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AfricIan

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Day 5


Still walking our way downstream, which by this stage had reduced to the smallest of trickles. That there was still water flowing under the sand was borne out by the number of elephant digs in the sand but it was an amazing transformation from our walks upstream from “base-camp” where there was enough water for hippo’s & crocs to be plentiful. We were walking the riverbed near “Bushbuck Island” and could hear some action going on so skirted round and crept up on another family of eles feeding but they were in quite dense vegetation so it was a struggle to get a clear photo


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It was clear they were happy where they were and in the dense vegetation it was difficult to see both how many there were and what might be hiding behind the next bush so we left them to it and continued on to a beautiful shady glade where we could sit under the watchful gaze of the resident baboon troop. It’s the first time I’ve noticed but if you stop moving then the baboon will move its head by about a body’s width from side to side. They only did it if we stared at them without moving so it seems to be their way of keeping tabs on you but it seems rather strange behaviour.


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This pair of waterbuck were happy to pose for us (well one was anyway) before it was time to whistle up the car.


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Our last night was going to be back at basecamp so as soon as we set out from flycamp after breakfast, all the kit had been packed back in the truck and by the time we arrived back for lunch everything was just as we’d left it.


We were enjoying another super lunch when Moli shouted “Lion” and we turned just in time to see it jump up the bank, more or less where the elephants had been the last time we had lunch in “basecamp” (Post #10).


Later that afternoon we set off upstream in the gameviewer but with Moshi on board as well so that if we saw anything interesting we could get out & take a look. We saw a herd of elephant down near the river but no sooner had we pulled up & started walking then something spooked them & they took off across the river & away with lots of trumpeting in what looked like a real panic. We didn’t think it was us that had upset them as we were still quite a way away but we weren’t too far away from the carcase we’d come across a couple of days earlier so the thinking was that this might have spooked them.

It was clear they weren’t going to be stopping anytime soon and there was no point in trying to follow so we returned to the gameviewer and continued until we spotted another herd. After walking down and around to get downwind we again got very close to them & it was only when one of them started feeding on some high branches were we rumbled (literally).


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Rumbled!!


Unlike the previous herd, these didn’t panic but just moved steadily away but even so they covered the ground remarkably rapidly.


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What a handsome group of eles. I particularly like that last shot.

Interesting observation about the baboon behavior. I've recently added a book about baboons to my reading list, so I wonder if something like that may be addressed.

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Cheers @@Marks, once we'd been spotted it was a bit tense for a few minutes as we wondered how they would react. We'd had a fascinating chat earlier in the trip with Moli about the tuskless elephants (boodies he calls them) and how they were much more aggressive than their tusked equivalents. Moli's take on it is that because they have to bully tusked elephants off the tree's that the tusked ele's have started to strip the bark off (as they need the nutrients in the bark), then it's only the bigger & more aggressive ones that survive which means that not only do they tend to pass that aggressive trait onto their young, if they get to be matriarch of the herd then the whole herd is that bit more unpredictable. In this case they were passive enough and moved away but it certainly wasn't immediate.

 

The baboon head movement wasn't something I'd ever seen before - but then I've not been on foot being watched by non-habituated baboons either. If you do find anything in your book then I'd be very interested in hearing what they think it's down to,

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Thanks for staying with me everyone.

 

Day 6
Our last night had the finals of The Roar as two prides of lion, one upstream & one downstream, tried to out-shout each other. Neither seemed particularly close but the stereo effects were quite special!
Unfortunately it was now time for us to go :(. Kichaka hadn’t any incoming guests so Moli & Noelle were going to take the opportunity to sort out various things in Iringa, Moli was going to leave at ~5am to get to Iringa in time to renew his rifle licence so we’d said our goodbyes to him after dinner, leaving Noelle in charge of getting us to the airstrip.
Out ride to the airstrip was a leisurely game drive and I thought my camera had gone faulty with this Kudu
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But fortunately it hadn’t
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As we continued our drive we came across these Oribi
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And another prize for identifying this ear
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Another herd of elephants were feeding on a very unappetising looking bush
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(How infuriating is it when you get your dinner on your face & no-one tells you!)
Then this youngster gave us the full flappy ears, wavy trunk & trumpety trumpety treatment however he wasn’t particularly confident so went through his performance about 20-30m away which lessened the impact somewhat!
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I can’t remember what this juvenile raptor was (ID welcome)
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and as we neared the airstrip I had to take this shot as you can’t visit Africa without taking a photo of a Zebra or 3.
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This was the end of a wonderful experience & I’ve just realised that I’ve gone through the whole TR and Noelle hasn’t appeared in any of the photos so to correct this oversight here’s one of Noelle and Vicky with the Kichaka gameviewer.
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For a bit of beach after our “exertions”, we’d added a few nights at the Pongwe Beach Hotel in Zanzibar. I’m not going to say too much about this, especially as we didn't get out-and-about having "sightseed" on a previous trip - nor did we really see any sun, but if anyone is looking for a good place to flop for a few days then Pongwe fits the bill perfectly. Very comfortable rooms, very friendly staff, great food – especially the seafood, good swimming off the beach when the tide was in & a very nice pool for when it was out. Although the hotel was full and there wasn’t a spare table in the dining room come 8pm, there were always spare loungers both on the beach & by the pool, seats in the bar and we never felt crowded at all - though perhaps that’s because we were the only ones stupid enough to “sunbathe” under cloudy skies! At least the water was warm.
So, in summary:
We went to Kichaka with high expectations and they were exceeded at every count. It was our first walking safari & we loved it, it’s very easy to become blasé about wildlife from the comfort & security of a vehicle but being in the midst of these same animals on foot makes you appreciate things all over again. The remoteness of the Kichaka camp meant that once we were away from the airstrip we only saw 1 other camp vehicle in all the time there (& he was a long way from home) so it really is an unspoilt wilderness & it’s a real privilege to be let loose in it.
“Basecamp” is a really comfortable camp & Noelle manages to conjure up superb meals but the highlight must be the “sleep-out” – dropping off to sleep with the moon & stars above and the sounds of lion & hyena in the distance is something that will stay with us for many years.
Having met Moli previously whilst he was manager at Jongomero we knew how enthusiastic & knowledgeable he is, but his ability to constantly both inform & entertain over the course of the whole 5 days we were there is a unique skill. They are pretty much unlimitedly flexible, so you do as much or as little walking as you want (but not heading out on foot with Moli should be made a criminal offence!), if you want to march 11hrs a day only stopping for a dried up sandwich you've carried with you then so be-it, conversely if you don’t want a route-march that’s fine and you never feel pressured to walk if you don’t want to. It’s a tribute to both of them that we immediately felt we were amongst friends - Noelle refers to Kichaka as “their little passion project” but it’s going to give a huge amount of pleasure to everyone who visits and we’re so glad we made it back to Ruaha to be part of it.
We only wish it had been for longer and there’s only one problem now: how do we top it?
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Glad I caught this. Great shots of everything. The 'how many species can you spot' is excellent. Mixed-species photography in a wonderful river like that is the best way to capture herbivores.
As for the ear...spotted hyaena? :)

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I'd be a bit embrassed if I didn't spot my fave animal! ;)

Love the sleep out description also! Planning more safaris?

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"We only wish it had been for longer and there’s only one problem now: how do we top it? "

 

Oh yes, @@AfricIan, we felt the same after 7 nights with Kichaka- truly wondered how, when , where, what.

 

But we found ways :) to fullfil that longing to return, although

I would not mind returning to Ruaha again~ longer!

 

Thanks again for such a superb report on Moli and Noelle's little passion project.

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What an amazing experience @Africlan ! Great photography and narration, truly enjoyed every bit of your report! Thanks for sharing this with us!

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@@AfricIan

Thank you for an excllent enjoyable report with lots of great photos.

Ruaha looks good!

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Thanks so much for you kind words @@Big_Dog @@graceland @@FlyTraveler @@TonyQ, I've enjoyed re-living the great time we had as I wrote the account and I'm so please you've enjoyed it too.

 

Whilst we've nothing planned as yet, I'm sure we'll be returning to Africa before too long so for now I'm going to be spending a lot of time on SafariTalk reading all your great reports and trying to work out "where next"!

 

Cheers

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I've enjoyed your bus to Ruaha!

 

"- I’m not including any of my “arses of Africa” photos" I think there is a special "Show us your Bums" thread for these. You may be hiding your rear shots but you've shared so many lovely birds in the sky shots.

 

Hey hey, roan!

 

The tent in the early morning shot belongs on the Kichaka website.

 

The elephants came out in force for you.

 

8 species in one panorama is a great testament to Ruaha's diversity.

 

Sorry if I missed it, what were your dates of travel?

Edited by Atravelynn
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Thanks @@AfricIan. Great read to finish and it's pretty clear you could have stayed another few days. It's the park that draws you back.

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Cheers @@Atravelynn glad you enjoyed the "ride". We left UK on Sat 27 Sept, overnight in Dar 28th and arrived Ruaha 29th for 5 nights - as @@pault said, we could easily have stayed longer.

 

I now need to go and read your Namibia report, it's somewhere we've looked at but although the driving itself wouldn't bother me and I've driven a lot in South Africa (& Zimbabwe many years ago), as the only driver I'm conscious that I miss out on so much of the sights & scenery so I've been reluctant to self-drive there. Your trip has given me a few more ideas to explore.

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Thanks for the dates, late Sept. You can always stay longer.

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  • 2 weeks later...

@@Marks

 

I emailed Moli to ask him about the baboon head movement & he tells me it's fixation - well known in birds, less common in mammals but baboons & mongoose show it. I don't pretend to understand it fully but if you (as a human) look closely at a non moving object, your eyes are not actually fixed on that object but they move quickly and simultaneously in the same direction as you subconsciously map the object (known as saccades). Birds & baboons don't do this by eye movement but instead achieve a similar result by moving their whole head.
Also, judging distance requires that we humans need to see an object with both eyes so our brains can triangulate the distance. For baboons, swinging their head from side to side gives a more extreme overall angle to view an object and helps to get a better feel of the distance. I suppose you could also infer that having a larger angle to work with allows the distance triangulation to be done with less processing than is necessary for the small angle variation between human eyes - but that's just me thinking aloud!

 

Absolutely fascinating though

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Yeah, that really is fascinating. What's extra surprising is that you'd expect baboons to have very similar visual "equipment" to humans and that this extra movement wouldn't be necessary. Very cool to know now, though. Thanks for finding out. :)

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