Today we woke up bright and early and I got my first look at the surrounding savanna in the daylight. It is unbelievably picturesque, rolling away into the distance and bordered by distant mountains. During breakfast I noticed a tree right outside the breakfast tent has weaverbird nests – and I saw a parent enter and leave the nest! I wasn’t able to identify the bird, but after inspecting the nest structure I deducted that the species was a spectacled weaver due to the long entrance tube.
After breakfast, we set out on our first in-vehicle exploration of the savanna, and were met with an abundance of biodiversity. The first animals we saw were elephants! I knew there were elephants in the park, but I never expected to see them so soon, and so up close – the herd, consisting of a matriarch, females, and babies, walked right through our line of vehicles. It was amazing, a moment I will never forget. They are so huge, yet so gentle looking, and incredibly peaceful and they care for their young (which were kept between adults in the middle of the herd). By far the most common savanna vertebrates we spotted were birds, so I will just go over the highlights from here on out.
The best bird (in my professional opinion) that we saw were ostriches. We saw many herds over the course of the day, but the first was three females (identifiable by they comparatively drab coloration compared to the black-feathered males). I was so excited to see them! That was the number one species I was hoping to see, and I never expected to see them so soon and so close! Another herd we saw, consisting of two females and two males, were startled by something and started running and zig-zagging in different directions. They run impressively fast, using their wings for balance and swinging their necks around. The ostriches really do look like modern dinosaurs, being huge, flightless, and somewhat terrifying to behold.
We saw giraffes as well, at a distance (I love giraffes), and many zebra in large herds – some got very close to the vehicle! Even though it seems like their coloration sticks out like a sore thumb in the green savanna, I learned today that it could potentially help deter insect pests or cause confusion to predators. Very cool.
I was also so excited to see lilac breasted rollers today! They are gorgeous birds, the prettiest in the savanna, with a lilac chest and pale green crown and the most brilliant blue wing feathers – we actually ended up seeing many of them, all perched atop bushes and trees waiting for insect prey. It was magical seeing them, and it brings me so much joy to know that they are so common here!
Another bird highlight were the Marabou storks, which my field guide describes as “A huge, ugly stork”. Indeed, they are tied for the largest wingspan among birds and lack feathers on their heads, as they are largely scavengers. I thought they were pretty neat, though. We saw one that was perched way up in a tree, which is how I learned that they sleep up in trees for safety.
I loved getting to see all of the trees, too! I am a huge fan of the Baobab trees, almost all of which bore evidence of elephants eating their bark. I had no idea that they lose their leaves for the majority of the year! They really do lkook like they are upside down.
I am quickly running out of room, but there is so much I want to include! I am so lucky that my taxonomic group is found everywhere in high diversity, but that also means I have to leave so much in my field notebook! I will say that I counted 18 total bird species today, as well as the iconic ungulates we spotted.
After our first outing, we took some time for lunch and McKenna and Marlo’s presentations, on Antelopini and Equids/Canids respectively, which were both excellent and I learned quite a lot! We then went on a second outing, to spot wildlife and to see the sunset from Sunset Hill. It was the most amazing sunset I have ever seen – from the top of the hill you could see miles of savanna in every direction, you could even see as far as a distant lake and the Ngorongoro crater behind.
We then returned to the lodge for dinner, and then listened to Dr. Prendergast’s presentation on Tanzanian culture and history, which was very informative and provided a lot of insight into the ecology and conservation that we are witnessing and studying.
A family of elephants, as seen on our first outing
Two zebra on the savanna
