly lucky to see it.

 

I'm with you, babies are just great to see no matter what the species.

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My gosh, that is the smallest little hyena!! How cute, and what a special sighting.  Your safari continues to deliver!

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 @mopsy

Wonderful trip report. Ruaha and Selous are now on my wish list.

 

@Imonmm  Hyena pups can be even smaller. This one is less than 15 minutes old.

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Amylovescritters

Omg. Minutes old... How fortuitous for you to be present. All these micro-hyenas are stinking, ridiculously adorable lil beasties! 

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Day 9 - morning

 

Today we embark on an all day drive to explore the Beho Beho area of the reserve. We depart at 8am as is our tradition when we head out for a full day. In hindsight we should have left earlier, the main road is in poor condition after all the recent rain and the journey takes longer than what would normally be the case. But as they say hindsight is a wonderful thing. On the plus side the weather is reasonably clear so hopefully we wont encounter any rain.

 

We head straight towards the main road when leaving camp, passing baboons and kudu along the way. We stop for a couple of pics of giraffe and zebra.

 

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We reach the main road and turn left. Its not a very interesting drive as the landscape soon changes to rather thick shrubbery. We see a few giraffe and impala, but unless there is wildlife right next to the road you dont have much chance of seeing anything.

 

After approx 2 and a quarter hours we turn off the main road and pretty quickly the landscape changes again to being more open. Its not long before we come across some more giraffe.

 

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Next came from zebra and a little while after that some warthogs.

 

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It soon became apparent there wasnt the same game density here at Beho Beho compared to Manze, well not today at least. We were going to have to work a little harder for our sightings today but that didnt concern us. It was nice to be exploring a different part of the reserve.

 

Eventually we found some more zebra

 

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We arrived at a part of Beho Beho that was quite open, certainly by Selous standards anyway. It wasnt a huge area but it was as close to an open plain as we were likely to see. We came across some blue wildebeest which didnt mind being photographed for a change.

 

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After a while we spotted a lone bull emerging from the thick bush.

 

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A bit further along we came across some male buffalo. One of them had decided to take a cooling dip in the water.

 

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We head towards the airstrip to see if any animals are hanging around there. We cant believe our luck when these sleeping beauties are spotted right beside the road.

 

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The 3 males werent doing a great deal so we decided to leave them, find a spot to have lunch then return a bit later to see if anything had changed.

 

We find a spot about 15 minutes away and set up our table and chairs under the shade of a nice tree. As we eat we are surrounded by zebra, impala and blue wildebeest.

 

 

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@mopsy

Selous looks so beautiful when you were there , the landscape with the bull elephant photos is stunning

 

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Day 9 - afternoon

 

While we are having lunch I enquire about the location of the gravesite of Frederick Selous. It turns out its about 5 minutes away so after we pack up we head over for a look.

 

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We return to see if the lions are doing anything more interesting. And they are. Well...if you consider not sleeping to be more interesting. The 3 brothers are nomads and around 4 years of age. Given the size of them it probably wont be long until they take over a pride somewhere. We find their manes to be really interesting.

 

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Movement!!

 

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But not for long.

 

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Its quite warm so we dont expect the lions to do much in the near future. We decide to make our way back towards Manze. We stop a couple of times along the way to take photos of the scenery.

 

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Once again its a long drive back with not much in the way of game to be seen. Eventually we turn off the main road towards Lake Manze at around 5pm.

 

As we drive along we see some buffalo, a ground hornbill and giraffe.

 

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Shortly thereafter we come across more lions. There are 2 adult males amongst them. I think we have arrived just in time to see the males return to the pride.

 

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One male flops down in the shade. The other walks towards our vehicle and sits down about 5 metres from us.

 

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A female walks over to welcome the males back.

 

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Another female soon arrives to do the same.

 

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The male sitting near us is a real beauty. Its hard to take your eyes off him.

 

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Yet another female comes over for the welcome back ritual.

 

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The second male finally sticks his head up so we can get a good look at him.

 

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Sitting in the warm afternoon sun, it was a great way to end the day.

 

Tomorrow will be our last full day on safari. It has gone very quickly and we hope to finish with a bang.

 

Here are some more shots of the pride. (sorry to inundate you all with these, but it was quite a memorable sighting for us. :)

 

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Ruaha & Selous 2018 1350.jpg

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Selous seems to be going very well - and very quiet. Looks like a really nice experience.

 

Some of those females look like cubs to me. No point to that... just thinking "out loud".

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51 minutes ago, pault said:

Selous seems to be going very well - and very quiet. Looks like a really nice experience.

 

Some of those females look like cubs to me. No point to that... just thinking "out loud".

 

Well spotted @pault 

 

More to be revealed tomorrow.

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Excellent photos of both wildlife an landscapes.

I like the flexibility of the camps.

It certainly looks beautiful with all that green.

Cute prize must go to the hyena pups - and really well photographed.

An extra bonus was the leopard sighting- what a great way to leave a reserve!

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Love the lion photos and of course the Hyena cubs are amazing.

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The carmine bee-eater is a NORTHERN carmine bee-eater. I didn't know they occur in Ruaha. It must be a rare vagrant there as it's not included in their distribution map.

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Day 10 - morning

 

Our last full day on safari, so we are hoping for a good day. We will be heading out on morning and afternoon game drives.

 

There is a possible hindrance to this. During the early hours of the morning a major storm swept through camp. There was a lot of rain and strong winds so conditions may not be ideal for game viewing. When we left camp the skies were still dark and grey but the rain has stopped.

 

We are going to go back to the place of the lion sighting from yesterday to see if they are still there.

 

First up we see some male impala practicing their fighting skills.

 

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Next we see a lone waterbuck.

 

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Next up came, for me, an incredible sighting. We came across 15 Giraffe standing in an open bit of ground.

 

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Progressively they were joined by another group of giraffes. Then another, and another again.

 

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It was impossible to photograph them all at once. We counted them and came up with 42 in total, but there may have been a couple more as it was very difficult to count them amongst all the bodies, legs and heads.

 

They all stayed together for about 10 minutes before each group started heading off in different directions. It was an amazing sight. Our guide Calisti said he had never seen so many giraffe together at once.

 

We now arrive at the location of the lion sighting from yesterday. There is no sign of the males and adult females but remaining in pretty much the same spot is 3 sub adults.

 

We have one female and 2 males.

 

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The siblings are about 15 months old. We can only assume that the rest of the pride had gone out hunting during the night and left the juveniles behind.

 

Soon they all come together and start play fighting.

 

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One of them has had enough of this, so gets up for a walk. Doesnt get far before turning around and returning to the others.

 

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All this exercise is hard work!

 

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All of a sudden roaring can be heard off in the distance. The pride is calling out for the others to come join them. Our lions look in the direction of the roars.

 

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They get up and head towards where their pride mates are calling them from. But theres a problem. Because of all the rain during the night there is a lot of surface water on the ground. The lions get to a certain point but are reluctant to go any further.

 

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They decide to walk slowly through the shallows looking for a drier route. All the while they are stopping to call out to the pride somewhere on the other side. Only every now and then are their calls answered.

 

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The female is leading the search party, with one of the males close behind. The other male seems reluctant to continue on this path and starts lagging behind.

 

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He soon catches up, more by default as the other 2 have stopped for a while. They continue to call but the responses have well and truly dried up.

 

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The bee-eaters start giving the lions some grief. They half heartedly snap at them when they get too close.

 

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They now disappear behind the small  trees. We take a chance and drive ahead to see if they continue on their current path. We are in luck as soon enough they emerge.

 

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They continue to call out but still no response.

 

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They continue on, headed straight towards us.

 

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The female climbs a fallen tree looking for a better view. Still she calls out.

 

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One of the males gets in on the tree climbing caper as well......

 

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And prompty comes down straight away.

 

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They have passed our position now, so we drive ahead again to see what happens. We pull up next to a fallen tree which one of the males decides to climb.

 

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And his brother decides to as well. They are at eye level to us about 3 metres away.

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The female has decided to climb another fallen tree hoping for a better view and a glimpse of the missing adults.

 

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She has a look around but cant see anything. She contemplates coming back to firm ground......

 

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But decides to give calling to the pride mates one last try. Again her calls are left unanswered.

 

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So back to terra firma it is.

 

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The siblings now come together and crash to the ground. It looks like they have given up the search so we decide to let them be. It was wonderful to witness all this going on. The encounter lasted just short of 3 hours so we leave them well satisfied.

 

Its time to head back towards camp. Our next sighting is of yet more giraffe. We may have seen them earlier in the day but who knows?

 

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Last sighting of the morning is some zebra and blue wildebeest. Or so we thought. Just before camp we see (surprise surprise) another giraffe.

 

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Its been a great morning drive. We thoroughly enjoyed our initial giraffe sighting and lion encounter. Only one more drive to go.

 

 

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10 hours ago, ForWildlife said:

The carmine bee-eater is a NORTHERN carmine bee-eater. I didn't know they occur in Ruaha. It must be a rare vagrant there as it's not included in their distribution map.

 

@ForWildlife I found this interesting too...so I looked it up. Apparently they do migrate through Selous so probably in Ruaha too.

 

http://magazine.africageographic.com/weekly/issue-83/selous-a-long-way-from-anywhere/ag-mag-gallery/image/selous-bee-eaters-tree/

 

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@mopsy I’ve really enjoyed following along through two places I’d like to visit someday.  Lots of great sightings, but the congregation of giraffes was really special!

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12 hours ago, mopsy said:

Hi @janzin @ForWildlife

 

Just to clarify, the carmine bee-eater was seen at Selous, not at Ruaha.

 

Which is also quite far out of the range for Northern carmine bee-eater. What was the guide's reaction?

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7 hours ago, ForWildlife said:

 

Which is also quite far out of the range for Northern carmine bee-eater. What was the guide's reaction?

 

You'll see it is  listed in here - and not as a migrant. Not a super-scientific source but put together by a guide I think, so rI thought it was elevant to your question.

http://www.adventurecampstz.com/selousbirds.htm

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Loving your trip report.  The green parks look so beautiful, reminding me of Mana Pools when I was there this past November.  

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Day 10 - afternoon

 

After lunch we had some elephants drop by our tent. The baby was a real bonus.

 

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Its time for our final drive of the trip. How do we top the sightings we had this morning? Unfortunately we cant as it turns out. We have decided to try and find a leopard so we head to an area most likely to deliver if our luck is in.

 

First up is some giraffe and zebra hanging around in close proximity to each other.

 

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Soon a fish eagle is spotted posing in a tree. Unfortunately my photo is not of the best quality.

 

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Next up a lone male kudu is found eating some leaves from a tree.

 

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Next we see some eland, who hang around longer than normal. The male is a magnificent specimen.

 

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Soon we spot a hippo that has decided to exit the water earlier then normal to start his night time feeding. He is not at all co-operative at coming out into the open though. Daniel our driver switches off the engine to hopefully put him at ease and come out from behind the bushes.

 

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He soon disappears into the bush so we decide to move on. Only one problem - our vehicle wont start. Being very careful as to the whereabouts of the hippo we try to push start it several times without success. In the end we have to radio back to camp for the rescue vehicle to come to our aid.

 

After about 45 minutes it shows up and gets us started again so we continue on. On the banks of Lake Manze we spot a croc.

 

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We are close to the spot where we saw the hyena with pups a couple of days ago so we decide to go back and see if they are around. Mum is on the scene but theres no sign of the infants.

 

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Another hyena appears.

 

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Its time to head back to camp. The only thing of note we see on the way is another male kudu.

 

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We are sad to be returning to camp on this our final game drive. Having the vehicle break down was clearly not ideal but getting upset about it wont change things. We have had so many great sightings in both Ruaha and Selous, best to focus on them and push any negative feelings aside.

 

Day 11 - departure

 

Our flight out of Siwandu airstrip was meant to depart at 9:15am. Our original plan at booking was to game drive up until then. But after all the rain the airstrip still isnt in safe condition, so we again have to fly out of Mtemere.

 

Another problem. The main road between camp and Mtemere is still under water from the big storm 2 nights ago. So the only way to get to the airstrip is to take a 1.5hr boat ride on Lake Manze then be picked up by a waiting vehicle at a designated meeting point.

 

So we leave camp after saying our good byes to staff and management and jump on our boat. Not long after leaving we have a herd of elephants come to bid us farewell.

 

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One last photo of a hippo as well.

 

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Theres not much else to be seen from a game perspective. Eventually we come to the meeting point with our vehicle, load our bags and push off again. The boat ride took longer than originally thought so we have to rush to make the plane.

 

Along the way we see giraffe, warthogs, kudu and zebra but theres no time to stop for photos. We make it to the airstrip about 10 minutes late and jump on the waiting plane. We are soon in the air, looking longingly out the window wishing we had just one more day. But soon we start reflecting on the wonderful time we have had, and begin talking about the where and when our next African adventure will be.

 

 

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You had a great trip and a bonus boat ride!  Excellent report, thank you for sharing!  I really enjoyed both your narrative and the photos.

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