2017/09 Part 2 Amboseli - Sun pm Birds & Cheetahs |
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We needed to walk our lunch off and we’d seen animals in the area beyond the bar, so off we went. The 
animals were female impalas, without the males’ resplendent horns, but still poised and elegant. Around the rocks were a gecko and an agama lizard, obviously used to humans as they both posed for us.
Up in the nearest tree was a pair of large birds, black-chested snake eagles. One dropped into the grass
but didn’t catch anything.
We could hear a woodpecker and finally tracked it down but it took a while to get an unobstructed picture and identify it as a cardinal woodpecker.
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Amboseli noon Serena Lodge (1.03) |
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Back in the van our afternoon game drive continued like the morning’s, a steady flow of new species. We agreed we’d never been anywhere that had such diversity.
Our first find looked like yet another variety of plover but its two prominent rings identified it as a two-banded courser, a good name as it was running around chasing insects.
We came upon a troop of baboons, always fun to watch. This troop was spread out across the grass,
picking out juicy insects. They must have felt safe as their babies were spread out too rather than clutching their mothers’ backs.
We returned to the swampy area; the hippos were still submerged with just their heads showing, The pelicans were there too but in front of them was an enormous flock of yellow-billed storks.
Nzuki thought they might be migrating, as they move around, following the rainfall. The second picture shows 
their flashy red heads and yellow beaks.
I took this picture of a flock of birds in flight and only later realized they were flamingos, though I don’t remember sighting any on the ground.
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Amboseli Sunday PM Game drive 1 (5.52) |
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In front of the hippos were some sleeping lumps; one of them got up and strolled over to check us out. It was a spotted 
hyena. Hyenas look to be halfway between cats and wolves, and leave you in no doubt that they are carnivores. And that given the right circumstances, humans are on the menu too.
We came upon a hippopotamus close to the road and watched as it emerged from the water until it was facing us, wasn’t impressed by what it saw, and turned, slumping back into the water. 
Hippos look slow and docile but they are notorious for charging and killing people and turning boats over.
An enormous heron came gliding in. Appropriately, it’s called a goliath heron, standing about five feet tall, and this one perched on a stump giving it even more height. We later came upon it wrapped in its wings. Not a sight you’d like to come across unexpectedly.
We’ve seen kingfishers around the world; most dive from an overhanging branch but this pied kingfisher was hovering and diving from about eight feet above the water.
The sun was going down behind the clouds; no pretty sunset tonight.
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We came back onto drier land and spotted a group of hartebeest. They sometimes form herds of thousands 
but we had only three.
Then Nzuki pointed to a distant tree and said “Cheetahs, but I’m not sure how many.” We could see the tree but only slowly realized that those rocks at its base were actually sleeping cheetahs. While we were watching, one and then two sat up, leaving a third still prone. They are the world’s fastest animals and need to be to catch prey like the Thomson’s gazelle.
Our last few discoveries were all birds. This heron-like bird is a hamerkop, “hammerhead” in Afrikaans because of its head and beak shape.
Then there were two new storks. This saddle-billed stork is enormous, five feet high. The yellow patch on its red bill is the “saddle”. The marabou stork is big too but less colourful. Because of its macabre appearance it is also called the “undertaker bird”, a fitting name as it is often beak to beak with the vultures, sharing a corpse.
Our last discovery of the day was a raft of cute ducks, white-faced whistling ducks to be precise. They didn’t whistle for us, perhaps because they were gathering for an important meeting.
As dark fell we returned to the lodge for another great dinner. By this time we’d learned to skip a course or two. We were even more tired than the previous day, but I managed to post a few dozen pictures on Facebook.