Animals, Part II

Uh-oh, more animals! Last, last weekend my mom and I went away to Kafue National Park – one of the largest parks in Africa. It was suuuuuch a nice break from the city and usual weekend activities… and more importantly, it acquainted me with a few new animal friends :) . The lodge itself was beautiful and totally peaceful, with various decks and dining areas overlooking the river. I couldn’t imagine a more perfect place to be staying! The first day was a bit harrowing though, as our taxi driver doubled the price upon arrival (a saga that ended a few days later in a number of threats by him that could have easily had him ‘locked away’, as my manager later explained… but it’s all taken care of now!), fortunately, we met two really nice Dutch women our first night, spent most meals with them, and got a ride back to town with them on the Monday.

More importantly: Animals! I went on three safaris in total, and had a really good time, though, because it was quite a rainy weekend I didn’t see as many animals as I would have liked (I imagine the animals also don’t like to leave their warm beds when it’s all rainy). However, to make up for the lack of wild animals, we ended up meeting (and falling in love with) a family of semi-wild warthogs that live at the lodge (the managers had saved the mom warthogs from lions and fed them milk as babies/piglets?). Now the warthogs live close to the house and are tame enough to pet and play with (although they still have sharp teeth, so you have to be careful!). We had a great time with the warthog moms and babies. (*In some of the photos they’re kneeling to eat the grass, because warthogs’ necks are too short, so they find it easier to kneel)

The first night we were there my mom and I went for a ‘sunset boat cruise’ and saw a crocodile (I always have to remember to call them crocodiles rather than alligator!) and lots of hippos. However, the problem with hippos is that they’re really really shy, and therefore you only see their little ears and eyes for a minute before they go back under water. Still, really nice animals to see out in the wild. Oh, I guess we also saw lots of birds, but I don’t care much for birds and therefore don’t remember all their names, so they will be left out of this blog (sorry!).

The next morning we got up early for a 6am safari, but again, it rained and was quite chilly so we only saw a bunch of wild warthogs (they scamper around in a very silly/random way haha) and many deer-like animals (pukus, impala, etc.). One really interesting thing I learned from the guide was that there are three different warthog species that all live in the same area, and differ only in the quality of their senses (one hears very well, one smells very well, etc). As a result, the three species live together and ‘share their senses’ as a means of surviving. Pretty clever biological trick, eh? I thought so.

The final safari was an afternoon/evening one, which my mom was unfortunately too tired (/unimpressed by the lack of animals) to join me for. The beginning of the trip was much like the other one, lots of warthogs and ‘deer’, but as the sun was setting we saw a few more animals. For about 30 seconds I saw an elephant (yay!), but it quickly disappeared (the guides explained that many of the Kafue elephants remembered the days when humans poached them/their relatives and therefore remain quite afraid of humans). Also, as the sun set we saw a hippo outside of the water (pretty unusual for a hippo), walking along the river bank – they’re huge! Once it was dark we ended up seeing many mongooses (mongeese?), which really aren’t as interesting as their name suggests. Also, I saw a small spotted cat (it looked like a mini cheetah), but unfortunately it was impossible to take any good night photos. I also heard another interesting warthog story! I found out that the reason why the warthogs run around with their tails straight up is so that they can see each other (and signal each other) when hiding in the grass. However, the interesting part is that it is a learned skill –the warthogs at the lodge never have their tails up, because they missed having a mom warthog to teach them the skill. Cool eh? (though maybe not so cool for the lovely lodge warthogs)… I think that was about it for animals, except for the hippo we saw the morning we left – it was grazing right beside our cabins! They’re such nice animals (when they’re not busy taking out people!). All in all it was a really fun and relaxing trip, though, I still would like to see a zebra, and more elephants and giraffes… But who’s complaining?

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