Sunday, August 27, 2017

Out of the Jurisdiction: Some Animals of East Africa

I could show photographs from my recent trip to East Africa for weeks, but I suppose the idea of this blog in summertime is to show Hartford and its environs.   Before I get back on topic, though, 
I will offer a sample of animals I saw in Kenya and Tanzania.



I have seen many zebras before, but the number seen in East Africa was staggering.  Thousands. 
They are everywhere.  Usually with their buddies and migration partners, the wildebeests.


Crowned cranes are beautiful birds.


I thought that baboon grooming behavior was in part social and in part to get rid of ticks.
On this trip I learned that salt crystals form on a baboon's back and the one doing
the grooming is also searching for some salt to eat.


We saw three or four leopards, but they were quite far away.  The only way I was able to take 
this so-so photograph of a leopard was to use a big zoom lens and then crop heavily.


This pair of Cape buffalo offered a side view and a front view.


We saw cheetahs quite close.  This cheetah -- which is wearing a collar with GPS to enable researchers to track her movements -- was one of five cheetahs stalking a herd of wildebeest.
I took many photos of the cheetahs taking down a young wildebeest.  Even though
 predator attacks are part of nature out on the savannah, and carnivorous animals do 
need to eat, the images are a bit grim so I have decided not to show them here. 




Elephants are fascinating to watch.


We visited two hippo pools with forty or more hippos packed in tightly together.  Pretty gross.

OK, Connecticut tomorrow.

8 comments:

Sharon said...

What a fantastic set of photos Jack! I love them all. I didn't know that about the baboon grooming thing. I always thought is was to pull off bugs too. What a wonderful experience you had on this trip.

William Kendall said...

The elephants are my favourite.

RedPat said...

I've loved seeing your pics from East Africa since I doubt that I will ever get there, Jack!

Ed said...

Fascinating pictures, Jack. It looks like a wonderful trip.

Bob Crowe said...

What an extraordinary experience.

jennyfreckles said...

I'm happy to see your wonderful Africa photos. Looks like you had a good trip - and your long lens survived for this tour.

Lois said...

Marvelous photos of the animals Jack. I especially like the one with the baby baboon!

Kay said...

These are truly gorgeous shots, Jack, and the leopard shot is wonderful - the movement, the framing, the foliage, the softness of the background. Every one is a treat. Lucky Willa to have all these animal pictures to look at. I hope you'll drop in more of them from time to time. Perhaps an occasional "African Animal Day" for variety?