Tales from Tinga: A Safaritalkers Safari to Zakouma

[wilddog]

I support Jane fully in her endeavours. An unfit Doug could be disastrous for all.

 

 

Lovely entertaining and informative report from you all. Thanks @michael-ibk @gatoratlarge  @SafariChick and  @pault

Edited May 2, 2018 by wilddog

[offshorebirder]

Very nice raptors at Tororo @michael-ibk.    You got some nice photos of them.  Sorry the mammals did not cooperate in terms of being distant. 

 

Sounds like a marvelous place.

 

 

[gatoratlarge]

By George, I do think we're about to wrap this thing up!  I've enjoyed reading and seeing folks' remembrances very much---for me at least, it's been very entertaining and at some points in the story, I've wondered if I was on the same trip!  Hopefully it will always be on here and I'll be able to look back years from now and enjoy the trip all over again!

 

I'll just add a few pics and quietly retreat, the other photographers have the skills and have shown their stuff...can't beat the night time shots around the airstrip which was a very active place---THREE servals?  I couldn't believe it!

 

Here's the gaggle of ladies some have already pictured on the road:

And two handsome fellas we passed:

And the lagoon covered in geese and ducks and other waterfowl:

 

And two from the next morning---a fish eagle sitting along a dry riverbed as we followed some lionesses on the move...

The flight back to Addis (frankly to and from Addis) was particularly eventful for @SafariChick.  I had the row to myself until Jane apparently wasn't in the mood to snuggle...her seat mates were perfectly fine with it, though, spreading out as if Jane wasn't even there!  Or using her shoulder as a pillow!   Jane slid over to my row for the duration of the flight!

 

The flight back to Addis also carried Chad's Prime Minister and the Minister of Oil and Resources so I got to watch the departure ceremony and entourage from my window seat.  We tried to catch the Prime Minister watching the on flight entertainment, some Ninja Anime cartoon I've never seen before or since...but they kept the curtain closed in First Class...only @pault would know for sure as he and Nam Wan were in the High Class section, the rest of us were in the cheap seats in economy!

 

All in all, the safari/journey was a great highlight of quite a few visits to Africa for me---for those that want to see more, I've completed my trip by writing up a report in the Ethiopia section of "Trip Reports" here on SafariTalk...Chad and Zakouma alone were well worth it, providing a safari experience very unique from any of my previous visits to the continent.  I was blown away by the abundance of bird life and loved the unique endemic or special sub species we saw...it's just as  I had seen on video and read on ST from previous safaris to Zakouma, and our experiences with the great herd of elephants will never be forgotten for obvious reasons!  The low, satisfying rumble of the bull elephant drinking from the hose at park headquarters will stay in my memory for a long, long time hopefully calling me back to Zakouma one day.  So I'm thankful for SafariTalk for providing a platform for safari geeks and nuts like me to learn about these special places and then become the vehicle to make life long friends and travel partners!  That too was a great highlight...until next time!

 

Edited May 1, 2018 by gatoratlarge

[SafariChick]

I told @michael-ibk he could relate the story of my losses out of the car and on the floor of it, as I thought him being younger he has a better memory, but apparently not! Or else he was taking a BIT of artistic license because I don't even own a bandana and my lens cap is still firmly attached to my camera by string, so THAT never fell out - by itself that is - but I'll allow it as he did forget to mention the time when my almost brand new iPhone X (the newest iPhone for those that don't keep up with these things) fell out of the car onto the road.  I think that Doug might be a jinx for me, because in Mana Pools with him, I lost a pair of sunglasses while out on foot watching Boswell, broke another pair of sunglasses that fell off as they broke while we were watching some lions from the vehicle, got dirt in my camera when we were on foot and I bent down to take some prickly things out of my socks (ok I hadn't worn gaiters so that one was my fault) and had my iPhone (older model) fall out of my pocket onto the road, without realizing it, and we had to drive back about 20 minutes to find it!  So yeah, it's all Doug's fault - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  

 

My seatmates on the way to and from Chad behaved differently than I am used to on a plane, yes. Oddly, both times Joel had no seatmate and I did and Joel and I were seated pretty much across the aisle from each other. I always choose aisle seats as I get claustrophobic inside and like to be able to get out easily.  On the way to Chad, my seatmate had a window seat. He got up soon into the flight and went to use the loo. When he came back, he promptly lay down with his feet towards the window and his head on the armrest right next to me, his head extending into me! That was when I asked Joel if he would mind me sharing his set of three seats, which he kindly agreed. On the way back, that's the photo Joel posted after I vacated my aisle seat. Even though the window seat was empty, my seatmate sat in the middle and had his legs wide open and arm and body extending into my space so I just decided sitting with Joel would be better. After I left, my former seatmate took full advantage of the three seats. I should add though that only on the plane were people we met impolite in this manner! 

 

[pault]

Weird experiences all round on the plane. I'll get to ours eventually but it might be worth the wait if Nam Wan didn't tell you herself already. I think it was a minister watching the cartoon, but perhaps they both were. 

 

Good stuff Michael. Really nice filling in and although the.extra lions were gratuitous, I completely understand the lack of control and you added to the range of action we saw I think. Both sightings were way beyond expectations you must have peeped at my photos because you've covered everything I don't have photos for.... or I guessed correctly what you didn't have photos for when deciding which ones to process.  Either way that's cool, and I hope I have time to tell the Tororo story from another point of view soon. I'm really glad I am last this time though as I was kind of out of the loop on the decision to go back - through my own fault though (well I may be able find a way to blame Michael of course, but it'll have t be creative).

Edited May 1, 2018 by pault

[madaboutcheetah]

Guys, just saw a FB post from Doug that the Rhino introduction was on-going right now! ........... Awesome!

[michael-ibk]

On 1.5.2018 at 7:24 PM, pault said:

Weird experiences all round on the plane

 

Indeed. I´m afraid I nearly got all of us killed (again) on the way back to Addis. After a while I was bored and decided to visit Jane and Joel a few rows in front of me. Time for just a little prank, I thought, sneaked up to Jane and said "Boo" into her ears. I swear, it was a very soft "Boo", and I really did not expect any kind of reaction except a slightly bored "Oh Hi Michael." Well, Jane surprised me (and everybody else) once again, she went "IEEEEEEEHHHHH". Screamed so loud that the whole plane woke up in terror. I was afraid the Prime Minister´s bodyguards (who were strategically seated all over the plane, like out of a bad movie, black suits, sunglasses, huge bricks of men) would feel their boss was under attack and I already pictured myself being pinned to the floor by these scary musclebergs. Fortunately they immediately realized nothing too sinister could be going on probably because I had to laugh too hard about Jane´s reaction.

 

6 hours ago, madaboutcheetah said:

Guys, just saw a FB post from Doug that the Rhino introduction was on-going right now! .

 

Yes, saw that Hari, a great day for Zakouma!

Edited May 3, 2018 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

Sadly it was already our last morning - that week surely had passed very quickly!

 

 

Doug gave us two options. Have a leisurely breakfast and pack without hurry and go straight to the plane at 09:00. Or pack after the night drive, have a short sleep and leave at the crack of dawn to have a last game drive. Hard decision, is it? Duh!

 

 

Last visit at one of the two waterholes close to Tinga.

 

 

Saddle-Billed Stork

 

 

 

Knob-Billed Duck

 

 

Spur-Winged Goose

 

 

Spotted Redshanks hard at work.

 

 

Wouldn´t this be an interesting pose for a Yoga course?

 

 

Doug found lion tracks again and was working hard to find them.

 

 

But our master tracker failed this time. Well, until after a while, a truck passed by and the driver said "Morning guys, are you looking for the lions? They are sleeping over there." Quite embarrassing for Doug, he was mumbling something about higher vantage points and silly excuses like that.

 

 

 

They did not have the cubs with them.

 

 

Soon they got restless and were heading off, into an area where we could not follow them anymore.

 

 

 

Still, very nice of them to see us off and say a proper Good Bye!

 

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by michael-ibk

[michael-ibk]

 

A very scruffy Fish Eagle

 

 

I love their calls, this is the sound of Africa to me.

 

 

 

A cute Roan youngster was posing for us, enjoying the morning light.

 

 

 

Roan seemed to be the Oxpecker favourites in Zakouma - the Yellow-Billed variant here.

 

 

On to the airport - only one hour left!

 

 

"Hey guys, do you really have to leave? We just got used to you."

 

 

 

This Giraffe must have had some pretty intense encounters with Zakouma´s lions - and live to tell the tale.

 

 

Cute litte Green Bee-Eater

 

 

The Ostrichs in Zakouma are said to be the Northern species, known for their more reddish colours. Up until now they had looked no different to me than the common safari Ostrich but this male showed this very well - obviously he was excited.

 

 

Mashtour, our very last stop.

 

 

 

 

And then - *sob* - it was 09:00, and the plane was waiting for us.

 

 

Soon we would see our Camp Tinga from the air, soon the lush beauty of the park which is the source of this incredible abundance of life in the middle of such a hostile and difficult area would fade to a grey featureless landscape.

 

 

 

So we passed the torch to group Nr. 2 (Hi, @Jakob and @BieneMaja, don´t think the others are here?). A bit sad to leave, yes, but also thankful for this wonderful opportunity to experience magical

 

 

As Joel, some memories of our time here will stay with me forever. The Elephants in the river. For me, one of the most emotional experiences of all my safaris. The incredible gathering of Pelicans and Marabous. Just the wonderful atmosphere of the flycamp. Rigueik, even with the difficult light, just an insanely beautiful place. 54 Giraffes in one place, just wow to that. The Lions of course, and all those Servals. Actually, pretty much all of it.

 

And to enjoy this with six like-minded people. Nuts all of them. But in the best possible way - Safarinuts. Or in other words - Safaritalkers. So thanks Doug, Nam Wan, Jane, Andreas, Joel and Paul, it´s been great fun, would love to travel with all of you again.

 

So guys, when are we doing Zakouma II? You know, Pale Fox, Honey Badger, and now the Rhinos are waiting for us.

 

 

And, I almost forgot, important to give credit where credit is due - many of the photos I posted, especially but by no means exclusively landscape shots were of course taken by @AndMic!

 

 

Edited May 3, 2018 by michael-ibk

[offshorebirder]

Great portraits of the Roan Antelope @michael-ibk.   It posed in great light for you.

 

And I am jealous of the Spotted Redshanks - they are turning into something of a "Nemesis Bird" for me.   They are one of my most-wanted lifers at this point.

 

Thanks again to you and the others for this entertaining and informative trip report. 

 

[Botswanadreams]

Thanks all of you for this wonderful report and all the excellent pics on Zakouma. l started to get fixed with this beautiful piece of Africa since I read the first report from inyathi. Again it is a dream destination for me and I hope sometimes in life dreams can get reality.    

Edited December 14, 2018 by Botswanadreams

[SafariChick]

1 hour ago, michael-ibk said:

 

Indeed. I´m afraid I nearly got all of us killed (again) on the way back to Addis. After a while I was bored and decided to visit Jane and Joel a few rows in front of me. Time for just a little prank, I thought, sneaked up to Jane and said "Boo" into her ears. I swear, it was a very soft "Boo", and I really did not expect any kind of reaction except a slightly bored "Oh Hi Michael." Well, Jane surprised me (and everybody else) once again, she went "IEEEEEEEHHHHH". Screamed so loud that the whole plane woke up in terror. I was afraid the Prime Minister´s bodyguards (who were strategically seated all over the plane, like out of a bad movie, black suits, sunglasses, huge bricks of men) would feel their boss was under attack and I already pictured myself being pinned to the floor by these scary musclebergs. Fortunately they immediately realized nothing too sinister could be going on probably because I had to laugh too hard about Jane´s reaction.

 

 

Yes, saw that Hari, a great day for Zakouma!

 

@michael-ibk you know that you are a very intimidating guy, so of course when you sneak up on me like that I'm going to scream! Actually, my family makes fun of me because I scream at the drop of a hat. I used to be in the theater, you know, so I'm very dramatic.

 

And yes, African Parks sent out a message also about the rhinos beginning their journey, which reminded me that Leon had told us there was a date in early May set for bringing the rhinos to Zakouma!  So exciting! I'm sorry to have missed them by just a few months but I guess it's a reason to go back 

[gatoratlarge]

OK, deal!  Some date in the future---to see the rhinos (and the honey badgers and pale fox) but I won't go without y'all---"The Reunion Tour:  Unfinished Business" ....dates to be announced!

[Kitsafari]

Much thanks to @michael-ibk, @pault, @gatoratlarge, @SafariChick, @AndMic and Nam Wan for a thoroughly entertaining and enjoyable ride through one of Earth's last havens and sanctuaries for wildlife (may it stay forever so). 

So awesome that the lions, roan and giraffes came out to say farewell. and i'm speechless at how poor Jane was confronted by strange and unfamiliar feet and head, and Michael, in the plane. 

 

Edited May 4, 2018 by Kitsafari

[pault]

Ohhh @michael-ibk is clearly so worried about what I am going to post while he is away that he has worked for hours producing a perfect ending for the report. That is so nicely wrapped up Michael that I almost feel I can't add anything and should just move on to Ethiopia.... almost!  Brilliant effort though, mate. 

 

 

 

 

[pault]

@SafariChick I hope your scream woke up the Master Manspreader of N'djamena. 

[pault]

Apart from demonstrations of Jane's strong faith in the durability of expensive electronics (my first sighting of an iPhone x  was when Jane's was retrieved from the road by Doug and she casually brushed off the worst of the dust and grit and pocketed it as if it had been left on a table and picked up some breadcrumbs) and those nice roan sightings the drive from the lions up to Tororo wasn't all that exciting in my mind. Of course that is not Tororo's fault, and neither was the lack of up-close action there - I broadly agree with the others that it was just the action was on the "wrong" side, although I think we were probably not there at the best time of day (with shade on the edges, that is where the mammals sensibly preferred to be) and there was still quite a lot of water in the pan, preventing both us and the animals from easy navigation around the pa. And you can't I think overestimate how the distortion caused by the heat haze (normal heat haze made worse by us looking over the water in the pan I think) made it less fun to animal watch through the binoculars than usual. Plus, we are all spoilt brats of course.

 

 

I think my wife got it right why we never really settled there though - we didn't stay with the program. The plan was to have lunch there at lunchtime (wait - don't see that as a silly thing to say) and when we initially stopped I am pretty sure  it was just for a break, to rest after a long time in the vehicle and maybe work up a Plan B if nothing more was happening at Tororo. Then Doug unpacked the mats and cushions we had brought for lunch and later nap. At first it was all under control - we wouldn't be there for long - but then people started getting idle. A 5-minute lie down turned into a little nap and soon we were in napping before lunch mode. Never let a group who got up at 4.30 am have a mid-morning lie down! Not unless you want the day to end there and then!  the final straw was Doug offering an early lunch. we'd have full bellies well before midday and more napping was inevitable.

 

Doug having an existential crisis - just look at that body language (or possibly he's watching the quelas) while Michael pretends to see something through the haze while stealing Andreas' nuts (he saw you Michael)  and Joel just at that moment finishes up the last of his 150 sit ups, counted and spotted by Jane. 

 

 

 

Seriously though, if you stayed active it was a lot better. 

 

The quelas were not there in massive numbers, but those that were stayed in a very tight formation. Down to water drink very briefly, all back to the tree... and repeat. 

 

 

The reason they were reluctant to take a leisurely drink was apparent when you looked past and above them - and Michael has posted an excellent collection of what they had to be careful of.

 

 

It came very close, but as long as they were together on the branches they seemed to be safe.

 

 

Shortly after, their stalker disappeared and I thought it had drifted away on the wind to look for alternative prey. 

 

But that was not the case. What it had done was flown into the sun, where it waited unseen until the quela (wrongly) thought it was safe to drink again. 

Look bottom right corner.

 

 

I couldn't tell you whether the hunt was a success as I had not been expecting it and it was over very quickly, but I suspect it was. Pale Chanting Goshawk @michael-ibk? More a guess than an ID. 

 

Switching from the thriller on Channel West, Tororo TV was showing a romantic movie on Channel East... a 9 1/2 weeks sequel - 2 1/2 seconds in this case

 

 

So it's not like there was nothing going on - just that it was a bit sporadic perhaps... and very hot certainly...... and we had already eaten lunch, definitely (sandwiches of the half a baguette type)

 

I was probably off shooting the gazelles making babies  when people started talking about moving on - or maybe elsewhere. So far as I knew what was on the table was move on or stay. I did not believe "go back" was an option. I thought that was reserved for we got there at 9 or so and found "Tororo has nothing" and so just returned to the morning/ evening game drive routine, back to camp for lunch. So that is my excuse for not listening and being surprised to find we were suddenly voting for leaving (presumably for good). I thought that was a rather mad idea as it was blisteringly hot now but democracy is always right, okay? I would have preferred to have stuck with the plan, but there wasn't much going to happen at Tororo until the evening, and with a drive of maybe 2 hours back we would have to leave about 5 anyway. It made equal sense to leave there too!

 

It's arguable whether driving back in the very high midday heat or just pathetic planning (drinks were packed for us daily but we were always asked what and how much we wanted as it was payable and they even packed extra on top of that - so nobody's fault but ours!) resulted in our water supplies being reduced to nothing. That woke me up (I had been taking a leaf from the other mammals around and was trying to expend absolutely no energy in the back row, with my whole head covered to shade it from the sun - almost no shade for me and Joel in the back due to sun position). But we arrived back at camp without further incident and headed straight for our showers.

 

So in the end my story isn't really that much different from Michael's... what a disappointment!

 

But he can't get off completely free........

 

Michael's giant shrike stories were attracting sideways looks and winks by now. The driver was hiding from them and Andreas and Jane seemed to get tight bladders as soon as he said the words "Do you know what I just saw?"

 

 

It was a "too hot to even bend down" afternoon. Every movement was an effort.

 

 

As you may have noticed from the pictures posted by the others there were a lot of animal pairs this day. Noah's ark must have been coming. I won't post duplicates of the pairs to prove it though.

 

 

We visited other pans on the way there and back but not that much was happening - still, this is as "poor" as it got. 

 

[pault]

Note for those not yet in on the silliness..... Michael told no shrike stories, especially giant shrike stories and if he had, I am sure they would have been interesting.   

 

Back with one last post soonish... but for most of you I think you can consider the trip report over. 

 

[Zim Girl]

This had been a really marvellous trip report and must have been a fantastic adventure for you all.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it and it's a shame it has come to an end.

[Soukous]

Is this really the end? 

What a terrific group effort this TR has been. 

We should definitely have more Safaritalkers collaborating on TRs. 

Thanks to all of you for keeping it interesting and fun to read.

[Double Dare]

Thank you for the wonderful report.  I have enjoyed it so much!  

 

[ld1]

You guys had such fun, thanks for a fabulous trip report. 

[pault]

Thank you all on behalf of "the team".   I am sure they would give you all a heart, trophy or other "reaction" if the function was working. Well, almost too late to be of interest to anyone now, but possibly of interest to someone, sometime, somewhere down the road, here is the promised "final installment" which is put in inverted commas because it may well not be the final installment as I have only got 30 minutes to spare and am not sure that will be enough to complete things. We are up to the last evening.... I am just wrapping up, filling in blanks and at times unintentionally possibly undermining my companions' accounts _ although I quite understand if you choose to believe their versions and not mine. 

 

Getting back early from Tororo and already having had lunch meant that for the first time I felt I had a little time at Tinga. Not much, but I was able to hang around for half an hour or so before and after going to our room. You can see quite a bit of wildlife just sitting still and waiting to see what appears, although most of it has feathers or scales, or is a bushbuck or a Tantalus monkey. It’s remarkably cool in the sitting area as well – really much cooler that under a dried up acacia, although with much more concrete.

 

All that chilling was too nice and enjoyable for Nam Wan, who decided she’d rather chill some more and she wasn’t going to come on the evening drive. She came to wave us off though.

 

The drive itself has been pretty well described already. It was pretty much average for Zakouma, with the night drive the highlight as grass around the airstrip turned out to be rocking at night. However, there was an awareness that we were leaving tomorrow and so what had become the ordinary was special for a little while again, especially the likes of the red-fronted gazelles that lacked red fronts and Kordofan giraffes with their third horns.

 

 

 

One funny thing I've noticed is that we often have shots of the same animals, but because of our positions (which changed every drive as we rotated) they are not always from the same angle and may not even have the same background. With six in three rows, even though everybody was super-cooperative and considerate, there are always some spots you can't effectively take a photograph, or the imagined shot may suddenly and unintentionally be invaded by a hat. I am pretty sure this is the same gazelle as in Michael's shot, taken at nearly the same time (maybe a few seconds later or before) but from a completely different angle.

 

 

After a bit of puttering and pottering around we settled at a waterhole again and watched the spectacle as dozens if not hundreds of spur-winged geese taking off to settle somewhere else for the night, although a lot remained, along with the white-faced ducks and others. As everyone has said these pools in the river beds are such lovely places to spend time – so full of life. In a way it would have been nice to explore a bit more, but in another way it would have been foolish to ignore the hundreds of birds in the hand for the chance of even the leopard in the bush.

 

 

 

 

Goose that isn’t really a goose meets ducks that aren’t really ducks. Who said “quack!”?

 

 

 The highlight of the twilight was a couple of giraffes coming carefully down to drink. At one point the first giraffe to appear was spooked by geese taking off and bolted, which in turn frightened even more geese into flight and so on, until everyone calmed down again.

 

 

Calm again

 

There were I think not two, but three serval sightings on the night drive at the airstrip. We found a rare (for Zakouma) spotted hyena and unintentionally chased it into two servals. Fortunately, it seems hyenas and servals sort of get along (not a lot of people know that and now you do) and although the hyena hung out, presumably hoping for a mouse or bird or better to steal, the only real tension was in my head, imagining we might accidentally chase a young serval into a hyena (who was quite young-looking too to be fair) or vice-versa. Of course we did not.

 

This was our last chance for a honey badger too and I was miffed we didn’t find any. Not fair! In fact I have to admit I was a bit displeased we found three servals as it meant we had less time to look for honey badgers (only a bit though!). I had already decided that this was not going to be our time for the pale fox and made my peace with that, but the absence of honey badger was really bad luck. Some people never see pangolins, some never see aardvarks and some never see a successful big cat hunt. Everyone has one thing at least I suppose. Why does mine have to be honey badgers? No hits since April 2007.

 

Trying not to choose the same pictures and poses as Michael for the night drive is difficult but here goes.....

 

 

 

 

 

But I have to repeat one of them, just to show the lad how it's done.... eyes, no grass (and no, I didn't clone it out, don't even bother looking )

 

 

(Oops... if I were really showing him how it's done I would have applied some noise reduction to it. Never mind - never was very convincing at "crowing". )

 

As feared I have run out of time.... will make sure I have enough time to really wrap up next time. 

Edited May 9, 2018 by pault

[Atravelynn]

Who cares about the leopard when you can see a cucumber! 

Great village shots. 

The ele sure is good at linking his trunk up with the water flow from the hose. 

Jane, I am glad you were not detained in Chad for your souvenir knife!  If you had to stay at Tinga, it might not be so bad, though.

What, may I ask, is the Switzerland way?

Paul's red face is charming.

 

My first attempt at using the new heartshaped likes I think ended up in unliking some of your posts.  If you get a message I unliked you, no offense, it is my own technical difficulty.

[Atravelynn]

Reading more about the market visit and looking at the various expressions in the eyes adds more dimension to that aspect of your trip.  Great shots of the goats, Joel.

SO MANY crocs.  Reminds me of Katavi. 

Paul, sorry about your camera woes.

Nice job with the snake, Michael.

I wonder if Doug was shouting at the elephant in French, practicing for his guiding in Provence.

(through page 4)

Edited May 10, 2018 by Atravelynn