The second day we went on an early morning safari, had two student presentations, a sunset safari, and had a presentation by Dr. Mary Prendergast.
The morning safari was incredible as it was the first time I was able to experience seeing all of these organisms in the wild. We started the trip off strong at 8 am and immediately saw a heard of elephants. It was incredible. There was even a baby elephant that could not have been more than a few months old, it was extremely tiny in comparison to the other elephants in the heard. We were on this safari for around 4 hours so we were able to see a lot of animals. We were able to see warthogs, both reticulated and masai giraffes, baobab trees, ostriches, wildebeests, Thomson gazelles, Grant gazelles, plains zebras. The warthogs were funny to see run as they point their tails straight up into the air as they run. We also saw a zebra with scratches on its butt, and it looked like it survived a predator attack. We were also able to see a bunch of birds including the lilac breasted roller, the splendid starling, the Marabou stork, and many others. I learned today that the Marabou stork eats carrion and has the largest wingspan of all the birds. We also saw this interesting plant that had a stalk that was a meter or two tall, with only one to two purple flowers at the top of it. I was unsure why it evolved this way but some ideas were that it helps it get sun or it helps it get pollinated. I also was able to see a cape buffalo. It looked to be a male roaming on its own and it had the boss at the front of the head which is typical for the cape buffalo. I am not surprised that I was able to see this because they are very prevalent in Tanzania, although I was surprised to see only one. This may be because the herds are filled with moms and babies and this was a lone male that is not in a bachelor group.
(elephants)
Before the presentation we had some down time, so Caroline and I went to our tent to do some work. This was great timing because we were able to see a heard of 3 elephants right outside our tent. For the presentations we learned about Canids, Equids, Antilopini. I learned that a type of canid found in Tanzania sneezes to vote and they hype others in the pack before they set off to hunt. I learned that Plains zebras have horizontal and vertical stripes and a black nose. I learned that the difference between Thomson gazelles and Grant gazelles is that Thomson gazelles have a horizontal stripe whereas the Grant gazelles have a vertical stripe.
(zebras)
For the sunset safari we were able to see a bunch of ostriches, jackals, warthogs, ticks, and crowned polvers. It was really cool to see the animals at night and how the giraffes, zebras, and elephants virtually disappeared.
The final presentation was informative because I was able to learn a little bit about modern day Tanzania and colonialism that has affected this country. I also learned about how there was a first female president already.
Overall, this safari was one of the coolest experiences of my life and I still cannot believe I am actually in Africa and able to interact with all these amazing organisms.
Isabella-2024-Bovini
