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1. King of the Hill. Two young elephant bulls spar for possession of the small hill. They dig up the soil, urinate on it, and attempt to push challengers off the hill. These competitions allow each bull to test himself against other males long before the mating season when things get much more serious. Kenya, Amboseli National Park.
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2. Long distance travelers. The legendary annual migration by over a million wildebeests and tens of thousands of zebras across the Serengeti plains of Tanzania and up to the Masai Mara in Kenya keep the “grass cut” and the predators fed along the way. As these herbivores reproduce and look for food and water, the carnivores follow along. Zebra colts like this one need to be up and running quickly or become an easy meal for cheetah, hyenas, or leopards. Ngorongoro crater, Tanzania.
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3.
Resting leopard. A close look at the belly reveals that this leopard had a successful hunt the night before. Solitary hunters, leopards often drag smaller prey up into trees to avoid losing a meal to lions or hyenas. We spotted a leopard and her cub along the road one evening in Lake Nakuru NP and found this one with a full belly the next morning. Leopards are one of the Big Five most dangerous animals to hunt.
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4. Line of Defense. Cape buffalo are social creatures that use this type of formation to discourage predators from attacking vulnerable calves behind them. Large adult bulls can weigh as much as a ton. In groups they are quite relaxed, like these we photographed on a hike at Lake Mburo NP, Uganda. Solitary animals are unpredictable and sometimes aggressive. In fact, a group of hikers with the same guide as ours had been charged the day before. Rifle shots into the air turned the animal away. Cape buffalo are a Big Five species.
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5.
Giraffes browse on Mt. Meru. As we hiked up Mt. Meru in the Tanzanian foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, we encountered this group at close quarters. They seemed not surprised or alarmed to see us—probably had been observing us for some time as we approached. Masai giraffes are not only very tall, up to 18 feet, but also may pack nearly a ton and a half of weight on that long frame. With long, rough tongues that extend nearly two feet out of their tough mouths, they can crop tall trees or deal easily with the three inch spines of thorny acacia bushes. In Uganda, the best place to see giraffes is Murchison Falls NP.
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6.
Shade is a valuable resource. In the heat of day on the savanna, many animals seek protection from the sun. This male lion finds a bit of relief and was so intent on staying there we were able to drive right up and look into his mouth. Huge in size, full grown males exceed 600 lb. They often eat first at kills made by an associated pride of females. The males keep their females only as long as they can defend them against other males, sometimes in bloody or fatal combat for the loser. Male lions that take over a pride engage in infanticide, killing lion cubs—especially those that are nursing. When a female stops nursing, she goes into estrus soon, and the male mates with her to produce his own offspring.
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7. Scavenger and predator. The spotted hyena in this picture lies guarding its den at Lake Mburo NP, Uganda. Night hunters, groups of hyenas steal prey killed by other animals, but also kill their own. They are formidable creatures weighing 70 lb at maturity and having the strongest jaws of all mammalian predators in Africa. Their jaw strength is such that they can splinter the bones of large prey, consuming the remaining meat, the marrow inside and hard bone itself. Hyena kills are characterized by a great deal of fighting among pack members and usually an alpha female is the top dog and first to eat. Hyenas may gorge on food if it is available, return to the den and regurgitate some for young pups protected there.
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8.
Master of the waterways. Hippos are common in Uganda around most waterways. This one was among hundreds in the Kazinga channel in Uganda's Queen Elizatbeth NP. They come out on the savanna to graze in the evening, and are responsible for more human deaths and injuries than any other large animal in Africa. Noisy and gregarious we have seen hundreds wallowing in small areas, grunting, snorting and doing mouth-opening displays like this. They are not among the Big Five for old hunters, but maybe they should be. Male hippos are very dangerous for male babies, who they try to grab in their giant mouths and crush. They don’t touch female babies. We actually saw and photographed one such killing along the Kazinga Channel.
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9. Dust bath, There are no rhinos left in the wild in Uganda. The last were victims of the Idi Amin atrocities that extended to animals as well as people. Now Disney and other international organizations like the Rhino Fund are supporting a White Rhino breeding project at Ziwa Reserve at Nakasangola, north of Kampala. A small herd has been formed and there is hope for breeding but the reproduction rate is extremely slow. Visitors can tour Ziwa and see the great beasts at very close quarters. We actually walked in a field around the small herd, keeping close by trees under the supervision of rangers.
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10.
Giant bull. This very large and very old elephant met us at Murchison
Falls NP in Uganda, and the display with ears forward serves as a warning that we
had better move away. Hunting, until the last 20 years, has resulted
in elephants that are nervous and potentially aggressive in the Ugandan
parks. We have been charged in Queen Elizabeth, but thankfully had a
very quick driver. Despite the experience, there are great
opportunities to view herds of elephants at close quarters and see
babies and all other stages. Stable herds are matriarchal with the oldest,
and generally largest, cow acting as leader. Members are her daughters,
grand daughters and so on. Young bulls leave the herd near sexual
maturity and form groups of their own. Dominant bulls join the females
groups to breed. This individual would be a real temptation for
poachers looking for ivory.
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11. Cheetah. We found this male cheetah scanning the horizon from a small hillock and scent-marking with his urine. Cheetahs hunt individually during the day by chasing down small antelope such as Thompson’s gazelles, and consuming them quickly. Running at well over 60 mph for short distances makes cheetahs the fastest land animals. As day hunters they usually do not have to compete with hyenas, leopards and lions, all of which hunt at night. Cheetahs are in great peril of extinction with the loss of both range and genetic diversity. Serengeti NP, Tanzania.
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12.
Acacia. A symbol of the savanna is the Acacia. These magnificent trees with their spreading canopies stand alone or in small groups across the miles of grassland. Acacias provide perching and nesting sites for birds, sleeping “dorms” for baboons and other primates, eating perches for leopards that drag dead prey up into them for safe-keeping from lions and hyenas, and a little shade. They are cropped by giraffes, and severely pruned or killed by elephants that can pull off limbs or drag down an entire tree to get at the leaves and small branches (see trees in the foreground)..
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