Part 1
| Cape Buffalo |
| Swahili Name:
Nyati Species: Syncerus caffer Lifespan: 20 years Weight: 1500 lbs (700kg) |
| Cape Buffalo |
| Swahili Name:
Nyati Species: Syncerus caffer Lifespan: 20 years Weight: 1500 lbs (700kg) |
| Serengeti |
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Cape Buffalo, also called the African Buffalo, are large and can be
ill-tempered. If you spot one alone, be wary- they will judge you as
a threat when they are outside the protection of a larger herd. They
are fast and the horns can kill. They are in the Big Five, the top
five animals that people want to see. The lone fellow below watched us very intently. We did not leave our vehicle, and our guide kept his own wary on on the buffalo. |
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| Dik Dik |
| Swahili Name:
Faru Species: Madoqua kirkii Lifespan: 3-4 years, 10 years in captivity Weight: 10-12 lbs (4-5 kg) |
| Serengeti | |
| Dik dik's are tiny antelope, and a frequent snack for many
predators, which explains the much longer lifespan in captivity.
They pick a mate for life, and frequently, if one dik dik is killed, the
other one will die of stress. This fellow on the right was keeping a close eye on us and I photographed him looking through a thorny acacia tree. |
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Here's a pair of them we saw later in the say. We only saw dik
diks at the very southern tip of the Serengeti. Typically, they are
very shy and generally started moving away from us when we would stop, so
I didn't get that many high-quality pictures. Since dik diks are usually solitary unless associated with a mate, I must assume these two are in fact, mates. |
| Dik dik's, I think, win the prize for cutest animals in Africa. Their big black eyes and over-sized heads kind of win you over. Dangerous, they're not. These two did just sit there for us, which was nice, for a change. |  |
| Eland |
| Swahili Name:
Faru Species: Madoqua kirkii Lifespan: 3-4 years, 10 years in captivity Weight: 10-12 lbs (4-5 kg) |
| Ngorongoro |
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| After the excitement of spotting our first rhino, we spotted a mother and her baby moseying around. Typically, a baby rhino will stay around it's mother for 2-4 years before moving out on it's own. I like this photo- in the distance are two ostriches. |
For Giraffes and more, click to continue, below:
