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Slumbering with Spotted Hyena

October 16th, 2010 hmcane12

I’m so sorry I haven’t posted for a full week, our internet has been extremely fickle since our return from the Serengeti…but speaking of the Serengeti–wow, I had the most amazing experience.  But first I will back it up to the day before our arrival.  As I mentioned in my previous post, we stopped at Olduvai Gorge.  It’s actually supposed to be called Oldupai, not Olduvai.  It is the name of a plant found in the gorge and the spelling was butchered in translation…spread the word.  This is our attempt at evolution during a lunch break  .  We got to hold vertebrates of countless prehistoric animals, it was crazy.  We then continued with our journey and it just seemed like the land was never ending…because it was!! We finally, 6 hours later, reached the beautiful and microhabitated Serengeti!  I have never seen such a vast area of land…that includes every single type of vegetation…I feel like I say that about every national park but this one is different…you honestly can’t see where the land ends, it just looks like it goes on and on until the horizon meets the sky.  I’m trying so hard to encapsulate its beauty into words but it’s impossible, I guess you have to go see for yourself (…mom & dad)…or I can show you a few pictures to give you a better idea.  So we got to our “campsite” and you’d think it’d be semi-fenced off right? WRONG.  We were literally plopped in the middle of the park to pitch our tents.  There were no fences or anything.  Within 5 minutes of being there we saw a buffalo and herd of elephants…probably no more than 50 yards from our tents (I will continue with our list of visitors later…) The following morning, we were forced out of our tents at 5 AM (side note: if you had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, there was a strict protocol.  You had to unzip your tent halfway, flash your headlamp until an askari (soldier) came over, and they would have to escort you to the bathroom…equipped with a rifle, it was so awesome.) 5 AM was brutal..until we saw the infamous “sunrise at the Serengeti”  it was breath-taking…I hate using that word but seriously, it took the breath out of you.  We then continued on with our morning game drive.  Here are a few new species of animals that I got to add to my list…a chui (leopard)  he was not the most excited animal to see us in the AM  A serval cat…it was such a treat to see this animal.  They are extremely rare and strictly nocturnal…maybe he was sleep walking? Who knows but it ran away so quickly and this was the only picture I got. We saw a ton of ungulates as usual but the Serengeti held a few that I had never seen before.  This is a hartebeest (relative of the wildebeest)  and these are Topi (easily recognizable because of the discoloration of their hindlegs).   Really cool experience: we were driving along and saw a National Geographic land cruiser filming! My dream job but with photography! Anyway, we kind of followed their car (sorry I’m not sorry) and it was so worth it because we spotted duma (cheetahs)!!  Although they were kind of far, it was awesome to see how well they camouflaged themselves.  We then got to get out of our land cruisers (some distance away from the duma) to visit the Ngong rocks on a massive boulder. This is the Ngong rock  beliefs say that this rock is where livestock were given to the Maasai tribe.  Fun fact:  see the several indentations on the rock? when you tap them with little pebbles, every single indentation makes a different sound with a different pitch…this is how the Maasai used to communicate with one another.  These are my professors by the way, they’re the best.   We then spotted my favorites.  Yet another cool fact, see the collar around the first lioness’s neck?  Dr. Kisui (professor in the middle/right) actually was the one that tagged this lion for tracking purposes.  He has been on a National Geographic documentary too!  We’re so so extremely lucky to have him teach us.   Oh yeah, it rained for the first time since I’ve been in Africa that morning!! The animals loved it as you can see  they were all out hydrating and bathing. Next we have the African buffalo  these are actually my favorite to photograph.  They look so prehistoric…almost to the point they look fake right? I promise they’re not though.  Actually out of any animal in the park, most humans are killed by buffalo–I think simply because they are just that powerful.  Then we encountered…Hippo crossing!  Most tourists die from these small (?) creatures. They were not extremely happy upon our initial arrival but they warmed up to us  who knew hippos smiled?!  On our last day, we got to do a night game drive.  The sunset was even more breath-taking than the sunrise…it looked like a moving ball of fire  it was definitely an indicator of emergence of the nightlife… the giraffes were racing away from predators  and eerie species of animals woke up  we then saw this little bundle of joy heading towards our campsite…naively we didn’t think anything of it…  After dinner, a few of my friends and I were sitting out near the bonfire with our Swahili professor.  We conveyed to him that we wanted to stay up late enough to see any intruders.  We never thought he’d actually agree…but he did…(“TIA” — phrase we use almost daily) “this is Africa” for you.  So we took the huge trash can, fresh with our dinner leftovers, and dragged it out to the end of our campsite.  We then got in the land cruisers and waited/really could not contain our excitement…  …I was not lying….  We first saw a black-backed jackal and then…no joke, a hyena paid us a visit.   Every single night we were woken up by the distinct cry of a hyena next to our tents.   The first night the askaris actually saw a lion, follwing a zebra, migrate through our campsite…only feet from our tents…Unfortunately after we saw this hyena, we went to bed…but I guess only a few hours later, hippos passed through!!  On our last day in the Serengeti, our professors brought us to one of the most luxurious lodges at the park.  These were are fake bandas for the day…we wished…  I’m still wrapping my head around the fact that this…  and that…  are considered school.  I swear classes actually are so hard (I have 7 data analysis assignments/papers due before the 19th!!) but it’s days like these that I have that “Oh this is why I wanted to study abroad in Africa” feelings…truly one of the most unique experiences of my life.

Today is a day I have anticipated basically since I got here…I get to eat ice cream!! I’ve been up since 6 AM because I am so excited…and also, at this art gallery there are actually dogs you can pet! I can’t contain myself.  Kenya in 9 days 🙂

☮Hannah

7 Responses to “Slumbering with Spotted Hyena”

  1. Linda Canepa says:

    Hannah-
    Truly amazing-not sure I will ever get there but I am learning so much from your visit. Especially liked your reenactment of evolution-reminds of Patti B’s and mine interpretation of the red nucleus when we had been studying too much(ask her sometime).I can’t even imagine how incredible it must be to be so close to all those animals in the wild.Take some close-up pictures of the vegetation-looks so exotic! Love you, Mom

  2. Nikki G says:

    HANNNNNNAHHHH. all of those pictures are AMAZING. wow. the sunrise. ps I love the subtle “sorry im not sorry’s” throughout the blog… but wanna bring back a duma or a hippo? (the hippo with its mouth open pic is SICKKK). I MISS YOU SO MUCH and am so glad you had an amazing time in the serengeti. I will come back with you someday 😉 MISS YOU. lets skype eh? xooxoxox

  3. Kerry Wright says:

    Just showed Deb and Dick all of your pics!!! They were like “wow that Hannah is some chick.” Hehe. MY MOM AND I LOVED the pic of your little hut thing (idk what it is called). Deb thinks “oh it looks like a little hobbit house.” Miss you…love you xoxo
    Kerry

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