The great Ruaha river here flooded.
This section of the great Ruaha was nearly dry a few weeks ago, near Msembe airstrip.
Rufiji river in the Selous, the usual sandbanks are gone.
Mdonya river near Msembe, usually dry...
Fields in Rufiji delta.
Rufiji river near Mtemere airstrip.
This southern part of the Rufiji is most often dry...
When one spends so many days in various camps or lodges one might as well develop a liking for birds. 1388 species in east Africa, 900 in Tanzania...birding activity can keep someone busy.
With the rains there has been a renewed activity, for instance in our Ruaha River Lodge, Ruaha national park. One of those many days meandering between the hills, nose up, binoculars and big lens handy, I spotted this d'Arnaud's barbet. I had initially thought he would eat its "olive" on the spot but no, it landed next to a narrow deep hole and climbed it down.
It reappeared quickly, see the tail over the hole, flew off and soon after it was back... this time with a big praying mantis in its beak. Quite a feat.
...this time with a big praying mantis in its beak. Quite a feat.
Back to that hole, again it climbed it down instead of dropping the prize.
Eyeing me briefly, I was standing in the shade of a tree.
Sadly I missed the take off picture... Quite a bright colorful bird nevertheless
Tanzania is such a big country gifted with many beautiful landscapes. Not only that, those landscapes vary tremendously come the rain seasons.
Salt lakes are perfect examples of ever changing colors and patterns. Here is a detail of lake Eyasi.
I guess pelicans visiting Tanzania.
The Ruaha river after the rain season.
The famous wildebeest migration near the Mara river, here on the Serengeti side.
Lake Natron, another salt lake.
The Rufiji river in the Selous reserve.
Lake Natron again.
A typical homestead like millions in the country.
Tarangire national park. Quite famous for its elephants.
Lake balangida, a lesser known salt lake. Those white dots are salt extraction activities. I would guess operated by local people only.
Take off …
and landing in Msemble, Ruaha park, my colleague Paul making friends with one unfazed giraffe.
Stiegler’s gorge airstrip somewhere…Selous reserve.
Sloshy take off.
Parked airplane for the night, Mtemere airstrip, Selous reserve
My friend Callum taking off one early morning on his Pilatus
Followed by my colleague Danie on one of our Caravans
low sea bottom near Pemba island.
Hippos in a lake, Selous.
Buffaloes.
Ruaha river one early morning
Stonetown by the sea.
Sisal plantation, Pangani region.
Elephants by a drying pond, Selous.
Along the Rufiji river, Selous
A flock of storks, Rufiji river bank
The Ruaha river is about to stop flowing. In some regions the dry weather has been tough these months…
In front of the camp, crossing the river is now easy while keeping feet dry.
The hippo pool at the foot of the hill restaurant.
Marabou storks, yellow-billed storks, little egrets, intermediate herons….quite a few birds have shown up, but no pelicans this year, to clean the river of any fish.
I was looking for the buffaloes but stumbled on these guys. 14 elephants overflown by herons.
Now… my bazooka lens, 600mm, was left in Dar es Salaam because I was not supposed to stay here in the Ruaha park. A flat tyre decided otherwise. Sometimes there is a good side to a problem. Here I was with elephants. But the not so good side is that I only carried my point and shoot camera. A quality one but that has no zoom (Fuji X100s) but a wide fixed lens. I have to come closer, no choice. The following pictures and above have not been cropped.
Even with the wind in my back, these poor-sighted animals spotted me. I must have made some noise.
So I moved round still with the wind in mind.
One or 2 elies were still a bit wary. But they stayed there, kept on digging holes in the sand for fresh water as the river is quite dirty and not appetizing. I don’t take any bath in it these days.
I was surprised to see some bullying behaviour. One dude kept on pushing the smaller ones away to enjoy their holes, their hard work. Must be the politician of the bunch. In turn there was a lot of trumpeting. Powerful and impressive sound that gave me the chills, being only 10 meters away.
That is the closest I got. The picture was not cropped. 23mm lens, that is 35mm in standard 24x36 system. I admit I was standing somehow safely on a slab of rock, ready to run to a nearby boulder. Elephants are poor climbers, famous last words….
Buffaloes in a dwindling pool,Selous.
Hippos in the mighty Rufiji river.
A pond shows an artistic nature, Selous reserve.
Elephants in the Ruaha. Notice the one-tusker.
Buffaloes crossing the Rufiji.
Mafia island.
Some suburb houses, Dar es Salaam.
As usual, no drone was used! Just me and the aircraft. And no passengers. this was just before landing in Msembe, Ruaha NP.
Whereas in the Katavi NP, I got those buffalos splashing in the flooded Katasunga plain.
and further these zebras and topis (damalisques en français)
Finally some hippos in a colorful pond.
In the Mikumi NP, a giraffe was unfazed by my take off.
Elephants and hippos in the Great Ruaha river, Ruaha NP. When that river is fully flowing, the sand banks will disappear.
Msembe airstrip again, some visitors….
Wildebeest (gnous en français) somewhere in the Serengeti one early morning.
Tanga town on the Indian ocean.
Ruaha river and residents in the Ruaha national park.
Selous reserve, some side lake and river near the Rufiji river. They were created some decades ago by massive floods. The dead white trees show the waters haven’t receded to this day.
Mahale village, lake Tanganyika. The red spot is a giant fishing net being repaired.
Mafia island at low tide.
On the Indian Ocean between Mafia island and the main land, one can observe that sharp separation in the waters. Those sediments (well I guess) seem to come from the island.
Fishermen village in the Rufiji river delta.
Sea bottom, not very deep obviously. Pemba island, Indian ocean.
A detail of the Selous wetlands.
More of the Selous reserve.
Kipili Bay, lake Tanganyika.
Wildebeest migration, Serengeti.
Empakai crater, Ngorongoro highlands. Notice the mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru far away. One of those days with an exceptional visibility.
Elephnats in the Great Ruaha river.
Socialist traces in Zanzibar…
but colors are available too.
I was blissfully staying in our camp for a few days walking around in and out of camp, looking for birds, details and whatever surprise that may come.
Well for a surprise I got a nice one: 16 elephants going towards camp. I had wanted to see what the Ruaha river had to offer behind that bend. The bend will be there next week so I went back to meet the elephants, up to a point of course.
But to position myself for better pictures, I had to cross the river…and cut myself from camp. I know it is not the smartest thing to do but I just couldn’t resist. We’re in the dry season so this not a challenge at all. In March…
Throw a few pebbles in the river so the stealthy crocodiles would move away. In this location that is. Our crocodiles are small. Disclaimer: “Don’t take my advice for other places and other crocodiles”. Enough Darwin Awards…
I was moving a bit military style from tree to tree or rocks while the elephants had reached the river and were about to spend a good amount of time in there.
Getting closer and closer was such a thrill, such a privileged moment. No car, no house to run too. A few times, I thought I had been spotted but no…not till the end when they left the area.
Another time when I thought this is it but no.
About 40m away safe behind rocks. Notice how the baby has rolled up his trunk. For those who might have wondered, baby elies don’t suck milk with their trunk.
Little bonus, these racket-tailed rollers played in the same frame!
to be continued….
Bahi swamps, west of Dodoma.
Stonetown, Zanzibar.
Some wildebeests (des gnous pour mes amis francophones) one early morning in the Serengeti. A vertical shot and long shadows on the menu.
Stunning details of the salt lake Natron.
Lake Balangida which might be the most southern salt lake in the Rift valley near Singida.
These mounds are made of salt collected by people on the same lake.
The Ruaha river on a sunrise take off.
I’m always fascinated by the shiny feathers. Here is a Haddada ibis.
Tree killers…sadly elephants can trash an area when they are too numerous for the tree population. The bark is peeled off for food and moisture. The tree doesn’t always survive the wound.
Funny to be at the same height of a giraffe.
Ox peckers cleaning ticks.
Hippos are very territorial. Spraying their feces by flapping their tails mark their territories. The rhythmic sighting is always hilarious.
A hippo rolling in the river. The pink color is quite common with hippos.
A saddle-billed stork.
Jack the Stripper. About every single tree shows damaged bark. Elephants are the guilty guys. Their trunk is mobile and strong enough to rip off long strips of bark.
An egret and a heron on take off amongst buffalos.
Eye to eye with a giraffe. She was drinking on the lower sandbank.
Notice the sandgrouse chick left of the mother.
Some of my recent shots since I’m back in Tanzania.
In the lovely Mahale mountains, western Tanzania.
Katasunga plain, Katavi NP, in the south west.
While hopping between islands, here is Pemba island.
The Rufiji river in the Selous reserve, less than an hour away from Dar es Salaam.
Mtemere airstrip in the Selous.
The old star, the volcano Lengai.
A competitor’s camp along the Rufiji river.
Before landing over the Rufiji river.
The historic Stonetown, Zanzibar. Notice the House of Wonders, the white building right of the trees, on the left side of the picture.
In the Ruaha River Lodege, where I have a 2nd residence, this the view from the original hilltop restaurant, overlooking the Ruaha river. Could be worse, right?
From the newer restaurant, one can admire Mr Grumpy here. Like all hippos he is very territorial and obnoxious about it.
There he is marking his territory and showing us some contempt? Hippos have that habit to spray shit by fanning the tail quickly. The flapflapflap sound is hilarious.
Elephants, impalas and that one Kudu have better manners.
An Egyptian goose.
A yawning hippo.
One hippo sports unusual very pink feet.
or lunch from one of the 2 restaurants of the gorgeous Ruaha River Lodge. 2 restaurants! And the other one is perched like an eagle nest on a rocky hill! This one lies a few meters away from the Ruaha river.
I normally don’t like to be disturbed while eating. But there are circumstances that are worth to make an exception. My big lens is always ready in case…
There are many birds in the Ruaha Nat’l Park. Here are 2 Egyptian geese taking off towards a waterbuck (un cobe)
Another goose (oie égyptienne). Sometimes, but only sometimes, the translation makes sense and is quite direct.
2 waterbucks showing affection.
The mountain opposite our lodge.
A bit of zooming and here is an elephant. He and his pals will come in camp soon.
A hippo is rolling in the Ruaha river. Just a few meter away from me.
An intermediate egret on a perfect landing. Pilots will appreciate the disturbed feathers on the wings due to the high angle of attack. (un héron intermédiaire)
A grey heron (un héron cendré)
Even when the animals haven’t arrived, the scenery is stunning. I can’t wait to resume watercolors.
The posse is coming to camp, ready to create havoc sometimes when they’re hungry or thirsty.
Ruaha, the vast garden around my 2nd residence… a tiny selection of wildlife I saw in one day.
An aptly named lilac-breasted roller. Those birds are as fast to take off as Usain Bolt.
A fish eagle got a meal.
A cape eland, the biggest antelope in Africa. Up to 800 kg and still they can jump as far as 8m! Imagine a cow…
A proof that people are not always good witnesses. We were changing a flat tyre when this lioness ran past us. Not more than 4m away according to a passenger! I said 25m…who’s right…?
Stealthy crocodile in the Ruaha river.
A cool job or what? There were about 500 buffalos in the river alone but they kept on coming along from the west. This team used a drone and told us later that they counted 998 buffalos, 2% error!
An ox pecker sits on the buffalo’s head.
A fish eagle on take off. It is very similar to the American bald eagle, their national emblem. At least here in Africa the various psycho hunters haven’t managed to exterminate nearly all of them.
So I left South Sudan about 2 months ago, for a better company, much better company, Safari Air Link, based in Dar es Salaam. On top of various aircraft, the company also operates a few camps and lodges in the country. One is based in the Ruaha nat’l park and a lovely house there will my main residence for a few months a year! The location is aptly named Ruaha River Lodge, for the river passing by.
The first day I arrived an elephant welcomed me by the restaurant! Back in my old element for sure.
What a view to have for lunch…
And on one game drive, we saw the following amongst many others:
A black-faced sandgrouse and one of her 3 chicks, yes the furry ball on her left. Good camouflage isn’t it?
It’s baobab country out there.
A leopard foot print. No luck in meeting the owner though.
A greater kudu, a lovely antelope that is common in Ruaha, not so in all the other parks I know. So I was thrilled.
A young bull, his horns are not twisted yet.
Darn, he didn’t get on his hind legs for foraging!
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