Ten Things We Learned on Safari

1. The most dangerous animal on safari is the make African buffalo called duggars. They have been kicked out of the protection of the herd, and are old and ornery. They are stressed and very unpredictable. They are smart and when being hunted they will often double around and the hunters become the hunted.

2. The animal that kills the most people in Africa is the vegetarian hippo. Hippos are extremely territorial. You may have heard of canoe safaris, well unknowing guides paddle over their territories and attack the canoes. One either dies from the bite of their huge teeth and strong jaws or they drag you to the bottom and you drown. They only come out to eat at night otherwise they are beached in the sand or cooling off in the water. Also, hippos don't swim they walk on the bottom of the river or watering hole. 

3. Giraffes have a powerful kick that can kill a lion. The darker their colors the older they are. Males have bald bone spots at the top of their horns and females have hairy horns. Although, males don't stay with females, giraffes are social so males come and visit sometimes. A group if giraffes is called a journey or kaleidoscope. 

4. Rhinos come in two types: black (rare) and white, both endangered. One can tell them apart by their mouths. Black rhinos are broad mouthed which is how they got their name...the word broad in Dutch got lost in translation and morphed into black. Thus the others became white.

5. Precisionary caterpillars. When caterpillars are migrating to a new tree they form a train to cross open expanses.  The theories are they may do this to look bigger, like a snake to avoid being eaten or run over. 

                 Precisionary caterpillars
               Photo Credit: Rachael Costello

6. Cheetahs are poor hunters when alone. We witnessed first hand that they are good in a group but once grown usually don't form a coalition (a group of cheetahs). First, they are picky eaters. Second, to hunt they expend a lot of energy, So they often have to rest between chases if the first isn't successful. Once they get their pray they have to eat quickly before lions or a leopard smell it and easily chase them off, but they have expended so much energy they need to catch their breath before they can eat. This delay to rest before eating is when they are most vulnerable to other predators stealing their food.  Because cattle and goats are easy prey they come into conflict with farmers outside of the reserves. A cheetah mother teachers her cubs to hunt by first wounding an animal to slow it down so the cubs can then have a successful hunt.

7. All African buffalo in Kruger have bovine tuberculous and thus all the lions who eat the buffalo have tuberculous too.

8. Hyenas are not dogs or cats they are more closely related to mongoose.  They are the CDC if the bush. They can digest diseased meat and not get sick themselves then digest it in a way to kill the disease And not allow it to spread. If a disease breaks out in the bush the hyena can as a species clean it up and snuff it out.

                                                                                                      Spotted hyena
                                                                      Photo Credit: Rachael Costello

9. The big male baboons who are not normally caregivers will grab a baby baboon when they have done something wrong to avoid being hit. They also sleep in the trees near a water source. They all get a drink before going to bed in a tree to avoid being a lion's midnight snack.

                                                            Baboons in Kruger National Park
                                                          Photo Credit: Rachael Costello

10. Impala are called McDonald's because they are around every corner and they are also "fast" food and they have black markings on their butts in the shape of an M . They are they main prey if the big cats. They have gland at the bottom of each leg with a black tuft of hair. If they  get startled they all run in different directions and gland secretes an odor. The theories are that this may cause confusion in the prey chasing them b/c they don't know which way to chase, or that the smell leads the impala back the each other to herd up again. 

                                                                                  Impala
                                                       Photo Credit: Rachael Costello

11. A bonus... Elephants have a preferred tusk like humans have a preferred hand. One can tell which tusk is dominant by a tusk that is smaller or even broken from over use on that tusk. We spent the last day analyzing each elephant for its tusk dominance.

                                                               Elephant in Kruger National Park

                                                                Photo Credit: Rachael Costello