from my recent trip to Tanzania. 2012

1. Wildlife, Tanzania 2012
On our Kilimanjaro climb trip we
spent a day in the Ngorongoro
Crater where wildlife is abundant.

3. Zebra - Equus quagga
Each individual has a unique stripe pattern.

4. Golden Jackal, canis aureus
Great sequence later in the show of a jackal
chasing a newborn Thompson’s gazelle.

5. Cape Buffalo, syncerus caffer
One big animal!

6. Cape Buffalo

7. Wildebeest, connochaetes taurinus
Tens of thousands of these curious creatures in
the crater.

8. Wildebeest with newborn
This youngster is probably only a week or two old.
We saw adult females with placenta still attached
and babies with the umbilical chord still attached.

9. Warthog, Phacochoerus africanus
Funny looking, but nobody messes with them except
maybe a very hungry lion. They tolerate the birds
as they eat bugs and ticks.

10. Thompson’s Gazelle, eudorcas thomsonii
Lots of very young babies like this one.

11. Weaver nests

12. Black Stork, ciconia nigra

13. Ostrich, struthio camelus
Big Bird

14. Kori Bustard, ardeotis kori
Love the name!

15. Black Kite, milvus migrans
Lots of them around the lunch spot. Not safe to eat
chicken in the open. A friend had a piece of chicken taken
out of her hand halfway to her mouth by a kite.

16. Grey Crowned Crane, balearica regulorum
National bird of Uganda

17. Grant’s Gazelle, nanger granti
Larger than the Tompson’s.

18. Black Rhinoceros, diceros bicornis
Battleship of the savanna. Endangered because
people in Asia believe that the ground up horn of
the Black Rhino is an aphrodisiac.

19. Spotted Hyena, crocuta crocuta

20. African Elephant, loxodonta africana
Males tend to hang out in the crater while the
families stick to the crater rim. (fewer predators)

21. Hippopotamus, hippopotamus amphibius

22. You can just drive
around me.

23. Lion, panthera leo
A gorgeous female probably not more than 15’ from our
vehicle.

25. Baboon, papio anubis
Do not feed them!

26. Lion Love
When the female is in heat a lion couple may mate
as many as 20 times. Better safe than sorry.

27. Predator/Prey
• We were privileged to get to see a Jackal attempting to take a baby (1
to 2 week old) Thompson’s Gazelle.
• What followed was one of the most remarkable scenes.

28. Young Thompson’s Gazelle
Separated from its mother, the baby was
vulnerable.

29. The Jackal approches

30. The chase is on
As soon as the jackal began to chase the baby gazelle, who was
amazingly fast, the mother gazelle ran at the jackal, trying to
distract and/or slow it down.

31. The jackal catches the baby
But because the mother gazelle is in close pursuit
the jackal can’t stop to finish the kill. The baby
dropped to the ground and the jackal overran it.

32. Jackal trying to scare Mom off.

33. Now several adult gazelles get involved.

34. They will just NOT leave me alone!

35. OK OK, uncle, I give up, leave me alone.

36. The End
We had an amazing day in Ngorongoro Crater. Such a
beautiful lush environment where dozens of species live in
a balanced system of predators and prey drawn to the
crater by the abundant water, good grazing, and
protected environment.