Karen Telleen-Lawton: Africa 1 – Cheetahs and Bobcats | Properties & Way of life

Picture the immense American Great Plains. Instead of lengthy stretches of open freeway and monocrop grains, it’s brimming with mile upon mile of animal herds.

Tens of hundreds of huge mammals gracing the expanse in a show commensurate with the magnitude of open area. This is the Serengeti, as wild and fantastic as you’ve ever heard.

Our first casual safari was the drive from the Seronera Airport to our lodge. In that 90 minutes we noticed three of the Big Five (elephant, Cape buffalo, and lion, and stopped to look at uncountable different animals from giraffes and zebras to gazelles, impalas, warthogs, hartebeests, topis, steenboks and hippos.

During the following week we realized to hale our driver once we noticed animals (“Simama!” – Stop) and how one can sign our readiness to maneuver on (“Twende” – Let’s go).

We not often yelled “twende” for elephant herds with their endearing matriarchal households. Babies gripped their moms’ tails whereas toddlers trunk-tussled one another. Teenage sons’ belligerence was evident as they have been slowly eased out of the group.

Every Serengeti safari options “African massages” – the impact of washboard dust roads all through the National Park. There aren’t any paved roads within the park. Dirt roads are simpler to keep up; they’re additionally simpler on animal toes than scorching pavement. The slower roads higher shield the animals from automobile collision.

Surprisingly, the roads themselves don’t appear to current a lot obstacle to the wildlife. Predators tolerate roads with their occasional jeep site visitors as a result of their prey use the roads. Prey use the roads for faster journey than transferring by way of the tangle of grasses.
 
The most fun show was watching a cheetah chase and kill a rabbit. In sight of fifty or extra jeeps, and a tanker truck attempting to navigate the jam, she nabbed it, mewed for her cubs, and led all 4 in a kindergarten line to the rabbit feast.

Less dynamic however equally heart-throbbing was observing a leopard. He perched simply above our two jeeps in a stately yellow-bark acacia tree.

For 20 minutes, we frolicked as he strolled leisurely among the many excessive branches. He principally ignored us: we have been actually beneath his discover.

The coevolution of animals with their African surroundings was obvious in some ways.

We have been shocked by the violence of elephants as they habitually destroyed shrubs and felled acacia bushes of their zest for contemporary leaves. Any space they’d grazed regarded like a twister had handed by way of. Santa Barbara’s entrance nation could be shredded in a couple of months by these guys.

In the Serengeti, nevertheless, elephant destructiveness was adopted by gazelles and warthogs desirous to graze on the newly accessible leaves.

Warthogs dug holes that stuffed with the subsequent rain’s water, creating new habitat and ingesting holes.

Dung beetles rolled animal droppings into neat balls. New bushes would quickly sprout from seeds within the poop, finishing the cycle.
 
No searching is allowed within the Serengeti; so, animals aren’t afraid of autos, even at proximity. Their lack of aggressiveness or concern towards jeeps jogged my memory of our Channel Islands foxes, which advanced till trendy instances with out predators.

While African animals’ nonchalance in the direction of autos jogged my memory of the Channel Islands foxes, there was a significant distinction. We have been by no means allowed out of the jeeps as a consequence of potential hazard.

For vital bush potty stops, our guides would first drive to a short-grass space, avoiding tall grasses the place venomous snakes is perhaps hiding. Then we squatted straight in entrance of or behind the jeep, visually staying one with the automobile.

African animals advanced to concern two-legged creatures. Except for hippos and black mamba snakes, most Serengeti animals will retreat first and assault provided that vital. We have been extremely discouraged from testing this principle.

After the density of wildlife, the most important shock for me was the cats. I’m not a cat particular person, however I fell in love with the grace and great thing about the massive cats.

Lions, leopards and cheetahs have been as elegant as royalty. We have been lucky to catch glimpses of the smaller cats, too: servals and a carical.

On our first morning again in Santa Barbara, a bobcat posed for us proper outdoors our kitchen window. He stared at us for a minute or two, seeming to say, “I’m a big cat, too!”