The Great Tours: African Safari [3106]

Table of contents :
Professor Biography......Page 3
Table of Contents......Page 5
Course Scope......Page 7
Lecture 1 • The Evolution of the Modern Safari......Page 10
From Trading to Hunting......Page 11
An Unsustainable Combination......Page 13
The Big Five......Page 15
The Modern Safari......Page 16
Lecture 2 • Comparing Self-Drive and Guided Safaris......Page 18
Self-Drive Safaris......Page 19
Guided Safaris......Page 20
Rules and Recommendations......Page 22
Lecture 3 • Safaris in East Africa......Page 25
Kenya and the Maasai Mara......Page 26
Tanzania and the Serengeti......Page 28
Travel Tips......Page 31
Lecture 4 • Safaris in Southern Africa......Page 33
South Africa......Page 34
Zimbabwe......Page 36
Zambia......Page 38
Travel Tips......Page 40
Lecture 5 • Water Safaris......Page 42
The Okavango Delta......Page 43
Linyati......Page 46
Travel Tips......Page 48
Lecture 6 • Desert Safaris......Page 50
Namibia......Page 51
Botswana......Page 53
Travel Tips......Page 55
Lecture 7 • Primate Safaris......Page 57
The DRC......Page 58
Uganda......Page 60
Rwanda......Page 62
Travel Tips......Page 64
Lecture 8 • Night Safaris......Page 67
The Experience......Page 68
Animal Encounters......Page 70
The Night Sky......Page 72
Lecture 9 • Photographic Safaris......Page 75
Photographic Safari Basics......Page 76
Camera Settings......Page 78
Getting the Shot......Page 80
Lecture 10 • Walking Safaris......Page 83
A Closer Look......Page 84
Signs in the Bush......Page 85
Where to Go......Page 87
Lecture 11 • African Predators......Page 90
The Big Cats......Page 91
Hyenas, Wild Dogs, and Jackals......Page 92
The Small Cats......Page 95
Lecture 12 • African Herbivores and Antelopes......Page 97
African Buffalo......Page 98
Antelope Herds......Page 99
Wildebeest and Zebra......Page 101
Warthog and Bushpig......Page 102
Lecture 13 • Giants of the African Bush......Page 105
Elephant......Page 106
Giraffe......Page 108
Rhinoceros......Page 109
Hippopotamus......Page 111
Lecture 14 • Africa’s Great Apes and Other Primates......Page 113
Great Apes......Page 114
Baboons......Page 116
Monkeys......Page 118
Bush Babies and Pottos......Page 120
Lecture 15 • Africa’s Small Mammals......Page 122
Mongooses......Page 123
Hares and Rabbits......Page 125
Rodents......Page 127
The Weasel Family......Page 128
Pangolins......Page 129
Lecture 16 • Africa’s Reptiles and Amphibians......Page 131
Crocodiles......Page 132
Monitor Lizards......Page 133
Smaller Lizards......Page 135
Snakes......Page 136
Tortoises, Terrapins, and Amphibians......Page 139
Lecture 17 • Key Birds of Africa......Page 141
Birding Tips......Page 142
Birds of Prey......Page 143
Other Species......Page 145
Lecture 18 • Top Birding Spots of Southern and East Africa......Page 148
Southern Africa......Page 149
Kenya......Page 153
Tanzania......Page 154
Lecture 19 • Africa’s Trees, Plants, and Flowers......Page 157
Trees......Page 158
Shrubs......Page 161
Flowers......Page 162
Lecture 20 • Island and Beach Safaris......Page 164
Madagascar......Page 165
The Seychelles......Page 168
Continental Beaches......Page 171
Lecture 21 • The Sounds of an African Safari......Page 173
How to Listen......Page 174
Large Mammals......Page 175
Bird Sounds......Page 177
Night Sounds......Page 178
Lecture 22 • Safari Destinations off the Beaten Path......Page 180
Ethiopia......Page 181
Chad......Page 182
Morocco......Page 184
Senegal......Page 186
Nigeria......Page 187
Angola......Page 188
Lecture 23 • Cities and Other Safari Additions......Page 190
Cape Town......Page 191
Johannesburg......Page 193
Nairobi......Page 194
Kigali......Page 195
Adventures......Page 196
Human Culture......Page 198
Lecture 24 • Tips for a Sustainable Safari......Page 200
Travelers’ Philanthropy......Page 201
Experiential Safaris......Page 202
Responsible Ecotourism......Page 206
Books......Page 210
Online Articles......Page 216
DVDs......Page 221
Image Credits......Page 222

Citation preview

Topic Better Living

Subtopic Travel

The Great Tours African Safari Course Guidebook James Currie Wilderness Safaris

Published by

THE GREAT COURSES Corporate Headquarters 4840 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 500, Chantilly, VA, 20151‑2299 phone: 1.800.832.2412 | fax: 703.378.3819 | www.thegreatcourses.com

Copyright © The Teaching Company, 2019 Copyright © 2019 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved.

National Geographic and the Yellow Border Design are registered trademarks of National Geographic Society and used under license. Printed in the United States of America This book is in copyright. All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of The Teaching Company.

JAMES CURRIE Safari Guide, Wilderness Safaris James Currie is a safari guide with the world-renowned company Wilderness Safaris. As a lifelong wildlife enthusiast and native of South Africa, he has led professional wildlife and birding tours for many years, and his passion for adventure and remote cultures has taken him to nearly every corner of the globe.

Professor Biography

i

Mr. Currie is an expert in the fields of sustainable development and environmental management, holding a bachelor’s degree in African Languages from the University of Cape Town and a master’s degree in Sustainable Environmental Management from Middlesex University London. His dissertation, which he presented to the Icelandic government in 2001, received a distinction and has been used as a model for assessing the relationships between wildlife areas and local communities. One of Mr. Currie’s passions is forging links between local communities, wildlife, and international travelers. From 2004 to 2007, he worked as the managing director of Africa Foundation, a nonprofit organization that directs its efforts toward uplifting communities surrounding wildlife areas in Africa. Mr. Currie is a highly sought-after public speaker who has spoken to sold-out audiences at various venues, including the prestigious Explorers Club in New York City, The G2 Gallery in Los Angeles, the National Audubon Society headquarters in New York City, Zoo Miami, the Educational Travel Consortium’s Annual Conference, and the Travel & Adventure Show. He has appeared as a special guest on various television shows and radio programs, including Martha Stewart Living Radio and WGN-TV, and has been the subject of several newspaper articles in periodicals such as The Wall Street Journal, The Palm Beach Post, and the Orlando Sentinel. Mr. Currie was the host of Nikon’s Birding Adventures TV, a popular birding show that aired for 10 seasons on Discovery Communications’ Destination America and the NBC Sports Network. He also hosted the action-birding show Aerial Assassins on Nat Geo WILD. Additionally, Mr. Currie provided footage and consulted for the 2011 Hollywood birding movie The Big Year, starring Steve Martin, Jack Black, and Owen Wilson. Mr. Currie has contributed to several publications, including the Southern African Birdfinder, and he was a contributing author of the acclaimed book The Last Elephants. His book, When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer, details his life as a wildlife guide in Africa. In 2007, Mr. Currie immigrated to the United States with his American wife and three children, and he currently resides in West Palm Beach, Florida. Mr. Currie’s other Great Course is The National Geographic Guide to Birding in North America.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Professor Biography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Course Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

LECTURE GUIDES Lecture 1 • The Evolution of the Modern Safari . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Lecture 2 • Comparing Self-Drive and Guided Safaris . . . . . . . . . . 12 Lecture 3 • Safaris in East Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Lecture 4 • Safaris in Southern Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Lecture 5 • Water Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Lecture 6 • Desert Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Lecture 7 • Primate Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Lecture 8 • Night Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Lecture 9 • Photographic Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Table of Contents

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Lecture 10 • Walking Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Lecture 11 • African Predators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Lecture 12 • African Herbivores and Antelopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Lecture 13 • Giants of the African Bush . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Lecture 14 • Africa’s Great Apes and Other Primates . . . . . . . . . . 107 Lecture 15 • Africa’s Small Mammals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116 Lecture 16 • Africa’s Reptiles and Amphibians . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125 Lecture 17 • Key Birds of Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Lecture 18 • Top Birding Spots of Southern and East Africa . . . . . . 142 Lecture 19 • Africa’s Trees, Plants, and Flowers . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Lecture 20 • Island and Beach Safaris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 Lecture 21 • The Sounds of an African Safari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 Lecture 22 • Safari Destinations off the Beaten Path . . . . . . . . . 174 Lecture 23 • Cities and Other Safari Additions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 Lecture 24 • Tips for a Sustainable Safari . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIALS Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204 Image Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

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The Great Tours: African Safari

THE

GREAT TOURS

AFRICAN SAFARI COURSE SCOPE Few could argue that any magazine or network has brought the world—its history, its cultures, its beauty—into people’s homes in full color better than National Geographic. It is truly the gold standard for visual storytelling. And in this exclusive partnership with The Great Courses, National Geographic takes you on a unique educational journey that features video footage shot on location with safari guide and National Geographic TV host James Currie. This visually stunning series transports you to Africa to experience the different types of safaris and to spot spectacular wildlife, including lions, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, and elephants. You learn about traditional African cultures by enjoying their dancing, singing, and initiation rituals. You even learn what it’s like to stare into the eyes of a silverback gorilla. Throughout the lectures, National Geographic experts provide their particular insights into nature, wildlife, and history to provide proper context for understanding and truly appreciating the wonder of this unique adventure. Course Scope

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This course begins with an explanation of the origins of the term safari, its history, and the evolution of the meaning of the word. It also delves into the pros and cons of self-drive safaris versus guided safaris and drills down into the best places for safari on the continent. Lectures are dedicated to East African safaris, water-based safaris, desert safaris, southern African safaris, and the recent emergence of dedicated primate safaris. Throughout the course, tips are offered on what to bring and where to go to enjoy the very best experience that each of these unique safaris has to offer. There are three special safari options that depart from the typical gamedrive safaris that are offered across the continent: night safaris, walking safaris, and dedicated photographic safaris. Each of these deserves special attention, as they can either be enhancements to a traditional safari or can warrant a dedicated experience in their entirety. The night safaris lecture focuses on the ethics of viewing animals at night, the best practices to successfully find and view animals, and the different creatures that you can expect to find. Walking safaris offer a very different perspective on the African bush from the traditional game-drive experience. The lecture on this topic focuses on the tracks and signs of wildlife, the best walking safari options in Africa, and safety protocols to ensure successful wildlife viewing on foot. Photographic safaris are enhanced traditional safaris with specially modified vehicles and boats to maximize photographic opportunities. The lecture on photographic safaris discusses the best tips for successful wildlife photography and videography in the African bush. The course covers a series of very interesting animal and plant identification lectures that offer an in-depth look into the stars of an African safari—from lions and elephants to plants and lizards. Each lecture is peppered with actual footage from the field that transports you into a real-time safari with fascinating facts and anecdotes about Africa’s inhabitants. The best birding, beach, and city destinations are equally important components of a complete experience, and each of these is discussed in some detail, with a focus on the best options and considerations for travel to each one of these locations. But there are also some safari destinations that are not widely known about beyond the shores of the great continent, and the course dives deeper into some of these remote countries.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

Although a safari is mostly a visual experience, it’s important not to forget the sounds of the African bush. The auditory experience can be as compelling as the visual one, and the course analyzes the signature sounds of a safari as well as some tips on how best to prepare your ears to maximize the experience. Lastly, an entire lecture is dedicated to responsible safaris, and advice is provided on how best to choose a responsible safari operator, how you as a guest can contribute to conservation and community development in Africa, and how to learn from the conservation lessons of the past. The course as a whole offers a comprehensive look into everything you need to know to prepare for one of life’s most remarkable adventures.

Course Scope

3

THE EVOLUTION OF THE MODERN SAFARI LEC TURE 1 Africa is home to some of the oldest and most diverse ecosystems on the planet, as well as some of the world’s most iconic animals. African safaris celebrate both the land and its wildlife, bringing adventurers breathtakingly close to sights and sounds that simply can’t be found anywhere else on earth. This lecture examines the origin and evolution of the safari, from its African roots as a trading journey to its existence today as a popular form of tourism.

FROM TRADING TO HUNTING t

The Swahili word safari, meaning “journey,” was introduced into the English language in the mid-1800s by British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton. Today, safari refers to an excursion to see and photograph wildlife in its natural African habitat. The word has meant different things to different people over time, and the metamorphosis of the age-old Swahili term reveals the transformation of Africa through its human eras.

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To the Africans across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Rwanda, the word safari originally described the great voyages undertaken for trading. Merchants and tradesman were known to travel great distances in wagons to showcase their wares, often facing all sorts of dangers and illnesses.

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By the turn of the 20th century, after the arrival of Europeans, the word safari was reinvented to describe adventure and romance in the wild, where lions and elephants ruled the land. Animals were seen as trophies, and safari was about big-game hunting. Animal skins, horns, and heads were traded as commodities and collected for show in museums.

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The height of the hunting period coincided with the colonial era, when Africa was occupied by Europe. This period, sometimes referred to as the scramble for Africa or the partition of Africa, began in 1881 and lasted until the eve of World War I in 1914. Britain controlled areas including modern-day Kenya and South Africa, Germany controlled what is today Namibia and Tanzania, the French exerted power in countries from the Ivory Coast to Morocco and Algeria, and the list goes on. By the early 1900s, almost the entire continent was under European control, and this opened Africa’s wilderness to Westerners looking for adventure.

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Hunting expeditions were highly popular among American and English aristocrats. The term white hunter described the professional big-game hunters who brought clients into East Africa from Europe and America. These hunters came to encounter and kill some of the most dangerous animals on earth. Hunting outfitters set up shop in Kenya and took wealthy customers across the country and into the highlands of Uganda to shoot wildlife for sport. Large herbivores like elephants, rhinos, and buffaloes and predators like lions and leopards were targeted heavily, as they were—at that stage—abundant.

Lecture 1 I The Evolution of the Modern Safari

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In the days of hunting safaris, groups numbering hundreds of people were required for the experience of a single safari expedition. Hunting groups would head out on foot or on horseback and could be out for months at a time. Dozens of porters were required to manage the tents, weapons, and other supplies, and sometimes skinners and taxidermists would also join the safari. After a long day of tracking and hunting, the porters would set up little cities of tents, where the wealthy hunters could relax and enjoy a glass of whiskey. Once public figures started to partake in these great African adventures, hunting safaris grew even more popular.

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Hunting wasn’t only for sport; it also played a practical role in the colonization of Africa. Safaris served to clear vast areas of land for agricultural use. Landowners thought that predators and other roaming wildlife posed a threat to farmers, crops, and livestock, so they hired white hunters to free their plantations from the perceived threat.

The Great Tours: African Safari

AN UNSUSTAINABLE COMBINATION t

As the 20th century went on, the popularity of the African safari soared. The market for trained, professional hunters to mentor clients skyrocketed, and decades of hunting safaris continued. Motor vehicles transformed the safari experience yet again, shortening the journeys and lessening the number of people needed on each trip. Gone were the days of horse handlers, porters, and gun bearers.

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Meanwhile, human populations were growing exponentially across the continent. Farming settlements took over previously uninhabited lands, removing more and more natural habitat from the animals. As the population grew, the wilderness began to shrink, and overhunting continued to decimate wildlife populations.

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Many species have suffered greatly because of this rapid human expansion, and some are now vulnerable or critically endangered. jj About 82 percent of the African lion’s home range has disappeared over the last 100 years. In the same period, the number of lions in the wild has declined dramatically—from more than 200,000 to approximately 20,000 individuals left—and populations are still decreasing. jj African elephant populations have been reduced by about 90 percent in the last century. Because of the ivory trade, around 20,000 elephants are still killed every year. jj The number of cheetahs in Africa is down to around 7,000, as much of the land they used to prowl has now been repurposed for agriculture and livestock uses. jj Black rhino populations dropped an incredible 98 percent between 1960 and 1995 to fewer than 2,500 individuals. Thanks to recent conservation efforts, black rhino populations are now increasing, and there are now somewhere between 5,000 and 5,500 individuals.

Lecture 1 I The Evolution of the Modern Safari

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After the heyday of the hunting safari, many countries in Africa were facing dire environmental issues. To promote conservation of delicate ecosystems, many nations began to move native peoples away from their homelands to create game reserves and national parks. But this move created tension with the tribes who traditionally lived on these lands, and the displaced peoples sometimes sought financial gain by poaching and illegally hunting in the parks.

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Ecotourism emerged in the 1980s as a possible solution to this dilemma— at least in part. Managed properly, safaris as a form of ecotourism can benefit not only African wildlife but indigenous human populations as well. A study by the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has shown that the ivory of an elephant may be worth about 21,000 dollars on the black market, but over its lifetime, that elephant could generate more than 1.6 million dollars in ecotourism opportunities, such as photographic safaris. And, of course, if elephants disappear altogether, then no one benefits.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

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Safaris continue to attract visitors from all over the world, but the focus has shifted to the kind of ecotourism that protects and conserves the wilderness. Nowadays, clients are spending their money on photographing wild animals instead of killing them. From what were once dedicated hunting expeditions, safaris are now widely recognized as photographic journeys. Rifles have been replaced by cameras, and in some countries, hunting has been banned completely.

THE BIG FIVE t

Misty mornings and golden afternoons provide inspiring backdrops to professional photographers and novices alike. Shutterbugs relish the opportunity to snap a photo of a leopard dangling its legs from the bough of a tree. True diehards often travel back to the same place to see an animal they captured on film once before.

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Some of the most prized images are of the so-called Big Five animals: the lion, elephant, rhinoceros, buffalo, and leopard. People around the world know that Big Five and safari go hand in hand. But where does the term Big Five come from, and what gave these five animals their famous status? Just like the history of safari, Big Five originates in hunting.

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At the turn of the 20th century, hunting was done on foot. Exposed, comparatively slow, and without the heightened senses of an animal, human hunters were vulnerable. The more dangerous the hunted animal, the greater the hunter’s reputation. In those early days of hunting safaris, the Big Five animals were the biggest challenge to hunt. Those who hunted Africa’s dangerous game were considered brave and courageous, and pursuing the Big Five gave the hunter glory and recognition. Thus, two lethal predators and three of the largest herbivores in Africa became the iconic species of safari. jj Lions, often called the “king of beasts,” are one of the largest members of the cat family. Full-grown males weigh between 370 and 500 pounds. A lion’s size, speed, and strength make it one of Africa’s deadliest predators, so it earned its spot on the list.

Lecture 1 I The Evolution of the Modern Safari

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jj African elephants, the largest terrestrial mammals on the planet, can weigh up to a whopping nine tons. Both males and females have tusks, which can grow up to 10 feet. Elephants are fiercely protective, and they won’t hesitate to charge at hunters. jj Rhinos have tough, thick skin and are armed with two horns, which they use to defend themselves. Though they have poor eyesight, their strong sense of smell and hearing help make up for it. Rhinos are extremely aggressive, and they will charge, horn first, at anything they deem a threat. jj Full-grown buffaloes typically weigh between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds, and adult males have two horns that form a shield on top of their head, called a boss. By some estimates, buffaloes kill more hunters than any other animal in Africa. jj Leopards are nocturnal and secretive, making them difficult to hunt. At around 200 pounds, they’re about half the size of a lion, but they’re able to hide in only a foot of grass. They’re agile, adept tree-climbers, and they can run at speeds surpassing 35 miles per hour. t

As ecotourism has come to redefine safari, so it has redefined the meaning of Big Five. The very animals that were once sighted down the barrel of a gun are now shot through the lenses of countless cameras. The Big Five are also closely studied by researchers, their dynamics watched through a magnifying glass.

THE MODERN SAFARI

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Modern safaris have adapted to accommodate tight schedules, children and families, honeymooners, birders, and even film crews. Access into wild and remote areas was aided by the invention of airplanes, motorboats, and 4×4s. From camping on a traditional overland safari to staying in a luxury lodge, there is something for everyone.

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The traditional overland safari involves camping in canvas tents that get rolled out and pitched manually, usually around a campfire, under the stars, out in the open. This elemental safari incorporates a full-spectrum experience, traveling by road across the country through villages and into wild territory, where terrain is rough and temperatures may be soaring.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The overland safari is for adventurers who want a taste of it all—the risks and rewards, the highs and lows. Driving through Africa, they get to meet the villagers and learn about their way of life just by shopping for groceries at local markets. The experience of overlanding is so much more than just seeing wildlife on a game drive and is perhaps the most rudimentary form of travel in Africa.

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As the modern safari developed, with the additions of beds, flushing toilets, showers, and electricity, simple camping transformed into a glamorous affair, often dubbed “glamping.” This style of camping allows people to enjoy modern luxuries while retaining the nostalgia of canvas tents and campfires.

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If you’re really looking to splurge, Africa also has its share of topflight accommodations. Today’s five-star safari lodges have kitchens run by award-winning chefs and the highest-quality bed linens, glassware, and artwork. They include pristine game viewers, private concessions that are closed off to the general public, expensive camera equipment, and binoculars on loan. The cream of the crop of modern-day safaris are luxury hotels designed especially for their environment, and they showcase the ultimate in modern-day hospitality.

SUGGESTED READING Bull, Safari. Pringle, The Conservationists and the Killers.

ACTIVITIES 1. If safari is originally a hunting term, ask yourself if the term is more popular today in hunting circles or in ecotourism circles. Do a Google search and see which industry triggers more hits. 2. Watch the 1985 movie Out of Africa with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford. If you’ve seen the movie before, watch it again and take note of how the safari industry has changed in the last century.

Lecture 1 I The Evolution of the Modern Safari

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COMPARING SELF-DRIVE AND GUIDED SAFARIS LEC TURE 2 This lecture looks at the differences between guided safaris and selfdrive safaris. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages, which are important to note when deciding which is the best way to travel. In addition to comparing these two types of safaris, this lecture will offer a few guidelines for making the best of both.

SELF-DRIVE SAFARIS t

A self-drive safari means being your own driver and guide, touring countries and game parks in a rental car, and navigating the ins and outs of wildlife areas as well as surrounding cities and towns behind the wheel. Most often, self-drivers are looking for the freedom, privacy, flexibility, and affordability associated with driving themselves from destination to destination.

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On a self-guided safari, once you arrive at your destination airport, your rental car will become your mode of travel, and you will be your own guide. With a GPS or map to help you navigate your itinerary, there is nothing left to do but embrace the unfamiliar surroundings and travel like a local.

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A self-drive journey is the right option if you want to really see the country you are traveling in. You will have the opportunity to stop along the roadside and at designated points within national parks, visit local shops, speak to local people, and travel through towns and villages. Selfdrivers have the freedom to stop and start as they please.

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An adventurous and confident traveler will benefit from a self-drive safari enormously. This is how you get to know an area and gain experience in unknown territory. Nature lovers particularly enjoy self-drive safaris because it gives you the opportunity to truly bond with the indigenous wildlife as you drive through their territory.

Lecture 2 I Comparing Self-Drive and Guided Safaris

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Self-drive safaris are less financially demanding than guided safaris, because you are not paying for the expertise of a guide or the use of a designated safari vehicle. Additionally, the hefty cost of light air transfers is eliminated when you opt to take the scenic route and drive to a safari lodge instead of flying.

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If you are opting to self-drive, there are sacrifices to be made in terms of travel time, luxury, and the benefits of having a professional safari guide and assistance on the road. Perhaps the greatest deficiency of being your own guide is that you lose out on the expertise and knowledge a good safari guide possesses.

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Self-drive safaris can be arduous, and they require a lot of responsibility in terms of road safety, following road signs and directions, managing risks related to mechanical issues or accidents, paying road and park fees, and communicating important information in a foreign language.

GUIDED SAFARIS

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On a guided safari, you’ll often enjoy your game drives from the seat of a 4×4 safari vehicle while a professional, uniformed guide drives you through a wildlife reserve, imparting his or her knowledge and answering your questions about the wild species and their natural world.

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There are three basic types of guided safaris: You can book the experience through lodges or operators and use the guides that are provided as part of the all-inclusive experience at each lodge you visit, hire a private guide to accompany you on the entire trip and lead your party from lodge to lodge, or book a guided overland safari.

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Most guided safaris are conducted as part of a full board package at a private safari lodge or camp. Private lodges have dedicated guiding teams at the helm of their safari experiences, which provide the advantage not only of expert knowledge of an area and its animals but also of getting to know the human element behind safaris.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Daily routines of a guided safari booked through a private lodge include two game drives a day: at sunrise and again in the afternoon over sunset. You are woken up and served coffee before bundling up with your camera onto the back of a game-viewer vehicle at the first light of day. In the evenings, you are once again whisked off on a game drive, being sure to stop somewhere scenic at sunset to enjoy a cold drink with a view.

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A less common, and more expensive, form of guided safari is to book your travel through a private guide—someone who is professionally qualified and works on a freelance basis. These men and women are among the most accomplished naturalists in Africa. Planning a guided safari with a private guide means hiring your guide for the full duration of your trip.

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A private guide not only hosts your game drives along with the local lodge guide but also facilitates any travel-related administration, airport business, lodge check-ins and check-outs, and booking of activities. This is the pinnacle of an exclusive safari experience and goes beyond what the traditional guided safari offers.

Lecture 2 I Comparing Self-Drive and Guided Safaris

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A third type of guided safari is the overland tour—a group tour that visits multiple destinations by road in a specially designed truck. These safaris are mostly participation-style tours best suited to adventurous travelers who are keen to camp in national parks and go without luxurious extras in the name of a more authentic travel experience.

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Overland tours are guided safaris at a fraction of the price. An overland guide drives the truck across the country, handles the costs of the tour, and arranges everything from game drives to accommodations, meals, vehicle mechanics, park fees, activity bookings, and border crossings. Guests on an overland safari should be prepared to take part in the cooking and cleaning duties as well as the setting up and taking down of camp and should anticipate long stretches on the road.

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The beauty of an overland safari is in the adventure itself and in the relationships formed with fellow travelers in exceptionally wild and wonderful parts of Africa. Camping in national parks and reserves is a thrilling and eye-opening experience, as you share your space with wild, roaming animals and sleep under the stars.

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Depending on the itinerary, overland safaris typically vary from five-day excursions to three-week trips and are designed to reveal the best hotspots of the places visited. By compromising on luxury, overland safaris save room in the budget for extra activities, more destinations visited, or a longer time spent on vacation.

RULES AND RECOMMENDATIONS

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On a guided safari, your safety is in the hands of your guide, who knows how to read the behavior of an animal and how to keep within its comfort zone, but as a guest on the back of a game viewer, you have responsibilities, too. Before your game drive or walking trail begins, you will be briefed on the correct behavior to display while on safari.

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In general, guests on a guided game drive will be asked to keep their voices down, especially during an animal sighting, so as not to startle the animals being viewed. Movements should be kept to a minimum. When you’d like to get a better view for a photograph, it is best to ask your guide to change the position of the vehicle instead of standing up to get the shot.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Gadgets and gear will complete your safari experience. Pack a camera, a pair of binoculars, a handy flashlight, insect repellent, and any medication you know you will rely on.

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Your guide will also mention a word of warning about handling the branches alongside the vehicle when you’re out on a game drive. The vegetation in many nature reserves might be dangerously thorny, some might produce a toxic latex or sap, and others could have poisonous fruit or fine hairs that could cause irritation.

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If you’re on a self-drive safari, the same rules apply when approaching an animal sighting; the only difference is that the driver is responsible for knowing how close is close enough and whether an animal is presenting agitated behavior. Guidelines for self-driving in a wildlife area should always be followed and abided by.

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Whether you’re planning a self-drive safari or a guided safari, you will have your best experience if you have packed appropriately for your destination. It is likely to be hot during the day—even in winter—and the African sun is a scorcher, so be sure to pack a sun hat, sunscreen, and sunglasses.

Lecture 2 I Comparing Self-Drive and Guided Safaris

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If you’re on a guided safari, you might be in an open-top game-drive vehicle, so you will be exposed to the elements, whether it be the cold wind first thing in the morning or the heat of the late afternoon. Selfdrivers will benefit from an air conditioner, but rental vehicles do not offer as good a view of wildlife.

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Safari clothing should be neutral in color, especially for walking safari activities, which require guests to blend in as much as possible. Lightweight material that is breathable is perhaps the best option, as it protects from the sun but does not get too hot. Walking safaris require long trousers because of coarse grass, thorns, and biting insects, and a pair of closed shoes is essential.

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Most safari lodges stock reference books for their guests’ interests, but if you’re driving yourself, pick up an animal or bird guide for the area so that you can make the most of the experience and read up on the wildlife you see. Researching the area you are visiting can provide incredible insight and reliable advice about how to prepare and pack for your chosen safari adventure.

SUGGESTED READING Currie and Fladung, When Eagles Roar. Fodor’s Travel Guides, Fodor’s The Complete Guide to African Safaris.

ACTIVITIES 1. Research a 10-day self-drive safari in South Africa and map out a suggested route. Make sure you spend at least two nights in each location. 2. Read the chapter Rangers, Rifles and Wrath in James Currie’s book When Eagles Roar to learn just how difficult the training to be a safari guide is.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

SAFARIS IN EAST AFRICA LEC TURE 3 East Africa, the birthplace of the safari experience, offers images of rolling grasslands interspersed with flat umbrella thorns and scattered with grazing gazelle and gnu. In Kenya and Tanzania, safaris highlight the annual wildebeest migration, the best-known African wildlife spectacle. This lecture explores the sights and sounds of East Africa and provides tips for anyone planning a safari to this breathtaking region of the continent.

KENYA AND THE MAASAI MARA

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Kenya is arguably the oldest safari destination, originating in the early 20th century when excursions across the plains were a breakthrough form of travel desired by the rich and famous. Europeans came to Africa with ideas of romance and bravery, setting up camp in canvas tents and using paraffin lanterns to light the writing desk as postcards from Africa were scripted and sent off on horseback.

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Today’s nostalgic view of Kenya is rooted in this original concept of safari, which has been portrayed over the decades in films like Hatari! and Out of Africa. Although ecotourism has redefined the safari experience, the image of old-fashioned tented camps has been reinvented in modern-day luxury to emulate this early era of exotic African travel.

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At the center of an East African safari is the great wildebeest migration. Circulating between neighboring reserves and across the border of Kenya and Tanzania, more than 2 million blue wildebeest, zebra, and Thomson’s gazelle follow a historic route to find good grazing.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The greatest misconception about the migration is that it only takes place at a certain time of the year. Rather, this is a year-round phenomenon that is driven by the availability of water and grass and can be delayed or sped up by the rains.

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At center stage of the migration are the river crossings that take place around August when the wildebeest cross the imaginary boundary between the Tanzanian Serengeti and the Maasai Mara, which is the Kenyan part of the Serengeti ecosystem. The river crossings attract an enormous number of tourists every year.

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The tension builds with the dust clouds as the herds gather together, filling the gaps between them and preparing to cross a river writhing with Nile crocodiles. The animals have no choice but to plunge, leap, and tumble down the banks of the Mara River, which is sometimes steep enough to kill them.

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Their internal compass is telling them to move, follow the rains, and reach their calving fields by the beginning of the year. The smell and sound of panic is thick in the air, and it isn’t only for fear of the lurking crocodiles, or the chance of drowning, or falling to their death. There are predators that prowl the plains on either side of the river, waiting for their chance to pounce.

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There are about 3,000 lions in the Serengeti, hyenas are exponentially more abundant, and there are cheetahs patrolling the Maasai Mara in impressive numbers. The migration is a feast, and the predators know it. Around 250,000 wildebeest die every year during their great trek, and half a million calves are born. This cycle is an ongoing, predictably unpredictable event that has earned its title as one of nature’s greatest spectacles.

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The country’s most impressive geographical feature is Mount Kenya. Jagged, glacier-capped peaks reaching more than 5,000 meters into the icy atmosphere define the mountain, the second tallest in Africa after Mount Kilimanjaro. The high-altitude slopes of this volcanic rise are carved with valleys and gorges, decorated with lush forests, and inhabited by unique alpine species. It’s a playground for cavers and climbers, campers, birders, and explorers seeking the geological details of this millions-of-years-old mountain.

Lecture 3 I Safaris in East Africa

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Another of Kenya’s truly captivating natural areas, somewhat overshadowed by the glory of the Maasai Mara, is the Laikipia Plateau. Backed by the statuesque crags of Mount Kenya, Laikipia extends for thousands of miles, eventually dropping into valleys and rising into ridges at the rim of the Great Rift Valley. This is the land of Kenya’s walking safari. The extraordinary mammals that inhabit this transitional landscape are among the rarest in Africa, and large herbivores like black rhino and elephant thrive. You might also encounter such rarely seen animals as the elusive, grounddwelling patas monkey; the hypnotic Grevy’s zebra; the reticulated giraffe; and the shy, solitary striped hyena.

TANZANIA AND THE SERENGETI

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While Kenya’s Maasai Mara is the place of chaotic river crossings followed by the peaceful grazing phase of the great wildebeest migration, the Serengeti in Tanzania hosts the vast majority of the migration for three-quarters of the year.

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In February, the wildebeest calve on the southern plains of the Serengeti, with a whopping half a million new wildebeest dropping to the ground and scrambling to their feet every year. Predators rejoice in the plentiful opportunities to feast on the thousands of vulnerable young animals, and safari sightings are abundantly exciting, involving a lot of predator action.

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Sharing unfenced borders with the southeastern corner of the Serengeti is the Ngorongoro Crater—one of the world’s largest unbroken calderas. Several million years ago, a huge magma eruption caused the Ngorongoro volcano to explode. As a result, Ngorongoro collapsed on itself and is now a sunken garden in the earth’s surface covered in a lawn of green grasslands across an area of 100 square miles.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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In comparison to the vast Serengeti, the surface area of the crater is minute, but this lush volcanic cauldron is home to some of the largest bull elephants on the continent, a remarkable population of black rhinoceroses, and a density of lions considered to be the highest in the world. Thousands of wildebeest, eland, zebra, buffalo, and gazelle have made their way into the crater over time and generally stay put.

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Fascinatingly, the presence of elephants on the crater floor is dominated by males. Solitary bulls age gracefully, surrounded by an abundance of food and water and a rather luxurious life. There is shade and fuel, and these bulls live until they are some of the largest, oldest elephants in Africa. Enormous ivory tusks sway with their gently nodding heads—a sadly diminishing sight in Africa today, as the genes for large ivory are whittled away by hunting and poaching.

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Lion prides have thrived in the Ngorongoro Crater for many years, untested by factors like drought or migration of prey. The lion’s greatest enemy here, perhaps, is competition with the equally successful spotted hyena. At any given time, there are more than 20,000 animals roaming, grazing, stalking, or dozing in the palm of the crater, and in an area as finite as this, the sightings are phenomenal.

Lecture 3 I Safaris in East Africa

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The four leading predators of the Serengeti are the lions, hyenas, cheetahs, and leopards, all with their own strengths as hunters. t

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Out on the open plains of the Serengeti, where life seems a little less forgiving and nurturing than in the cradle of Ngorongoro, there is a battle eternally at play. The fight between the predators in the place where almost 2 million ungulates make passage through the seasons is deadly. There is plenty to go around, but it wouldn’t be nature if there wasn’t a war over dominance, territory, and food.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The great wildebeest migration is a spectacle not to be missed, and it is worth timing a trip to coincide with the crossing of the Mara and Talek Rivers. August and September are best for the Mara crossings, but it is worth getting expert advice before traveling, because the timing of the migration depends on the rains, which might change from year to year. The crowds that gather during peak migration season are immense, and as astonishing as the scene is, visitors must be prepared to share their view with thousands of other safari-goers.

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For those not considering the migration and looking to see some of East Africa’s other spectacular sights, there are some variables to consider when planning the big trip. Rain can be a deterrent, as can the heat and the presence of mosquitos. The mountains are best and safest when climbed during the dry season, so avoid the long rains during April and May and the short rains in November.

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The Ngorongoro Crater is significant because its animal residents are present all year round. During the rainy season, the crater is a lush, green garden, and in the early months of the year, there are plenty of newborn antelope around, which piques interest from the many predators. From June to October, the dry season takes over and the classic waterhole gatherings offer up some supreme game-viewing opportunities.

Lecture 3 I Safaris in East Africa

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Getting to these places is simple with East Africa’s long history of tourism. Its infrastructure is advanced, and getting to the middle of these vast, wild expanses is quick and easy—more so when traveling by air. There are airstrips servicing remote locations from primary towns like Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, and Arusha. Charter flights are available to numerous airstrips within Serengeti National Park and to the Ngorongoro Crater.

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Those who crave travel by road can embark on a five- or six-hour journey to the Mara from Nairobi, seeing far more of the country itself. In Tanzania, a popular route incorporating plenty of ground-based travel through the Serengeti involves flying the short distance from Arusha into the Serengeti and traveling back to Arusha by road, through the park, via the Ngorongoro Crater in a guide-driven safari vehicle.

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Going hand in hand with ease of access into these remote areas is the reassurance of having easy access to health care and emergency response. The most important measure visitors can take is comprehensive medical insurance, which includes coverage for air evacuation. There are no hospitals, doctors, or treatment facilities in the wilderness areas, but access to medication is not far away in the major towns.

SUGGESTED READING Grzimek and Grzimek, Serengeti Shall Not Die. Kennedy and Kennedy, Animals of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area.

QUESTIONS 1. Which is the largest national park in Kenya? Which is the largest in Tanzania? 2. Which East African country has more national parks: Kenya or Tanzania?

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The Great Tours: African Safari

SAFARIS IN SOUTHERN AFRICA LEC TURE 4 Africa’s great wilderness is broken up into a number of different natural areas. As the terrain changes and vegetation and geology morph and develop, new and unique habitats emerge. This lecture explores the astounding wealth of southern Africa—from the Kruger National Park in South Africa to Zimbabwe’s big-game landscape and up into the wild wetlands of Zambia—as well as what makes each part of the region unique and what to expect from a southern African safari.

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The most famous wildlife area in South Africa is the Kruger National Park: an enormous stretch of land in the northeast of the country, crossing the border as the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park into neighboring Mozambique. Within this park’s vast borders lie almost 12,500 square miles of protected savanna where supreme safari experiences unfold.

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The Kruger was South Africa’s first national park, and for nearly 100 years, it has been the home of South African safaris as they have developed from hunting expeditions to ecotourism ventures. Almost 1 million people visit the Kruger National Park every year, exploring the public roads on both self-driven and traditional guided safaris.

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Across the Greater Kruger National Park, there are opportunities to experience the wilderness on foot on walking safaris and at night in a game viewer. Typically, afternoon game drives continue after dark, and the use of a spotlight brings a whole new element to the adventure. Your guide or tracker will use a spotlight to illuminate the bush and pick up on any of the nocturnal animals that only become active after dark, including leopards, civets, porcupines, hyenas, aardvarks, bush babies, owls, and even chameleons.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

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South Africa is renowned for the quality of both its animal encounters and lodge accommodations, but this does not begin and end with the Kruger Park. It is an enormously biodiverse country, and there is wildlife in just about every nook and cranny. Even a visit to the bustling metropolis of Cape Town offers the chance of some game and bird spotting on your doorstep.

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The province of KwaZulu-Natal, located south of the Kruger on South Africa’s northeast coast, contains plenty of private wilderness areas that support a diversity of wildlife quite different from the Kruger’s savanna and acacia thornveld. The presence of the Indian Ocean coastline and inland river systems creates wetland and marine conservation areas, giving rise to unique animals as well as water-based safari activities.

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Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park in KwaZulu-Natal is South Africa’s oldest game reserve. Established in the late 1800s, it is perhaps best known for its rhino conservation history. White rhinos were perilously close to extinction at the turn of the 20th century, with perhaps as few as 60 individuals remaining on the planet. As of 2019, thanks to the conservation that began in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi, there are around 20,000 white rhinos alive in Africa—a truly remarkable conservation success story.

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Travel far south and west from Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and the other KwaZulu-Natal parks and you’ll reach the white shores and the chilly Atlantic Ocean surrounding South Africa’s “mother city,” Cape Town. This trendy tourism hotspot is the epicenter of coastal activity, but the safari appeal in the Cape cannot be ignored. From Table Mountain National Park to the Cederberg Wilderness Area, the Western Cape province is a treasure trove of natural beauty.

Lecture 4 I Safaris in Southern Africa

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South Africa’s northern neighbor is Zimbabwe. Landlocked and entirely wild, the appeal of a Zimbabwean safari lies in its expansive spaces, iconic cliffs, crocodile-infested rivers, and elephant landscapes. What you’ll get out of a safari in Zimbabwe is the original walking safari experience among the giants of the terrestrial world; a closer look at the endangered African wild dog, or painted dog; and a breathtaking vision at Victoria Falls.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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What’s enigmatic about Zimbabwe is that as soon as you veer away from the hubbub of Victoria Falls, you’re in for an uncrowded and unhurried safari experience. The majority of the country is uncharted, leaving immense room to explore, but there are a handful of popular game reserves with excellent reputations built around the unique experiences they offer.

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One of these places is Hwange National Park, also known as the “land of giants.” The nickname comes from Hwange’s mighty elephant population, considered to be one of the largest in the world. Hwange is located in the west of the country, just south of Victoria Falls, so it’s a perfect part of a safari itinerary within the popular wildlife triangle made up of northern Botswana, Lower Zambezi, and northern Zimbabwe.

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Hwange is iconic, and there is nowhere else like it. It is the largest reserve in Zimbabwe, at just under 6,000 square miles. The greatest animal activity is concentrated around pumped waterholes, which sustain the wildlife during long dry periods. Hwange is vastly flat and prone to drought due to its location on the edge of the Kalahari Basin. Zimbabwean teak hardwood forests and mopane woodlands make up a lot of the large tree species, while grasslands and thick, deep sand occupy most of the area.

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Despite Hwange’s harsh environment, it is home to unrivaled wildlife— and in huge numbers at that. In the park’s early days, the first warden made the decision to build waterholes with windmill pumps in a move to preserve the future of Hwange’s wildlife. As a result, this park became known as a safari paradise, with unbelievable action taking place around the bustling water points. Large predators, a staggering 25,000 to 30,000 elephants, and a good population of painted dogs have become Hwange’s claim to fame, making it an extraordinary southern African safari destination.

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Located in between Hwange and Mana Pools, Victoria Falls is where the Zambezi River zigzags across the Zambian plains and comes to a crashing cascade as it meets Zimbabwe. The falls attracts flocks of visitors each year as they gather to see the rising mist from every angle. In full flood, the Zambezi waters churn violently as they disappear into the gorge below, and the mist soars upward and soaks anyone standing close enough to the action. In the dry season, the Zambezi shrinks to a shadow of its summer self, and the bare rock face behind the falls is visible in between the trickling streams that tumble downward.

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Moving northward through southern Africa, we find ourselves on the verdant plains of Zambia’s wilderness. This large African country is bordered by no fewer than eight neighboring nations. Victoria Falls and Lake Kariba are Zambia’s southernmost features on the Zambezi River, shared with Zimbabwe. The Lower Zambezi National Park offers some of the greatest canoeing and waterbased safari value in southern Africa, while the Luangwa Valley courses northward through South and North Luangwa National Parks. Perhaps Zambia’s most visited safari spot is South Luangwa, where leopard sightings are famously common, but this spectacular area is only the beginning of what wondrous and supremely untamed Zambia has to offer.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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In the less-visited western region of the country, you’ll find Kafue National Park. Historically, this enormous park—one of the largest in the world at more than 8,500 square miles—was ravaged by poaching and degradation. Without effective law enforcement and resource management, the once-abundant plains of Kafue were stripped bare, and the wildlife population plummeted. Today, as the importance of community-led conservation and environmental management emerges, Kafue, like all 20 of Zambia’s natural reserves, is receiving the nurturing it deserves. We are seeing significant rehabilitation of the tropical woodlands, critical wetlands, and savanna—and the diversity of wildlife they support.

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The Busanga Plains are located in the northern reaches of Kafue National Park. The area is an enigmatic, living entity, with seasons that so drastically change the environment that Busanga is only accessible to tourists for five months of the year. Like air filling earth’s giant lungs, floodwaters seep across the grasslands of Busanga every year from November to May, turning the whole 380-square-mile savanna into swamp. When the dry season arrives again in April, like an enormous exhale, the floodplains drain and the golden grasslands emerge once again.

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The most memorable way to view Busanga’s expanse is by hot-air balloon. Safaris by balloon are a novelty, and there are only a handful of places in Africa where this activity is possible: Namibia, the Maasai Mara, and Kafue’s Busanga Plains. There is just no way to fully appreciate the visual masterpiece of Busanga’s landscape without seeing it as a whole, so you really should take off in an enormous, colorful, floating balloon to drink it in.

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The water courses carve through the golden grasses, and on the land in between, huge herds of ungulates are seen on the move. Buffalo, eland, red lechwe, puku, and wildebeest traverse the plains, and hippo pods are seen wrestling in the waters. Sable, roan, and oribi, as well as blue duiker and others, round up a total of 20 antelope species found in Kafue National Park—a greater diversity than anywhere else in Africa.

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The pride of Busanga, however, has to be its famous tree-climbing lions. These big cats are followed by safari enthusiasts and wildlife photographers from all over the globe, and surely this has something to do with the scenic territory they patrol. The Busanga Plains open up amid Kafue’s thick miombo woodlands, presenting the landscape on a silver platter, surrounded by a tangle of impenetrable vegetation. Here, in the open floodplains, coalitions of powerful male lions tread across the shimmering grass.

TRAVEL TIPS

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Visiting southern Africa should take place during the winter months; not only is this period cooler and drier, but the game viewing is more spectacular. June to September will produce perhaps the best results in areas like the Kruger National Park, Mana Pools and Hwange National Parks, Victoria Falls, and up into Botswana and Zambia, where the Busanga Plains beckon. In contrast, a trip to the coast in Cape Town and the Western Cape is best during the peninsula’s best weather, which is in its dry summer season: November to March.

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The perks of traveling during the safari peak season are many. The dry season means that there is unlikely to be any rain, and when you’re spending all your time outdoors, this should be a large consideration when planning. Summer rains—although very welcome—can make outdoor activities uncomfortable and difficult if you are using camera gear. Plus, the rains bring the vegetation growth, providing thick cover for wildlife and plenty of food and water, encouraging animals to spread out in search of safer, greener pastures.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Travelers with the time and budget to fly across southern Africa can do so with ease, as there are airports and airstrips dotted all over the safari region, eliminating the long and sometimes bumpy rides it takes to get to these wilderness areas. Victoria Falls is a tourism hub, receiving and connecting flights from international airports to small airstrips in surrounding reserves. Livingstone is Zambia’s equivalent, directing flights out into Kafue and Busanga Plains, while South Africa’s Kruger National Park has numerous airports and access points to service its vast size and to connect it with the Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, and the Kalahari. t

Southern Africa is an awe-inspiring mix of desert and wetland safari activities with differing landscapes, species, and climate, which makes it a unique part of the continent. It is right in the heart of luxurious big-game safari country but is also full of secretive, sensitive, unseen wildernesses that keep visitors at arm’s length. Preparation is key to combining the perfect destinations on a southern African journey.

SUGGESTED READING Painter and Nussey, Kruger. Stuart and Stuart, Mammals of Southern Africa.

QUESTIONS 1. How large is the Greater Kruger National Park? Compare this to the size of some smaller countries in the world. 2. How many national parks can be found in South Africa?

Lecture 4 I Safaris in Southern Africa

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WATER SAFARIS LEC TURE 5 Botswana is a land of incredible biodiversity, and a water safari is the perfect way to explore this biodiverse oasis. Whether from a traditional dugout canoe or a boat, whether birdwatching or big-game viewing, a water-based safari in northern Botswana is without doubt the crown jewel of the African safari experience.

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The Okavango Delta is a giant alluvial fan that spreads across northern Botswana into the Kalahari Desert, where it supports an incredible diversity of wildlife. It is the largest freshwater wetland in southern Africa—and a vital source of water for a million people.

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The Okavango is a water-logged ecosystem that not only sustains terrestrial species, but also provides a home to plenty of fish, insects, and almost 500 species of birds. Some rare and unique water-adapted species, such as the red lechwe and sitatunga antelope, are found here specifically because of the wetland environment. Crocodiles and hippos thrive in the channels, while local people still occupy their ancestral villages on the larger islands in between.

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The seasonal flooding of the Okavango Delta offers some of southern Africa’s greatest water-based safaris. Its annual transformation sees the seasonal swamps and distal edges of the delta fill with water and become a 10,800-square-mile glistening wetland. In peak flood, the delta is at least double its permanent size, and it becomes a watery sanctuary for all sorts of bird, animal, and plant life. It feeds the Kalahari, bringing every iconic African animal to the water’s edge and even into the channels themselves.

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This is where we see the world’s largest land mammals swimming across lagoons and rivers while we watch from the seat of a traditional dugout canoe, called a mokoro. Imagine watching at eye level as a breeding herd of elephants crosses the channel ahead, stopping to submerge in the cool water and rolling around in a characteristically celebratory manner.

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Not only does the presence of excessive water vastly change the landscape and scenery, but it attracts wildlife species that are designed to thrive in such a habitat. Some of the animals that inhabit the delta cannot be seen anywhere else in the world, or they only exist in small pockets where similar environmental conditions prevail. The presence of water brings vibrant colors, huge riverine trees, tall grasses and reed beds, flat floodplains, coursing rivers, and shimmering lagoons.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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On the outskirts of the delta, where the Kalahari sands meet the wetland grasses, huge densities of large mammals and predators gather. Game drives in traditional safari vehicles explore the dry land and islands in between the rivers, while motorized boating and mokoro excursions take you one step closer to the action.

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From June to August, the water levels in the delta are at their highest, and mokoro and boating activities dominate the safari experiences. The water begins to recede and evaporate toward the end of the dry winter season, and by early November, the heat dries up the last seasonal pools. Only the permanent pools and lagoons remain, and the delta shrinks to half its flooded size.

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There is a certain vulnerability associated with sitting mere feet from a basking croc or seeing a hippopotamus surface with a loud exhale and feeling the ripples rock your small, human-powered vessel. To mokoro is to be poled around these wild waters by someone who is likely to have grown up reading the channels and the wildlife and who knows his or her way between these ever growing and shrinking islands. On a mokoro, your movement is virtually silent, and you’ll have the opportunity to approach the banks soundlessly, getting closer to grazing lechwe, buffalo, and elephant than would ever be possible in a vehicle.

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The Okavango is a premier safari destination in terms of seeing some of Africa’s large mammals and predators in high numbers. The presence of water sustains all wildlife, starting with the waterdependent buffalo, zebra, giraffe, and impala—and the predators who follow in the footsteps of their prey. Lion, leopard, spotted hyena, African wild dog, and cheetah are the continent’s largest carnivores, and all are found in the delta habitats.

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The beauty of the Okavango Delta is represented in the lush landscape and in the ambling elephants, gently fanning their Africa-shaped ears, but if we look even closer, we will notice that this great wetland has even more exquisite details. Birds populate the delta in their hundreds, and with species as colorful as the malachite kingfisher or the diminutive African pygmy goose, there is no end to the allure of this watery wonderland.

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Another prime destination within Botswana is the Linyanti region, which lies north of the Okavango Delta, in the northwestern corner of Chobe National Park. Celebrated for its remoteness, it is relatively quiet in comparison to more easily accessible areas of Chobe, like the Savuti Marsh, or the Chobe Riverfront. Elephants are present in Linyanti all year round, but during the dry winter season, they congregate in huge numbers along Linyanti River and in the abundant wetland marshes.

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Linyanti mainland is dry and sandy with cathedral-like mature mopane trees providing dappled shade through thick canopies. Baboons bark their alarm calls, which echo through the silence, and woodland-loving kudu can be seen shyly moving through the thickets. Waterbuck bulls rest up in the shade, and hippos are spotted after sunrise making their way back through the forest to the water. Fish eagles are often heard, and elephants are ever present.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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This wetland safari destination, like the Okavango Delta, offers the opportunity to view wildlife from a boat or mokoro, as well as by vehicle or on foot. It is a quieter and more private option for a water-based safari due to its exclusive status as a concession, which gives only a selected few operators access to its road and water routes. There is a campsite located right on the bank of Linyanti marsh, but it remains blissfully quiet due to the remoteness of the region.

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Elephants are perhaps Linyanti’s best-known residents, and for good reason. This small section of Botswana holds the greatest population of elephants on earth, and it is dazzling to see, especially from the water. Elephants are not the only large mammal famous in Linyanti, however. The region is visited by tourists in search of Africa’s greatest and most endangered predators. In Linyanti, the African wild dog thrives in an environment that is abundant with food and water and plenty of room to roam.

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Competing with the wild dogs are the elusive prowess of the leopard and the fearless force of the spotted hyena. By the sound of it, the wild dogs wouldn’t stand a chance, but in fact, these predators hunt in such different ways, they are able to coexist and thrive independently. The famed king of the jungle—the lion—is another of Linyanti’s special features, successfully hunting and occupying territory in this abundant area.

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The Linyanti River is permanent, so there is water year-round, but it is best to visit during the dry winter months, when the wildlife sightings are likely to be the best. The dry season—which begins around May— is what pushes the elephants from the greater Chobe National Park toward the little Linyanti enclave, where they can thrive on the plentiful water and food. The elephants aren’t the only animals that migrate to water, so this time of year, you can expect to see an abundance of kudu, waterbuck, impala, and red lechwe, while special animals like sable and roan antelope are also spotted here.

TRAVEL TIPS

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It is important to plan a water safari by paying close attention to the time of year and to which part of the Okavango Delta you are looking at visiting. Some delta safari spots are located in the permanent swamplands and up north along the panhandle, which will offer year-round waterbased activities, including world-renowned fishing and houseboat safaris. Toward the outer areas of the Okavango Delta, where the seasonal swamps lie, it is best to visit in July and August to make the most of the mild winter temperatures and the full floodwaters.

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The only way to get deep into the delta is to fly from Maun or Kasane— Botswana’s two busiest towns. Many of the safari camps and lodges located in the delta have their own airstrips or make use of airstrips closest to them, welcoming guests after a short flight of around 30 minutes, and then the final leg of the journey to the lodge will be conducted on foot or by vehicle. During the full flood, some of the delta islands and camps are accessible by boat from Maun via the Thamalakane and Boteti Rivers, while the outermost lodges can be accessed by road during the dry season.

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Linyanti, being in the northwestern corner of Chobe, is remote and has less accessibility. Driving through thick sand will bring self-drivers in from Chobe or Kasane, but it is important for drivers to check on the quality of the road, because it can become inaccessible after a bit of rain. There is a private airstrip servicing some of the exclusive lodges in Linyanti via chartered flights, which is the most reliable way to reach the area.

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Both Linyanti and the Okavango Delta feature a large variety of highend lodging options. Most of the high-end lodges are situated in private concessions that are leased to safari lodge operators and are closed to the rest of the public.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Preparing for a water safari in Botswana’s wetland areas includes packing the safari essentials, such as sun protection, lightweight clothing, something warm for the early mornings and evenings, and a camera. t

The government of Botswana has embarked on a high-dollar-value but low-volume tourism model that safeguards the environment while bringing in phenomenal tourism revenue. The result is that travel to the fenceless watery wonderlands of Botswana is among the most exclusive and expensive safari travel in Africa, but it offers the safari-goer access to large swathes of wilderness with few people and some of the best wildlife viewing on the planet.

SUGGESTED READING Aiken, The Lions and Elephants of the Chobe. Mcintyre, Botswana Safari Guide.

SUGGESTED FILM Gelinas, Neil, and Brian Newell. Into the Okavango. Directed by Neil Gelinas. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2018.

QUESTIONS 1. Why is the Okavango Delta an inland delta? 2. What time of year is best to experience a water safari in the Okavango?

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DESERT SAFARIS LEC TURE 6 Much of southern Africa falls within the Kalahari Desert, and the arid regions of Namibia and Botswana provide some of the continent’s greatest surprises. Teeming with life, these areas are home to some of the planet’s rare species that thrive despite the drought-stricken conditions. The fatigued earth is a thing of beauty, and desert safaris among the landscapes, contrasts, and blurred lines of rippling heat have the ability to recharge our hearts and souls.

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Our desert safari journey begins in Namibia, named after the oldest desert in the world—the Namib, which stretches more than 1,200 miles along the Atlantic. The magnificent contours of the Namib produce towering red sand dunes, some of which are the highest on earth. Namibia is famously called the “land of contrasts,” and if we look at this vast country from above, we can see exactly why.

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The red dunes contrast with the Namib’s cracked clay pans, the white salt flats, and the blanket of mist that rolls across the desert from the Atlantic Ocean. Further east toward Botswana, the Kalahari is etched into the surface of the country, unforgiving and harsh.

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In the searing, sandy landscape of the Namib, you’ll encounter geckos, lizards, and snakes, including the sidewinding adder. Shrews and gerbils, frogs, insects, and butterflies also live in these testing conditions, as do larger inhabitants, such as the oryx, ostrich, and springbok. Other animals you might encounter on a safari in the Namib include brown hyenas, cheetahs, and jackals. Perhaps most amazing is the survival of lions, elephants, and rhinos in these conditions.

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Knowledge of ancient elephant migration routes has been passed down through generations, and this is how desert elephants survive today. Some elephants migrate to the low-lying Etendeka mountains, at great risk to themselves, to find where the nutritious Commiphora bushes grow. Surprisingly, these elephants rarely push down trees like their counterparts do in more fertile areas. Centuries of living in the desert have taught them that trees are a valuable resource that need to be protected for future generations.

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Survival in the desert is all about knowing where to find food and water, and it is no different for the desert-adapted black rhino. In the 1980s, this dwindling population of rhino survived one of the worst droughts in history thanks to its immense resilience, and today, it is a true treasure of a desert safari, unique to northwest Namibia. Just like the desert elephant, the rhino is specially adapted to go without water for days, unlike rhinos anywhere else in the world.

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The desert-adapted lions of Namibia made a comeback after they were thought to have succumbed to extinction in the 1990s. Slowly, the small population has grown, and today, they are the stars of a desert safari—critically endangered but one of the only growing population of lions in Africa. Unlike lions found elsewhere in Africa, desert-adapted lions have truly massive territories and roam staggering distances in search of food and mates, a testament to the adaptability of wildlife species.

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Namibia is as rich in human cultural heritage as it is in wildlife diversity. The evidence of the early hunter-gatherers is preserved in rock engravings that depict human life more than 2,000 years ago. Those same engravings also feature images of rhinos, elephants, and other desert-adapted creatures. We learn from this that Namibia has sustained resilient humans and animals side by side for many thousands of years.

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Members of the Himba tribe live a seminomadic life in the northern territories of the inhospitable Namib. Reliant on water for survival, villages move to be near seasonal sources in the Kunene region. Their homes are simple huts, and their customs have remained the same over time. Both the Himba and the nearby Herero tribe take enormous pride in their attire and adornments.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Visiting a remote Himba village in the north, or attending a Maherero festival in central Namibia, honors the country’s rich cultural heritage.

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Botswana has rolling grasslands, dunes, acacia trees, and succulent melons that supply both the San people and the wildlife with water through the driest seasons. The semiaridity of the Kalahari makes it a very different place from the harsh desolation of the neighboring Namib. The Kalahari, covering an extensive 350,000 square miles, is the home of the black-maned lion, the place where the San have hunted and gathered for more than 20,000 years, and an area where seasonal rainfall turns the desert green.

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For most of the year, the Kalahari Desert is a tough place to be. The heat is penetrating, and water sources dry up entirely, putting intolerable strain on herbivores and predators alike. But during the summer months of November through March, the skies darken and rumble, and eventually the rains come and relieve the scorched earth. As soon as the first green shoots appear, the Kalahari’s tenacious grazers return to drop their lambs, and suddenly the “green desert” is abuzz with new life.

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One of the Kalahari Desert’s most accomplished wildlife survivors is the meerkat. Visiting Botswana’s desert means heading to the Makgadikgadi Pans, where one of the world’s largest salt flats can be found. The pans mark the spot where an ancient lake once covered an area almost the size of the country of Switzerland. The lake dried up some 10,000 years ago, and the salty pans that remain make for pretty inhospitable terrain for most of the year. Yet this part of the Kalahari is where we go to meet the meerkats.

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Meerkats are full of character: cheeky and inquisitive and not shy to come close to their admirers. Safarigoers are afforded incredible opportunities to observe and photograph meerkat colonies in close proximity in the wild. The whole experience begins at sunrise; by the time you arrive at the burrow, the meerkat family is waking up and emerging for breakfast. The playful, chattering meerkats tumble over each other, and some might even clamber up a human arm to take watch from the top of a head.

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The San, the indigenous people of the Kalahari, have adapted to the region’s dramatically changing climate. For generations, the secrets to survival in one of the world’s harshest habitats have been passed on from parent to child. The San are hunter-gatherers, not pastoralists like the Himba and Herero. These desert-dwellers artfully sculpt arrows out of stone, concoct poison from plants, extract water from bulbs and roots, and craft jewelry from eggshells. The San are experts in the art of tracking, and their stories have long been told in rock paintings throughout southern Africa.

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On safari in this region of the Kalahari, you can seize the opportunity to walk with the San. A privilege of the desert safari, walking with the San will give you an enchanting look at the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. The San talk to one another in lowered voices, forming sentences out of a series of soft and sharp clicks of the tongue. They are small and agile people with defined wrinkles on their sun-worn skin, and they walk barefoot across Kalahari soil.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Joining the San—the indigenous people of the Kalahari—on a bushwalk will teach you the tricks of the trade: how to find water in the desert, make a fire using sticks, and hunt with a homemade bow and arrow.

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Having explored the many rewards of a desert safari, it’s important to consider the best time to venture into the deserts of southern Africa, the best routes and access points, and what to pack. Certainly, a desert safari should depend on the weather, because it can get bitingly cold at night and very hot in the summer.

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Rainfall in the Namib is brief and unpredictable but usually occurs sometime between January and March when the temperatures are extremely high. The best time to visit the Namib is in April or May to coincide with milder prewinter temperatures and postsummer vibrance from the recent rains, which attract scores of desert-adapted herbivores and the predators who prey on them.

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Botswana’s Kalahari, in comparison, transforms entirely during the rainy season, which runs from November to March. The Central Kalahari Game Reserve is blanketed in a wash of green, plains game arrive to feast and give birth, and the black-maned lions, cheetahs, and other hungry predators are ready to pounce. The activity and excitement of summer in the northeastern Kalahari comes with plenty of heat and humidity, as well as heavy but mostly brief downpours in the afternoon.

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Both Namibia and Botswana are renowned self-drive countries, and the desert is particularly rewarding as an expedition by road. Rigged-up 4×4s are necessary when venturing into the national parks and are available for hire in major cities and towns. The Windhoek airport receives international flights on a daily basis, and information and supplies for self-drivers are readily available. In addition, light air charters depart daily from Windhoek to the desert’s luxury lodges, a perfect arrangement for desert-seekers who don’t have the time or patience to wander on their own.

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Traveling with comprehensive medical coverage is particularly relevant in the remote desert areas. Self-drivers taking the scenic route should arm themselves with a mobile phone, local emergency numbers, extra water, and a map in case of GPS failure.

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The best and most accessible locations for self-drive safaris include Sossusvlei, Etosha National Park, and the seaside towns of Swakopmund and Walvis Bay. Be careful trying to access the more remote regions, such as the Kunene and the Skeleton Coast; only the most rugged and experienced travelers should attempt these regions.

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Dress for the climate and be aware of the changes in temperature during the day. Remember that you aren’t a natural desert-dweller and that the heat can be intoxicating, so drink plenty of water and keep out of the midday sun. Cameras, binoculars, and species checklists are good to have on hand, and those binoculars will come in handy when you spot elephants arriving on the desert horizon.

SUGGESTED READING Hall-Martin, Walker, and Bothma, Kaokoveld. Mcintyre, Namibia.

ACTIVITIES 1. Research the desert-adapted lions, elephants, and rhinos of Namibia. Do you think they are separate species from regular lions, elephants, and rhinos? 2. Research the most sparsely populated countries on the planet. Where does Namibia fall on this list?

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The Great Tours: African Safari

PRIMATE SAFARIS LEC TURE 7 The tropical mountains and valleys of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Rwanda are home to the great apes, the mystical okapis, the rare forest elephants, and an abundance of birds, while the volcanic mountains, crater lakes, and forests of this region are home to some of Africa’s most endangered species. Foremost among the benefits of a primate safari is the opportunity to meet our closest living relatives and marvel at our deep mutual connection.

THE DRC

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The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the least-traveled of the three countries hosting primate safaris. Along the eastern edge of the DRC is the dense jungle of Virunga National Park. Strewn with vines and shrouded in mist, Virunga is bursting at the seams with creatures large and small. And there is no shortcut to the high-altitude home of the mountain gorillas that live up on the volcanic slopes of the forest.

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A primate safari is synonymous with trekking; there is no game-drive option for viewing gorillas, chimpanzees, and other primates in their natural habitat. Those opting for a safari like this should be fit enough to spend a few hours on foot, probably exerting a lot of energy and enduring high humidity. But the effort of the trek is entirely worth it.

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The humanlike great apes are nothing short of spectacular. Typically, the youngsters are curious, and because of the strict ethical guidelines of primate interaction, adult gorillas are at ease in our presence. The experience is deeply emotional, and it will stick with you forever.

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Virunga National Park is the Congo region’s flagship wilderness area. It is one of the oldest protected areas in Africa, and it is also its most biodiverse. There are active volcanoes in the park, and the Rwenzori Mountains in the north have Africa’s very own glaciers and alpine territories.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The iconic primate species of the region is the mountain gorilla. But in fact, there are more than 20 primate species in the country, including all four African great apes and a few whose only homes in the world are in the DRC. Endangered Grauer’s gorillas, bonobos, and the lesulas are known to live only in these untamed forests. Especially unique to this country is the opportunity to track Grauer’s gorillas, also called eastern lowland gorillas, as well as mountain gorillas.

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Patrolling the jungle floors are some equally captivating animals. Forest elephants are the smaller, fruit-eating versions of savanna elephants, and they are incredibly important to maintaining the biological integrity of the forest. Some scientists warn that certain tree species rely on forest elephants for seed dispersal and will follow the forest elephant into extinction, should we allow that to happen.

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Despite the diversity that makes the Congo area such an alluring and wealthy natural region, it has limited tourism infrastructure. Of the three countries hosting primate safaris, the DRC is perhaps for the more experienced jungle traveler, or at least for the more adventurous. Getting to Virunga means flying into Rwanda and then traveling across the border by road, which is a full-day trip. The permits for gorilla trekking here are the most affordable, but the hike itself could be the most challenging of all.

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Flanking the DRC along the Rwenzori mountain range is Uganda. Much smaller than its western neighbor, Uganda has much to offer, starting with its reasonably priced and accessible gorilla treks. Known around the world as the “pearl of Africa,” it is a celebrated safari destination that is wildly African yet well equipped for wildlife tourism. In Uganda, you can experience the rugged charm of African travel, complete with dilapidated dirt roads, crowded city streets, and roadside cattle.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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In the southwestern corner of Uganda is a region dominated by great crater lakes and the fertile volcanic slopes of the Virunga range. Where the DRC has Virunga National Park, Uganda has Bwindi Impenetrable Forest—the misty African rainforest that houses almost half of the world’s mountain gorillas. Mountain gorillas can also be encountered farther south, in Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, where the DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda meet.

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Gorilla trekking excursions in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest are the bread and butter of Ugandan tourism. The guided hikes produce supreme encounters with wild mountain gorillas in a slice of preserved indigenous forest where the population of these endangered great apes is actually growing. To view these extraordinary creatures, a permit must be booked well in advance, and there are only a certain number issued each season, which works to keep the activity strictly controlled.

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Bwindi Forest is internationally renowned for the diversity of its fauna and flora. The forest is steeped in mist and mystery—the kind of place where fairytale creatures could exist. And while you probably won’t come across enchanted toadstools and talking snakes, Bwindi is the real-life refuge for more than 200 butterfly species, 350-plus bird species, dragonflies of every description, giant forest hogs, clawless otters, and primates.

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Keen birders will find Bwindi a dream, and outside the forest, the rest of Uganda contributes even more to the country’s status as a birding destination. Bwindi’s impressive number of bird species pales in comparison to Queen Elizabeth National Park father north, where more than 600 bird species have been recorded. Among the more visible birds who enjoy the wetlands of Queen Elizabeth are the pink-backed pelican and the greater flamingo.

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North of Bwindi is Murchison Falls National Park, just above Lake Albert. This is where three-horned Rothschild’s giraffes exist in their greatest numbers. It’s also a great place to observe ground-dwelling patas monkeys, the fastest primates on the planet, with running speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. Like Queen Elizabeth National Park, Murchison Falls is a biggame safari destination—though it’s less traveled than Queen Elizabeth, which is ideally located nearer the gorilla habitat.

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RWANDA

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Primate safaris in neighboring Rwanda have a different feel. Tucked underneath Uganda with the DRC on its western boundary, Rwanda is the world’s high-end primate safari destination. It has the most userfriendly options of all three gorilla-tracking destinations, and the jungle primate encounters are second to none.

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With its ease of access, safe and secure tourism infrastructure, stellar accommodations, and sublime encounters with mountain gorillas and golden monkeys, the Rwandan safari experience is an expensive one. The gorilla permit alone is more than double the price of a permit in Uganda and three times the fee in the DRC. Rwanda has also worked to achieve low-impact tourism in a bid to support the communities living on the edge of Volcanoes National Park and to protect the environment.

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What sets Rwanda apart is its commitment to high standards. Intimacy, high service levels, and exclusivity define the experience here, whereas the same experience in Uganda possesses the quirks and authenticity of a rural, equatorial African country. The DRC, sadly, has not recovered from a rocky political past, and it remains an unstable country, even though there is a lot invested in conserving its natural areas.

The Great Tours: African Safari

In the DRC, Uganda, and Rwanda, communities living on the outskirts of the forest depend on subsistence farming. Such farming has caused Africa’s forest to shrink dramatically over the past century. Even today, seeing the red earth being turned and cultivated by local farmers is part and parcel of a primate safari experience. The growing emphasis on ecotourism not only offers hope that the dwindling forest will be protected, but it also allows the local people to benefit directly from tourism.

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Rwanda is where the close study of primates, and especially mountain gorillas, first came into focus. American primatologist Dian Fossey set up her research station in Volcanoes National Park, and she dedicated her life to understanding and conserving these gorillas. The 1988 movie Gorillas in the Mist was filmed here and was based on the story of Fossey and her animal studies.

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The mountain gorillas are easier to reach in Volcanoes National Park than the groups in Bwindi and Virunga, and there are a higher number of habituated groups than in any other park, so trekking is likely to be easier. There are several high-end luxury lodges that supplement the gorilla experience with exceptional service, food, and accommodations as well as the ability to participate in cultural interactions.

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Equatorial Africa is abundantly full of wildlife, and the endangered primates that inhabit the forests are at the core of the safari experience. Nowhere else on the planet can you see mountain gorillas in the wild. The fees associated with gorilla trekking are a limiting factor, and this cost is often what decides when and where to go on a primate safari. Rwanda offers the best of luxury jungle safaris, Congo is the most affordable but also the least accessible, and Uganda is somewhere in between the two.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

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Primate tracking is open and accessible to tourists year-round. Experiencing rainfall and humidity is just a part of the package, and you should always be prepared for wet weather anyway, so it is worth considering traveling out of peak season. Be aware that trekking during the heavier rainfall months will be more challenging because of the wet, slippery earth, but the mist and the dew can make for eerily beautiful scenery, and you’re likely to share your experience with far fewer people.

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Trekking in both Virunga and Volcanoes National Parks requires access from Kigali in Rwanda. Rwandan travel is smooth sailing, and you get pretty much what you’re told you’ll get, but the Congo is less predictable, and getting to Virunga means flying to Kigali and then crossing the border to Congo on the road. It is certainly doable, and there will be assistance from tour operators for obtaining visas, but it involves a longer transfer.

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Ugandan safaris operate out of Entebbe, which is where the international airport is located. An hour-long domestic flight to the southwestern corner of the country happens a few times a day; otherwise, it is an eight-hour drive on busy, uneven roads. Flying into Kigali and getting to Volcanoes National Park is only a two- or three-hour drive, which makes Rwanda the most convenient and accessible mountain gorilla destination.

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Mountain excursions can take anywhere between three hours and a full day, because the primates can move far away and might be in hard-toreach places on any given day. Usually, trained trackers will have set off into the forest beforehand and located the animals, so your guide will know where to go when you start. Still, hikers are most likely in for a climb, so before embarking on a gorilla trek, assess your fitness.

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Some essential kit items include long, lightweight trousers and excellent, worn-in hiking boots that cover your ankles and protect them from cuts and scrapes. Hats and long-sleeved shirts are just as important to protect from rough or itchy vegetation or from insects with a tendency to bite. Remember to consult your doctor about any necessary vaccinations or malarial prophylactics.

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Tracking activities are physically demanding, and the tropical climate is often not what people expect, so there are risks to inexperienced travelers. As with all types of safari, it is a good idea to take out comprehensive medical insurance. In the case of an emergency, this will help you get immediate evacuation assistance and proper hospitalization in a nearby country if necessary.

SUGGESTED READINGS Campbell, The Taming of the Gorillas. Goodall, 40 Years at Gombe.

SUGGESTED FILM Morgen, Brett. Jane. Directed by Brett Morgen.  Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2017.

QUESTIONS 1. How many mountain gorillas were alive on the planet at the time of Dian Fossey’s death? How many exist today? 2. How many species of gorilla exist today? 3. Name some differences between bonobos and chimpanzees.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

NIGHT SAFARIS LEC TURE 8 Using a spotlight and relying on the trained eyes of guides, night safaris— game drives after dark—open up a whole new world of wildlife viewing, providing safari-goers with the opportunity to encounter creatures that stay hidden during daylight or are most active at night. This lecture covers the basics of what to expect from a night safari, including which nocturnal animals are on display and which tools are available for successfully and responsibly viewing animals at night.

THE EXPERIENCE

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Once the sun has set and we’ve enjoyed chilled sunset drinks, the vehicle lights come on and our guide flicks on a spotlight to begin scanning the bush. As the sun leaves the sky and a blanket of darkness falls over the earth, things begin to change. While some animals go to sleep, others are waking up, ready to forage, hunt, and patrol their territories.

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This is often the best time of day to see predators in action, as they use their superior night vision to hunt. The night also brings out the owls and the bush babies, along with honey badgers and porcupines, and even the large, herbivorous hippopotamus. Leopards are regularly spotted in the last light of day or in the evening, after they, too, have spent the day resting and preserving their energy for a hunt under the stars.

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Night safaris are a privilege of private game reserves and wildlife areas, while almost all national parks in Africa prohibit driving after dark. National parks are often bound by strict rules and regulations that limit human impact on the natural environment, while private game reserves and concessions operate according to more flexible rules. These conservancies are also where we have the freedom to explore the bush in all its nocturnal beauty.

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As the sun disappears, the sounds of the scops owl grow louder, and the glowing eyes of the bush babies are seen darting between the trees. The surrounding bush that was beginning to look so familiar suddenly becomes entirely foreign as our eyesight is abruptly compromised and our hearing starts to become more acute. Just like us, the animals of the wilderness adjust to the dark, and the beauty of a night drive means we get to see an entirely different world.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Exploring the bush by night involves using some specialized techniques that maximize the adventure without compromising the well-being of the animals. Once the natural light is gone, guides switch on their vehicle headlights and a handheld spotlight and begin to scan the bush from side to side. This light acts as a powerful torch, illuminating the darkened surroundings outside of the headlight beams and helping the guides spot wildlife slinking through the foliage. Glowing eyes shine back at us from the bush, and accomplished guides can quickly determine whether the animal is a diurnal herbivore or a nocturnal predator.

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Spotlighting has the potential to interfere with wildlife in a number of ways, such as disturbing and temporarily blinding diurnal species or exposing predators during a hunt. We don’t want our nocturnal excursions to influence the natural balance in any way, which is why night safaris are so strictly controlled. The use of a red filter on a spotlight is strongly advised throughout Africa and is implemented widely in the safari community. It is an effective and effortless way to cut the white spotlight beam and cast a red glow over nocturnal animals, which eases the effect of the light considerably.

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ANIMAL ENCOUNTERS

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The appeal of a night safari is not purely visual. The sound of a lion roaring into the night sends vibrations through our bones. As the sun sinks and dusk becomes dark, we can sit and watch a pride of lions stretch and yawn, nuzzling one another affectionately and playfully engaging with one another. This is the start of their night’s work, and on a night safari, this is the behavior we are lucky enough to follow.

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Lions are known to sleep for up to 20 hours a day, so the chances are that if we find them on a game drive during daylight, they will be sleeping. For the four hours of the day that lions are active, it is generally during the night, when the hot African temperatures are cooler and when their superior night vision works in their favor. Night safaris offer the opportunity to see the lion in action.

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Africa’s other famous big cat is the leopard, a firm favorite among wildlife photographers who travel from far and wide to capture the elegant form of this beautiful cat draped in the bough of a tree. During the day, leopards can disappear entirely as their camouflaged coat and supreme agility take them into expert hiding places, where they remain undetected. We rely on their nocturnal behavior to see them in action— or to see them at all.

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The spotted hyena has been labeled a scavenger, a savage, and an enemy— and it is worthy of these titles. These hyenas present an incredible threat to other predators and are true warriors of the bush. But they don’t scavenge as much as people might think. Spotted hyenas are excellent hunters, and in fact, they kill a large percentage of their own prey. They are abundant predators, and they appear fearless as they take on prides of lionesses and easily confront a leopard and steal its kill.

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Elephants, rhinos, buffaloes, and giraffes are among Africa’s biggest mammals. All are active during the day, but what happens to them at night? Very few wild animals go to sleep when the sun sets, because this is the time that they need to be most vigilant. Antelope species, such as impalas and wildebeests, move around less at night and tend to group together and stay in one place—safety in numbers. They rest. Some, such as buffaloes and impalas, lie down, while others, such as elephants, prefer to move slowly and forage through the night.

The Great Tours: African Safari

There is one large herbivore whose behavior changes completely when night falls: the hippo. As soon as it gets dark, the hippopotamus leaves the water to graze grass on dry land, and these animals are known to travel as far as six or seven miles to get their fill. Our greatest opportunity to see a hippo out of water is on a night drive or very early in the morning before the sun rises. t

What is perhaps most special and significant about a night safari is the chance to see animals that are not seen during the day due to their strict nocturnal habits. Bush babies might be some of the first critters we see after the sun sets. Characterized by their oversized eyes, bush babies have the extraordinary ability to leap between the branches of trees. On the ground, they can hop powerfully, too, given the strength of their enlarged hind legs and long tail.

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The ground-dwelling creatures of the night include the African civet, honey badger, porcupine, and aardvark. These unique animals are bonus safari sightings. Most of these, with the exception of the honey badger, are exclusively active at night and are not very often seen, but each of them is fascinating.

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On a night safari, the landscape comes alive with the calls of nocturnal birds. Owls begin to softly hoot from their perches in trees, and nightjars can be heard singing melodiously in the distance, flying up from the road at the last minute as a game-drive vehicle rolls past. After Honey Badger sunset, these “swallows of the night” sit on the ground, where they’re poised to catch insects that fly past. They fly up and swoop in on their prey, and with the help of fine bristles on their faces, the morsels are guided into their wide mouths.

THE NIGHT SKY

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The night skies of Africa are among the most spectacular in the world. We see the stars in such incredible glory from our isolated spots in the bush, where light pollution is at a minimum. The African skies have been admired and interpreted for thousands of years, and they are studied in great detail by both astronomers and stargazers.

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The Southern Hemisphere is home to some of the most celebrated stellar constellations, astrological clusters, and mysterious Magellanic Clouds. The Milky Way shines brightly in an arc of silvery-white stars overhead, and on a clear night in Africa, it is surely one of the most spectacular sights. The night sky is undoubtedly worth staying up for, and a night safari offers the perfect opportunity to take it all in. A handful of constellations are visible at certain times of the year, and these days, there are helpful apps that make recognizing the formations even easier.

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The Southern Cross is perhaps the most familiar star pattern in the southern night skies. It is identified by five stars, each of which are thought to be between 10 and 20 million years old, and it has been historically used to locate the direction south. It has two pointer stars, which are the key identifiers. There are a number of star arrangements that might look like a cross, but there is only one Southern Cross, distinguished by its two pointers.

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Scorpius is a real showpiece of the safari skies. Truly taking the shape of a scorpion, the constellation has a curving tail, with its most significant star—the red giant Antares—located at its heart. In July, which is peak safari season, Antares is at its brightest, rising high into the sky by about nine pm. To Africans, the night skies possess magic, history, and ancient stories told in the constellations.

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The most recognizable constellation that is pointed out on a night safari is Orion, the great hunter. His belt is particularly well noticed, as it is made up of three bright stars appearing neatly in a row. This constellation is visible in the Southern Hemisphere’s summer, although Orion appears to be standing on his head. Using a laser pointer will help enormously to point out the less visible stars that make up the body, sword, and bow of this stellar figure.

SUGGESTED READING Currie and Fladung, When Eagles Roar.

ACTIVITIES 1. Read the chapter “Too Early for the Sky” in James Currie’s book When Eagles Roar. After reading this chapter, think about how compromised humans are at night in comparison to other animals. 2. Get a powerful flashlight and find a wild area close to where you live. Try to spot creatures at night using your flashlight.

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PHOTOGRAPHIC SAFARIS LEC TURE 9 Wildlife photography is a powerful tool—not only for creating personal memories, but also for documenting the beauty and power of creatures whose very existence is tied to human stewardship. This lecture examines the fundamentals of wildlife photography, including how to use your camera while on safari and how to make sure you’re best prepared for the environment.

PHOTOGRAPHIC SAFARI BASICS

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If you’re on your first African safari, this is the first time you are seeing elephants, lions, and giraffes in their natural habitats, and you are likely to be torn between looking with your eyes and catching the moment on camera. Make sure you absorb these moments wholeheartedly before getting too wrapped up in your camera; they deserve to be lived in real time, and there will be so much to photograph you should probably think about conserving your memory cards. That said, when the time comes, you will want to be ready.

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Dedicated photographic safaris are specifically designed for shutterbugs—those who travel with a passion for photography. Ordinary safaris do not offer the same opportunities to engage in the art, take the time needed to get a shot, and benefit from an unobstructed view 100 percent of the time. The average game-viewer vehicle can seat six to eight guests next to each other, which is a limiting factor when using large camera lenses and carrying plenty of gear.

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Photographic safaris have specially adapted game viewers and boats to facilitate the best environment for photography. Each seat is a front-row seat to the action and is generally equipped with a built-in camera mount and the individual space to move around. Likewise, photographic boats are equipped with mounts and swiveling seats to facilitate the perfect support and positioning for each photographer on board. They also offer the benefit of a professional guide who is an expert in the field and is trained to talk you through different shots, suggesting how best to photograph a bird or a leopard.

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If you’re booked on a dedicated photo safari, you will have the best opportunities possible to photograph the dynamic subjects of the African bush. Remember, wildlife behavior is entirely organic, and you cannot often control an animal’s movements. It’s best to rely on trained guides to set you up as much as possible and then prepare well by having the gear to work best in that situation and ultimately make the most of the experience.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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What to bring on a photographic safari will depend on whether you are trekking to photograph gorillas in the thick and dark forest, journeying to the magnificent landscapes of Namibia, or photographing the colorful birds of the Okavango Delta. It is advisable to pack two or three lenses. The most useful and commonly used lenses for wildlife photography include a 150–600mm lens, which is ideal for a longer zoom and closeups of details; a 70–200mm lens for when subjects are closer; and a wideangle 24–70mm lens, which has a short zoom and is ideal for landscapes.

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If feasible, it is useful to have two lenses set up on two different camera bodies, because a scene or situation can change quickly, and you might need to switch from a close zoom to a wider shot without much notice. If a leopard jumps out of a tree, you’ll appreciate being able to grab a camera that is set up with a shorter lens rather than fumbling to exchange lenses in a hurry. You will also want to avoid changing lenses frequently in a dusty area, so keeping two cameras outfitted is your best bet. Aside from your cameras and lenses, there is an important list of items to remember when packing for your photographic safari. Multiple large memory cards are essential so that you have the freedom to keep shooting during your excursions. Most cameras can carry dual memory cards and will automatically change over when one fills up. At the end of each safari excursion, download your photos and back them up on a portable hard drive before formatting the cards for the next activity. Extra batteries are a must, and you may also want to pack a tripod for landscape photography.

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When photographing wildlife, light is your greatest asset. Shooting outdoors means there is no studio lighting, and when it’s too bright or too dark, you need to adjust your camera settings to compensate. The three primary tools for managing light exposure are aperture, shutter speed, and ISO. jj Aperture is the size of the lens opening, and it determines how much light is allowed to reach your sensor. It is represented by a number called an f-stop. If you want to capture something in the foreground and let the background blur out—in other words, create a shallow depth of field—then your f-stop should be a low number, such as 2.8. If you want to capture more of the image in detail and achieve a deeper depth of field, you’d want a broader focus and should increase the f-stop to a higher number, such as 16 or 22. jj Shutter speed controls the length of time the shutter is open to allow light onto the sensor. It is also represented by a number: a fraction of a second. The higher the number in the denominator, the faster the shutter speed is. So, if your shutter speed is set at 1/1,000, it is moving at one thousandth of a second, whereas a shutter speed of 1/25 means your shutter is opening and closing much slower, at one twenty-fifth of a second. If you wanted to show the action in your image, such as a cheetah sprinting on the savanna, you would use a slow shutter speed (represented by a low number), but if you wanted to capture the running cheetah in focus, then you would use a fast shutter speed (represented by a high number). jj ISO is the sensitivity of your camera sensor to light. Again, it is represented by a number, which you select to work for the natural light you are given. If you want your camera to use as much light as possible, like when it is beginning to get dark, then you increase your ISO number. This might sound like a foolproof way to compensate for the loss of light at the end of a game drive, but if your ISO is too high, then the image can become grainy. In a low-light instance, try adjusting your aperture to the lowest f-stop possible, as this will make sure your lens is letting in as much light as it can. This way, you can avoid increasing your ISO and have a better chance of keeping your image crisp.

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When you’re shooting in manual mode, you are in full control of your creativity and how each of these components is set. This is where you get to experiment with all the elements and feel like a true photographer, but don’t shy away from making use of your camera’s Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority settings, which are designed to make your photography a little more foolproof and to give you consistency in your images.

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If you opt for Aperture Priority, you select the f-stop and determine your depth of field while your camera automatically matches the right shutter speed and generally produces the perfectly exposed image. If you’re using Shutter Priority, you choose the shutter speed and your camera will adapt the f-stop to support the correct exposure of your image. Often, your best chance of capturing the correct exposure is using a priority mode, but your best creative interpretations come out of manual mode.

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GETTING THE SHOT

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The most important tip for capturing dramatic and interesting wildlife images is to be patient. The moment a hippo opens its jaws in a powerful display of dominance might be the moment you’ve been waiting for, but there is no telling when it’s going to happen. The best way to approach a potential shot like this is to set yourself up with the correct lens and settings to suit the scene and then wait—poised—until the hippo opens its mouth. Then, you can snap away, trusting that your camera settings are correct.

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Another important bit of advice is to be prepared. We can’t dictate our scenes when it comes to working in the wild, and we have to embrace the natural elements, which is why we need to know how to compensate using our camera settings. If that lion you’ve been photographing in a shady spot moves into the bright sunlight to lap at the water’s edge, you have to be prepared to change your setting quickly to get the shot and make the most of the moment. The chances are that the lion is going to go back to sleeping in the shadows for another few hours, so this is your chance.

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If you are going to be practicing patience and spending a dedicated afternoon with a particular animal or group of animals, remember to keep an eye on your surroundings, because you never know when you might be gifted with an unexpected subject or scene. The beauty of photographing wildlife in particular is that these animals live in a wild environment, a home they share with hundreds of other living beings. There is always something else to look at—always something interesting worth photographing.

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Composition has the power to transform what you’re seeing through the viewfinder and, ultimately, the impact of your wildlife photography. Consider how your subject is composed in its wider environment and use the organic scene to really make your photography speak. For example, if you’re photographing an oryx in the Namib Desert, the background is almost as important as the animal itself. You might want to use a shorter lens and a camera with a full-frame sensor to capture the oryx amid the rolling sand dunes.

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Photographers often refer to using negative space when working with wildlife because it is a great way to incorporate the beautiful setting. A handy tip is to position your subject at the edge of your frame so that it is facing into the body of the shot. This brings great impact to the shot and really sets the scene. Alternatively, if you are working with an animal in a closed environment that won’t translate well in an image—say, an elephant feeding in a thicket—you might get your best shots using a longer zoom and getting close crops of the animal without incorporating its environment much.

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Eye contact always takes wildlife photography to the next level. If you’re lucky enough to get full eye contact from a wild animal while you’re focused and ready to shoot, your pictures will speak a thousand words. Primates, who show so much expression on their faces, make the most amazing subjects for this kind of close-up photography and generate a lot of emotion.

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We ourselves can be a big deterrent to capturing a great image; our very presence tends to inhibit the natural behavior of animals. One of the best ways to deal with this problem is to make use of a hide, also known as a blind. Often set up at the edge of a waterhole or somewhere animals and birds are likely to gather, a hide is a structure designed to blend in with the natural environment and built as a place to house undetected photographers.

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Whether you’re photographing wild dogs at their den from the heightened perspective of a 4×4, or getting an ultra-low angle that only a hide can offer, or drifting silently past a pod of grunting hippos on a boat, the potential to capture magic on camera is ever present on a safari. Through photography, we have the ability to freeze time and take home something that enchanted us in a special moment. We can translate a message, evoke an emotion, and tell a story about Africa that we’ll never forget.

SUGGESTED READINGS Bernabe, Wildlife Photography. Sartore, The Photo Ark.

ACTIVITIES 1. Watch the Great Course The National Geographic Guide to Landscape and Wildlife Photography. 2. Take photographs of wildlife or birds in your neighborhood under different lighting conditions and from different angles. Assess your images to determine which angles and lighting conditions produce the most pleasing images.

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WALKING SAFARIS LEC TURE 10 To embark on a walking safari is to set foot in the territory of lions, buffaloes, elephants, and a host of other wild and potentially dangerous animals in Africa. But it is also a chance to forget about life and tune into the frequency of nature. This lecture explores what defines a walking safari, how to learn to track wildlife using the signs of the bush, and where the best places are for walking on the wild side.

A CLOSER LOOK

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A safari on foot appeals to those who want to look a little deeper, get a little closer, and learn a little more about the great wilderness areas of Africa. Some of the most unforgettable safari moments happen on foot, and there are encounters to thrill even the most seasoned of travelers.

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The walking safaris of yesteryear were long excursions into the bush to hunt big game. These days, walking in the wilderness is about appreciating nature, exploring it in detail, and enjoying the thrill of viewing iconic African species on foot. Vehicle-driven safaris offer unparalleled close views, but they also bring with them the noise of the radio and the rumble of the engine.

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The silence and stealth of a walking safari allow us to smell the wild sage in the air and track a rhino from start to finish. On foot, we feel the smooth bark of ancient baobab trees, watch spiders weave their webs, and tread carefully around a plover’s nest in the grass. These are the reasons why people go in search of safari in its purest form.

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Walking safaris are not about encountering dangerous game or capturing the best photos. In fact, walking safaris often appeal to those who have seen the Big Five before and who might already have thousands of photos of the cats and pachyderms that feature on a first-timer’s agenda. What attracts such people to a walking safari are the details that are often missed from a vehicle: the tracks and signs of the bush, the seed pods dangling from the trees, the webs spun between branches, and the hidden evidence of a kill.

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Walking safaris are about sewing all these elements together into a story. They’re about looking at the clues left behind by animals during the night to be read by guides and their guests on a morning walk. There’s something thrilling about seeing the tracks of a leopard having walked the same path only hours or minutes before you or tracing the outline in the sand left by a sleeping rhino the night before.

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Not all walking safaris are the same. Some are extended expeditions over several nights and days. Others are morning activities offered to guests at a safari camp involving a few hours of walking in the bush around the camp.

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Part of the beauty of a walking safari is the unpredictability of the bush—you never know what you might find—so be constantly aware of your surroundings. With your guide in the lead, you’ll cross riverbeds, walk through forests, trek across open plains, and scale rocky outcrops.

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Reading tracks in the sand can tell us not only what animal made them, but also which direction it was going and when as well as what its behavior was like. To the trained eye, the difference between a lion track and a leopard track might be obvious, but to novice travelers, a paw print in the sand could belong to a species of cat or dog. To determine which pad-footed animal has left tracks in our path, we look at the size of the track, the animal’s gait, whether there are claw marks or not, and whether they were walking alone or in a group.

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Impressions of hooves, paws, fingers, and toes in the soil and mud are just one way animals leave signs of their presence. Their dung is just as important in revealing the identity, health, and proximity of an animal. A herd of elephants—as large and boisterous as they may seem—can disappear like a whisper in the wind, and in a heavily wooded area, their tracks can disappear with them. Their dung, however, which is constantly being produced, can indicate to a field guide how near or far away a herd is.

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Oxpeckers are nature’s greatest whistle-blowers, and field guides throughout Africa have followed the call of the oxpecker to reveal the presence of either the herbivores they are grooming or the predators they have spotted. These brightly billed little birds perch on wildebeests, impalas, and other large mammals and feed on ticks and small insects that they find on the hides of their hosts. They are also very vocal, and on a walking safari, the sound of an oxpecker is incredibly useful in locating the herd of rhino, buffalo, giraffe, or impala we’ve been tracking.

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There are plenty of signs left in the bush that tell us about animal behavior, making walking safaris fascinating explorations. Territorial markings can give us a great indication of where certain animals are present and, therefore, where it is safe to walk. The male hippopotamus scatters his dung along the pathway he uses to enter and exit the water. A dominant male rhino will urinate on his back legs and drag his feet across the ground to mark his territory. Both of these behaviors leave visual signs for us to read like a newspaper while out on a walking safari.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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And then there’s the evidence of last night’s predator behavior. The presence of drag marks on the ground is the hard evidence of a leopard kill. These solitary cats will kill their prey and, more often than not, drag it to safety to escape the danger of hyenas or the threat of lions. A 200-pound leopard carrying an impala of the same weight is bound to leave some signs of struggle, including drag marks, blood streaks, and the leopard’s own tracks alongside it.

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The primitive trails of Pafuri, in the northern part of South Africa’s Kruger National Park, is a prime area for walking safaris. This is a section of the park that is very remote and has minimal vehicular traffic. Here, wilderness walkers can find a slice of paradise in a private concession defined by deep valleys and decorative rocky outcrops, green fever tree forests, and ancient baobab trees. The trails of Pafuri are as raw and real as they come, and they promise to awaken the senses and deliver a new appreciation for how we fit into the natural world.

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For the less adventurous—or those who can appreciate a bed at the end of a long day on foot—there are mobile camping safaris and permanent luxury camps that offer walking safaris in some of southern Africa’s most extraordinary wilderness areas: Zambia’s Luangwa Valley, Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and Zimbabwe’s Mana Pools. Tracking wildlife along the broad, winding body of the Luangwa River or beneath the canopy of trees that has made Mana Pools famous has become a rite of passage for nature lovers the world over.

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Mobile walking safaris come with the added comfort of a tent, bed, shower, and cooked meal at the end of the day. The hard work of setting up camp and carrying our belongings on our backs is handed over to the professionals, and all we have to do is finish our morning coffee, tie our shoelaces, and hit the trail. Each day, we walk in the morning sunshine before stopping for a picnic lunch in the shade, resting under the trees and watching a world free of humans go by, before getting back on our feet to finish the day at a new mobile camp—ready and waiting with the iced drink of our choice.

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The Mana Pools walking experience is perhaps the best in Africa for viewing elephants and African wild dogs in thrilling proximity.

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One of the leaders in mobile walking safaris is Robin Pope, who has been guiding this type of safari since the early 1990s. In Zambia, Pope’s outfit conducts five-day walking trails starting in the north of South Luangwa National Park, following the curve of the Mupamadzi River down south. Along the way, a new mobile camp is set up every day to welcome the walkers after hours on the trail.

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In Mana Pools, on the Zimbabwean side of the Zambezi River, you might want to look into three camps operated by the ecotourism company Wilderness Safaris. Each of the camps—Ruckomechi, Little Ruckomechi, and Chikwenya—offers walking safaris during the dry months from April to the end of October. But here, the walking experience can be combined with game drives or river excursions, and the accommodations in the camps are sumptuously luxurious.

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In East Africa, Kenya’s Laikipia Plateau is the location of walking safaris that will impress, offering dramatic views of the Rift Valley and Mount Kenya as well as the chance to see endangered species like Grevy’s zebra Some of the greatest lovers and the Kenya highland hartebeest. of the wilderness—trail Gigantic elephants roam freely across the guides who have trekked vast landscape, and there is no escaping across Africa’s greatest the feeling of being incredibly small in wildlife reserves—say that comparison to the grand, rolling hills. a walking safari is the best t Among the organizations you’ll want to way to get to know yourself. look into when researching your options Whether your intention is in Kenya is Karisia Walking Safaris, to stretch your legs for a which offers a range of itineraries to few hours or to embark on suit guests with all types of preferences: a longer soul-searching luxury or basic, easy or challenging, excursion that will test two nights or 10 days on foot. Camels your limits, a walk on the carry the load and plod along with wild side will surely take the stamina they are famous for while your safari experience Maasai guides lead safari-goers through to a whole new level. truly spectacular territory. t

SUGGESTED READING Van Den Heever, Mhlongo, and Benadie, Tracker Manual. Walker, Signs of the Wild.

ACTIVITIES 1. Visit a nature reserve or wild area close to where you live and analyze the ground for tracks and signs of resident wildlife. Can you tell the difference between a dog track and a cat track in the dirt? 2. Compile a checklist of important safety protocols that you would need to follow if you were a walking safari guide in Africa.

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AFRICAN PREDATORS LEC TURE 11 Endowed with claws, teeth, and camouflaged coats, Africa’s predators are definite crowd-pleasers. Cats and dogs alike, the carnivores of the savannas, deltas, and deserts are endlessly impressive and endlessly diverse. Some hunt in packs; others stalk alone. Some are at the top of the food chain, and others scavenge to survive. Some are historic symbols of bravery and power, while others are seldom seen in the wild. Some of the continent’s predators have declining populations; others, however, have proven to be unstoppably successful.

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Big cats are the undisputed highlights of the African safari experience, adored by novices and veterans alike. Lions, leopards, and cheetahs are the continent’s three biggest cats. They all possess the teeth and claws that are typical of a predatory diet, but these three carnivores are otherwise very different from one another. The lion is a powerful hunter and the only cat to live in a pride. The leopard is stealthy and solitary, agile and swift in the trees. The cheetah is the fastest animal on land, using unbeatable speed to chase down its prey.

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Lions are distinctive from other cats in that they live in prides, hunting together and relying on each other for survival. Prides are typically made up of interrelated lionesses and their young and a pride male or coalition of pride males. Males that form coalitions are more likely to hold onto a pride longer than solitary males, and these coalitions are often made up of brothers. The females do the lion’s share of the hunting while the males protect the pride and the pride’s territory from hyenas and other male lions.

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Lions raise their young with the help of the pride, but even these powerhouse cats are at the mercy of the wild. Cubs only have a small chance of surviving to adulthood, and even then, life at the top is harsh. For males, their entire existence will be spent fighting for territory and dominance, battling with brothers, sons, and intruders to either take or keep the throne.

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The supreme power of a pride of lions allows them to take on large prey species. Leopards, on the other hand, are the assassins of the bush—solo hunters that tend to stick to the shadows, using their camouflage to keep them hidden until the last minute, when they ambush their unsuspecting prey. This sleek, rosetted cat is perhaps the most sought-after member of the Big Five. Leopards are elusive for the most part and are generally active after dark, making them difficult to see.

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Leopards live in a wide variety of habitats across Africa, ranging from mountains to the coast. Leopards are known to stash their kills in trees to keep them safe from competing predators like lions and hyenas—neither of which a leopard would take on willingly. As fierce and deadly as this silent hunter can be, it lives a solitary existence and therefore relies on itself to survive, so leopards avoid the risk of injury to larger predators at all costs.

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The third-biggest African cat and the most endangered of the three is the cheetah. This cat is synonymous with speed, sprinting as fast as 70 miles per hour. Such speeds are not sustainable and can only happen in short bursts, so cheetahs rely on catching their prey quickly instead of tiring out their quarry, which is what wild dogs and hyenas do.

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While most other cat species prefer the cover of darkness for an opportunistic ambush, the cheetah works for its meal during the daylight hours, especially the cooler hours of dusk and dawn. And unlike lions and leopards, which have fully retractable claws, cheetahs only have semiretractable claws. This isn’t a drawback, however. In fact, this feature provides better traction when running— much as a dog uses its claws to dig into the ground.

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In open areas like the Maasai Mara, the Serengeti, and the Kalahari, cheetahs thrive. The unobstructed landscapes offer plenty of room to sprint and help cheetahs spot their prey from far away. Their diurnal hunting strategy allows cheetahs to minimize conflict with the more nocturnal and more powerful leopards and lions. Cheetahs’ preferred prey includes smaller antelope, such as the steenbok and the duiker.

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Spotted hyenas are some of the most successful carnivores in Africa. Their numbers are plentiful, and apart from killing their own prey, they unabashedly poach the prey of others. Their bulky muscles, thick necks, and powerful jaws give them a menacing appearance, and their fearless behavior makes them a real threat, even to lions. Anyone who has been on safari will know about the whooping nocturnal calls of the spotted hyena; the eerie whoops and wails are a signal that it’s time to hunt.

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This species of hyena lives in a family clan and has a very interesting social structure and hierarchy. The females are superior to all males in the clan. They are substantially larger and stronger, and they are more aggressive. Females from the same family tend to stick together and lead the clan. There is serious competition between clans, just like there is between lion prides, and male hyenas have to leave their maternal groups to seek a higher-ranking position in a rival clan. Life is brutal for these predators, but their social organization and stamina contribute to their survival.

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In the desert areas of the Kalahari and the Namib, brown hyenas lead lives that are very different from their spotted cousins. They thrive in areas that are seemingly lacking in prey—with few antelope herds to chase down and very few rival predators to scavenge from. Brown hyenas forage alone, despite living in family clans. Spotted hyenas are the only members of the hyena family that hunt the way they do— together—directly killing a high percentage of their prey. Striped and brown hyenas survive primarily on carrion, and the smaller aardwolf eats insects, especially termites.

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Though they exhibit a morphology and behavior that is similar to dogs, hyenas are not classified as canines. Instead, they belong to the suborder Feliformia, which encompasses all catlike carnivores, including true cats like lions, cheetahs, and leopards.

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As for predators that actually do belong to the dog family, or Canidae, the pack-oriented African wild dog, which is one of Africa’s most endangered predators, is an exceptionally competent killer. Despite their much smaller size and slighter build, wild dogs are surprisingly brave, often seen defending their prey against hyenas amid an eruption of excitable sounds emitted by both the dogs and the hyenas. Scenes like this offer safari-goers a chance to see the brutal competition between African predators, such as the endless battles between lions and hyenas.

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Wild dogs work in packs. Designed for endurance, they can run down their targeted prey without getting tired. The pack hunts together, singling out an individual antelope and creating a deadly formation that drives the target into a vulnerable position between the dogs. One by one, the dogs move in and begin to nip at the soft flesh around the groin, belly, and rump until their prey falls to the ground and they begin to take bites with their sharp, shearing teeth.

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The diminutive canids of the bushveld are the jackals. These smaller predators are as important as the large ones in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem, helping to control the spread of disease by eating carrion and controlling the population of rodents. Because of their similar food sources, jackals compete directly with caracals, which are one of the smaller feline carnivores.

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Black-backed and side-striped jackals are Africa’s two most common species. Surprisingly, side-striped jackals are not strictly meat-eaters and are known to eat many types of fruit. Across most of southern and East Africa, where black-backed jackals are abundant, we often catch them sneakily scavenging from a carcass right under the noses of feeding lions or other predators.

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The smaller African predators include caracals, servals, and African wildcats, which, like jackals, feed on smaller mammals, rodents, and birds. These smaller cats are as intriguing as the big ones, but they are seen far less frequently, and most people know much less about their habits.

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The caracal is a very striking mediumsized cat. It has large lynxlike ears that end in pointed tufts of hair, and it has blackand-white facial markings on reddishbrown fur. Most notable are its large hind legs. Caracals use their powerful hindquarters to launch themselves more than 12 feet into the air, pouncing on birds midflight. These acrobatic cats have the ability to kill prey twice their size, such as springbok and smaller antelope species. Just like almost all wildcats, caracals live solitary lives and keep well hidden from the public eye by sleeping during the day and hunting at night.

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A serval is a slender, long-legged cat with a golden coat that is beautifully marked by black stripes and spots. The backs of its large ears are marked with a white stripe, acting as a “follow me” sign to keep mothers and cubs together in the long grass. Servals rely heavily on their hearing to hunt, because the long grass that characterizes their habitat makes seeing their prey rather difficult. Their ears are especially sensitive, detecting every movement of rodents and reptiles nearby.

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Another of the smaller African cats is the African wildcat. This miniature predator is strikingly similar to domestic ginger cats, and in fact, wildcat populations are known to breed with domestic cats in areas that border nature reserves. However, a close look reveals the wildcat’s unmistakable identifying features: It has long legs and a sleek build with large ears that have dark amber fur on the back. Their overall coloration varies, but generally, wildcats have a combination of ginger and gray, which suits their surroundings and keeps them camouflaged when hunting.

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The wild world of African carnivores is as enchanting as it is jolting. We might find it difficult to cope with some aspects of animal nature, and seeing prey succumb to predator brings out our instinctive sympathy. But to watch the game of the wild unfold is a privilege—one that can deepen our appreciation for the astonishing adaptations of predator and prey alike. Predators of all sizes play hugely important roles in keeping the natural order in balance.

SUGGESTED READING Bosman and Hall-Martin, Cats of Africa. Estes, The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. Seidensticker and Lumpkin, Great Cats.

SUGGESTED FILM Joubert, Dereck. Eye of the Leopard. Directed by Beverly Joubert and Dereck Joubert. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society, 2006.

ACTIVITIES 1. Categorize the following African predators in order of dominance: African wild dogs, leopards, cheetahs, lions, hyenas. 2. Research which predators are the most prolific man-eaters and then read about the famed man-eaters of Tsavo.

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AFRICAN HERBIVORES AND ANTELOPES LEC TURE 12 The African safari scene includes a great many herbivores, key players in the game of life and the number one food source for the continent’s predators. This lecture discusses some of Africa’s hooved mammals, or ungulates, whose feeding habits range from grazing on grasses to browsing among trees for edible leaves and vegetation. Among this group are a few of Africa’s most famous species as well as a few lesserknown herbivores that reside in remote areas.

AFRICAN BUFFALO

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Also known as the Cape buffalo, the African buffalo should not be confused with the Asian water buffalo or the American bison. The African buffalo is one of the most successful members of the bush. We find them widespread throughout well-watered areas of the continent. Herds rarely stray farther than 10 or 12 miles from a water source, but they can thrive in grasslands and forests as well as in swamps and floodplains.

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Where buffalo populations are strong, lion populations are likely to be strong, too. Because of their size, buffaloes are only targeted by lions, which are large enough and powerful enough to take them down. But even these ferocious predators are wary of buffalo and stand a real chance of being injured during a hunt.

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While buffaloes’ eyesight and hearing are not considered exceptional, their sense of smell is phenomenal. They use their noses to investigate anything they are unsure of, which is part of what makes them so dangerous. When they feel threatened, buffaloes are more likely to fight than retreat. A charging buffalo should not be taken lightly, as buffaloes are unlikely to bluff. They will also intervene when one of their herd has been attacked by lions.

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Buffaloes are very social, sometimes found in herds numbering more than 1,000 animals. Their herd structure is designed to protect calves and cows as much as possible. When the buffaloes detect a threat, the females and young move to the center of the herd and the adult males form a defensive shield on the outside.

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During times of abundance, when there is plenty of grass and water available, large herds may split up into smaller family groups, which are dominated by an older bull. These smaller groups then rejoin to create a large herd once again when the dry season arrives and resources are scarce.

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Buffaloes need to consume an enormous amount of grass to maintain their bulk, so they’re not very picky eaters. Their tongue and wide row of incisors help them eat the tall, coarse grasses that other ruminants can’t digest, so they help clear the way for more selective grazers to eat the shorter grasses after them.

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Some of the most successful, widely distributed members of the herbivore family are mixed feeders, which, unlike buffaloes, eat a variety of plant matter. These mixed feeders include the vast population of antelope species that are seen on safari all over the continent. There are more than 70 species of antelope found in Africa. Some thrive in heavily forested areas, while others are committed to savannas, marshy wetlands, or deserts.

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The most commonly seen antelope on a southern African safari is the impala. These sleek, elegant animals are vastly underrated, because by the end of your first game drive in southern Africa, you have probably already seen a few herds. Their abundance is a result of their success as an adaptable antelope and their tolerance as mixed feeders.

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In semiarid and desert areas of southern Africa, the springbok is the dominant herd antelope, feeding on a mixture of vegetation and surviving with very little access to water. Residing alongside the springbok is a type of oryx known as the gemsbok. This iconic antelope of Namibia is unbelievably resilient and successful in the harsh desert environment. The gemsbok often digs to find roots and tubers and, like the springbok, can survive with very little water.

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Another impressive antelope is the greater kudu, a common resident in southern Africa, where there is enough tree cover. The male of the species is adorned with impressive spiraled horns. These graceful, rather shy and quiet antelope are very large, standing about five feet at shoulder height, and they like to stick to the woodland savanna areas, where they can move through the shadows.

Most antelopes are water-dependent, but there are a special few that actually thrive in boggy swamps. The semiaquatic sitatungas, which hang out in shoulder-deep water, have oily, water-repellent coats. Although they are somewhat clumsy on dry land, their splayed hooves and powerful hindquarters allow them to move quickly through water, in which they can easily outrun predators like lions and hyenas.

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A lesser-known species of antelope is the gerenuk, whose name means “giraffe-necked” in Somali. Also known as the Waller’s gazelle, the gerenuk is found in East Africa and browses on foliage that is too high for many other antelopes. Its wedge-shaped hooves and specialized spine make it the only antelope that can stand unsupported on its hind legs. Then there’s the largest antelope in Africa—the eland—which stands almost six feet tall at shoulder height and can weigh almost a ton. The eland enjoys a surprisingly widespread range in southern and East Africa.

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One of the most prominent antelopes of an African safari—the wildebeest—is known for its close affiliation with another famous herbivore: the plains zebra. These two gregarious animals are perhaps most closely associated with East African safaris, in which they are the stars of the annual Great Migration. This natural spectacle is one of Africa’s most sought-after events, attracting hundreds of thousands of tourists every year.

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Even outside the Maasai Mara and the Serengeti, wildebeest and zebra are often seen side by side. One of the reasons is that they do not compete directly for food; although it might seem like they are both after the same grass, there are slight differences in their feeding patterns. Zebras cut the longer grasses short, which is the way the wildebeest like them. As a result, they can both graze from the same supply of grassland.

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The zebra and the wildebeest are an unlikely pair. The former is widely acknowledged as one of Africa’s most beautiful animals; it has a striking appearance of perfect black-and-white stripes and the velvety muzzle and soft brown eyes of a horse. The wildebeest, on the other hand, has been informally classified as one of the “Ugly Five.” Its sloping back, raggedy mane, and broad, elongated face have landed it unceremoniously among the unattractive stars of the safari world.

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Both male and female wildebeest have dangerous horns that they use to defend themselves and their calves. Adults will shield their youngsters from attacks from lions, cheetahs, and wild dogs. Wildebeests also benefit from their proximity to zebras, who are very alert and will notify members of their herd when danger is nearby. Closely related to the domestic horse, the zebra has a powerful kick and can run up to 35 miles per hour.

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The okapi is not related to the zebra, but it is sometimes referred to as a “zebra giraffe” because of the distinctive white stripe patterns on its rump. Okapi live only in the tropical lowland forest in northern Congo, and they are very rarely seen by humans. Also nicknamed the “rainforest giraffe,” the okapi actually is closely related to the giraffe. It stands about five feet tall at shoulder height and lives a solitary life. Its distinctive features include a long neck, long legs, and a long, prehensile tongue.

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Warthogs are the most frequently seen pigs on safari. Leopards and lions alike target the warthog as a meal, but both put themselves at risk in doing so. Male warthogs can tip the scales at more than 200 pounds, which is more than the weight of a leopard, and they will readily defend themselves against predators. Both male and female warthogs have two pairs of sharp, curved tusks that protrude from their mouths and can be lethal in combat, especially if they come into contact with the soft skin of a leopard or lion.

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In the summer, when the first rains begin to fall across the savanna, we start to see the presence of piglets. These diminutive warthogs are born inside dens, which are often old termite mounds that have already been excavated by aardvarks. The youngsters are kept safe inside these burrows and fed plenty of milk during the first three to six weeks of their lives while they are exclusively suckling. After this, the piglets emerge to join in on the grazing activity, a most popular sight for any safari-goer. The herbivorous members of the wild are by no means defenseless or weak. Many of them are equipped with horns, hooves, and tusks that can be lethal, leveling out the playing field ever so slightly. Certain animals, such as the wildebeest and zebra, work together, one conditioning the environment for the other. And different species are well adapted to their various habitats.

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The rains bring about all kinds of new life, transforming the bush from the parched conditions of the dry season. Warthogs are often seen enjoying mud wallows, along with buffaloes and rhinos. And the new growth of grass is devoured hungrily by the warthogs, which otherwise survive on the bulbs and tubers they unearth by digging with their shovellike noses during the dry season.

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Bushpigs also use their snouts to dig for roots and rhizomes buried beneath the ground; unlike warthogs, however, they forage at night. When warthogs have taken to their burrows to sleep, bushpigs wake up to plough through the ground in true omnivorous fashion. These wild pigs prefer areas with dense cover, while warthogs are found in wide-open areas. Other differences include the bushpig’s comparatively small tusks and its abundance of long, bristly hair. Female bushpigs create a nest on the ground where they give birth to their young, hiding them in a hollow pile of grass instead of a burrow.

SUGGESTED READING Estes, The Gnu’s World. Frost and Carnaby, The Antelope of Africa. Kingdon, The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals.

QUESTIONS 1. How many species of African antelope are there? Once you find this out, determine which continent holds the highest diversity of antelope species. 2. Which is the largest antelope species?

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GIANTS OF THE AFRICAN BUSH LEC TURE 13 The giants of Africa’s landscape are the elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, and hippopotamus. These four iconic animals are safari favorites, and each is highly sought after by visitors to the African bush. The elephant is the heaviest land animal on earth; the giraffe is the tallest. The rhino is known for its intimidating horns, and the hippo is the ruler of the waterways. Each of these mega-herbivores is truly captivating.

ELEPHANT

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The African elephant is the largest terrestrial mammal in the world. These highly intelligent creatures are emotional and intuitive, and when one approaches you and looks you dead in the eye, you can’t help but feel a profound sense of connection. An animal this size is bound to have a significant impact on the landscape of the areas it occupies, which happens to be most of sub-Saharan Africa.

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There are two species of African elephant: the savanna elephant, which is the much more abundant and commonly seen giant of the plains, and the significantly smaller forest elephant. The jungles of equatorial Africa are the only remaining habitat of the forest elephant, and just like their savanna cousins, they face an unrelenting poaching threat.

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Both species are herd animals that live in family groups. But the significant difference between these African giants, aside from their habitats and size, is their tusks. Savanna elephants have the familiar curved tusks, while the forest elephant’s tusks are straighter and point downward. Tragically, these tusks, which are essentially extended incisor teeth, are the reason elephant numbers have plummeted. Their ivory feeds an international market for carved trinkets, expensive jewelry, and traditional medicine.

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Elephants are extraordinarily powerful animals, and the role they play in the ecosystem is critical. Savanna bull elephants generally weigh up to six tons and stand up to 13 feet tall at the shoulder. The gardeners of the African bush, they continuously feed on plant matter—from grasses to fruit and everything in between—constantly pruning the vegetation and even providing food for animals like baboons feeding in their wake.

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When we see a group of elephants together, we can assume it is made up of related family members. Herds can number hundreds of elephants at a time in areas where water and food are plentiful, such as in Chobe National Park. In other parts of Africa where supplies are limited, such as the Namib Desert, elephants live in much smaller herds, often numbering fewer than 10 individuals.

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Elephants are arguably the strongest example of a matriarchal society in the animal world. Herds are normally led by the largest and oldest female of the herd, a role that is traditionally passed on to her eldest daughter. t

Family bonds between these terrestrial giants are incredibly strong. Each calf is nurtured and reared by all females of a group after gestating almost two years in the womb. A mother only gives birth again after about four years, so numbers are not easily replaced, and each baby born is treasured and treated as a family investment. We often see entertaining behavior from young elephants as they learn and develop through play or by copying an elder elephant’s antics.

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GIRAFFE

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Although elephants are the uncontested lords of the wilderness, giraffes might win the popularity contest. This tallest animal in the world has some fascinating adaptations, and researchers continue to discover new information about the different species. Unfortunately, research has also revealed that like elephant populations, giraffe populations are declining, by as much as 40 percent since the 1980s.

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One would be forgiven for thinking that the giraffe we see in Kenya is the same species of giraffe we see in South Africa, but they’re actually different from one another. Recent studies by the Giraffe Conservation Foundation have revealed that there are at least four separate species of giraffe in Africa: the northern giraffe, southern giraffe, Maasai giraffe, and reticulated giraffe. While they all have long necks, four long legs, and mottled brown markings across their bodies, these four giraffe species are genetically quite different.

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Overall, there are fewer than 100,000 individual giraffes left on the continent. As a result, giraffes are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for Conservation Southern giraffe of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Some subspecies of the four major species groups are more vulnerable than others, and in fact, one even has an upward population trend. This may sound promising, but the rising numbers belong to the West African giraffe subspecies, which has the lowest numbers of all, at only about 550 individuals in the world.

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If you’re going on safari in southern Africa, you’ll be sure to see the most prolific member of the giraffe family: the southern giraffe, which makes up more than half of all the giraffes put together. This species also has separate subspecies, and they, too, live in distinct areas. The first subspecies is the South African giraffe, which is by far the type of giraffe with the broadest range and highest population numbers. Almost 40,000 South African giraffes roam the protected areas of southern Africa, and they are frequently seen on safari in the Kruger National Park, Chobe National Park, and the Okavango Delta.

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Their very similar relative is the Angolan giraffe, which is perhaps the palest of all the giraffes and lives in the desert regions of southern Africa, such as the Namib and the Kalahari. As a testament to this animal’s resilience and ability to adapt, the Angolan giraffes that survive well in the driest, harshest parts of Namibia are almost colorless. This could be an adaptation that helps keep them cool, just as the desert antelope, the oryx, has a white belly to reflect the heat radiating from the ground.

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In terms of sheer numbers, the Maasai giraffe ranks second only to the South African giraffe. But the Maasai giraffe was the most prolific giraffe species only a few decades ago, with a population of more than 60,000. Today, that number is only about 35,000. As its name suggests, this species occurs in the Maasai Mara Reserve of Kenya, but its range goes far beyond that.

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Completing Africa’s genetically diverse giraffe population is the most uniquely patterned of the lot: the reticulated giraffe. The dividing lines on this giraffe’s dark-orange patches are fine, giving it a defining netlike appearance, as its name suggests. The reticulated giraffe occurs north of the Maasai giraffe in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia, and it has sadly plummeted to less than a quarter of its population of the 1980s.

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A massive plant-eating mammal armored with tough, leathery skin and a set of two horns protruding from its face, the rhinoceros is as impressive as they come. Worldwide, there are five species of rhino—three in Asia and two in Africa. The two African types are the white rhino and the black rhino.

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Celebrated as members of the Big Five, black and white rhinos are dangerous, and they are also among the most special of safari sightings. Just like the elephants, which are illegally hunted for their tusks, rhinos are poached for the very things that define them: their horns. These weapons of defense are made of keratin, the same material of human fingernails. The horns wear down and break off naturally in a rhino’s life, regrowing quickly. Adult female rhinos are often seen with the most impressive, longest, and sharpest horns because they don’t need to use them to fight as much as males do.

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In the natural life of a rhino, bulls fight for dominance, territory, and the right to mate. With strength comes dominance, and with dominance comes the right to sire young—the ultimate goal in nature. Rhino bulls fight face to face, lowering their heads and using their horns to intimidate and potentially injure their opponents. They strike one another’s horns aggressively, intending to inflict harm until one of the bulls submits.

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Black rhinos are the more endangered of the two species, with only about 5,000 individuals remaining in the world. The white rhino, in comparison, numbers around 20,000, placing both rhinos high on the list of endangered species.

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The two African rhinos have some fundamental differences, but despite their names, color is not one of them: Both are, in fact, gray. The black species, weighing in at about one ton, is considerably smaller than the white species, which can tip the scales at more than two tons. The white rhino is a dedicated grazer, surviving off of vast quantities of grass, whereas the black rhino browses the leaves and foliage on trees.

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Similar in size to the rhino is the hippopotamus. Ruler of the swamps and king of the rivers, the hippo doesn’t bow down to anyone—not even the deadly crocodile, with whom it shares the wetlands of the continent. Those powerful jaws armed with two pairs of sharp tusks are enough to puncture the tough skin of a crocodile, and hippos are not hesitant to use them.

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Hippos can be extremely dangerous when threatened. They are out of their comfort zone on land and will take to the water as soon as possible if they feel unsafe or if a calf is threatened. But these two-ton grazers are not as slow and cumbersome as their barrel-shaped bodies and short legs might indicate. If provoked, a hippo can run at speeds of almost 20 miles per hour for short distances—faster than most humans, in other words.

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Throughout Africa in areas where rural farmers live alongside wildlife areas, people utilize the same water sources as hippos, and the danger of hippo attacks are highest in the early mornings, when hippos are returning to the water after their nightly grazing. At the same time, people from local villages are on their way to the river to wash clothes and dishes. To find yourself in a hippo’s path can certainly be life threatening, and the unfortunate incidents that take place have given the hippo the title of deadliest animal in Africa.

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Spending more than half of its life submerged in water—including mating, giving birth, and feeding its young— hippos are only found in places with ever-present rivers, lakes, lagoons, and swamplands. The ability to stay submerged under water protects their skin, which, despite its thick, tough appearance, is very sensitive to the sun.

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There is another species of hippo in addition to the common hippo we are familiar with, and that is the rather diminutive pygmy hippo. Found in West Africa inland from the coast and preferring a forested habitat, the pygmy hippo is about one-tenth the size of the dominant river warrior we know and love. Unless you’re exploring the lush forest of Liberia, the hippo you see on safari is definitely the common variety—much bigger, stronger, noisier, and more hostile than its miniature cousin.

SUGGESTED READING Anthony, The Last Rhinos. Balfour and Balfour, African Elephants. Dagg, Giraffe. Groning and Saller, Elephants. Marais and Ainslie, In Search of Africa’s Great Tuskers.

ACTIVITIES 1. Watch Last of the Big Tuskers (https://vimeo.com/329003507) and find out how many of Africa’s super tusker (elephants with at least one tusk weighing 100 pounds or more) remain. 2. Visit giraffeconservation.org and find out how many giraffe species exist today.

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AFRICA’S GREAT APES AND OTHER PRIMATES LEC TURE 14 Watching primates evokes a sense of awe that is both familiar and mysterious. The star attractions on increasingly popular primate safaris, these creatures include some of humankind’s closest living relatives. This lecture takes a closer look at the primates of Africa, including the great apes, bonobos, baboons, monkeys, bush babies, and pottos.

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The great apes are the stars of primate trekking safaris in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There are two separate species of gorilla—the western gorilla and the eastern gorilla— and both are listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as critically endangered. The mountain gorilla and the Grauer’s gorilla belong to the eastern species, and the western lowland gorilla and the Cross River gorilla belong to the western species.

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The gorillas seen in the highlands of these countries are mountain gorillas, and they are considered endangered. There are estimated to be approximately 1,000 mountain gorillas remaining in the world, but thankfully, this number is increasing.

The mountain gorillas of Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda were the longtime subjects of Dian Fossey’s groundbreaking study. Today, the descendants of these same gorillas form part of the habituated families that are seen on gorilla treks today.

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Mountain gorilla groups are led by a dominant male called a silverback, which can stand at six feet tall and can weigh as much as 400 pounds, sometimes even a little more. This position of power comes with the right to mate with the females in the troop and the right to make decisions about where the group moves to eat and nest. In return, the leading silverback has the responsibility of protecting his family and will fight for and defend his troop to the death. If the gorilla in charge dies, the younger males in the group might fight for the position of leader.

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To keep genetic diversity strong, both males and females might leave their natal groups in search of new ones. Males become dominant silverbacks at around 12 to 14 years old, and females start giving birth around the age of 10, waiting around four years in between each infant. These babies are born as tiny, five-pound bundles, not unlike humans, but they mature twice as fast. As the youngsters develop, they are as curious and playful as human toddlers, investigating and exploring with uncannily humanlike tendencies.

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The physical differences between the mountain gorilla subspecies and the Grauer’s subspecies are subtle. The Grauer’s has slightly bigger hands and a shorter muzzle, and mountain gorillas have longer hair and larger facial features. Grauer’s gorillas nest in trees, quite like chimpanzees, and spend much of their time foraging up in the canopies, while mountain gorillas are ground-dwellers, nesters, and foragers. Mountain gorillas also move constantly, never nesting in the same place for two nights in a row.

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In addition to the mountain and lowland gorillas, the great ape family includes chimpanzees and bonobos, which belong to the genus Pan and are our closest living relatives. Bonobos, the smaller of the two species, live in the DRC and are classified as endangered, with approximately 15,000 to 20,000 individuals left in the wild. Chimpanzees are more widely distributed, and their several subspecies can be found in western and central African countries. It is believed that there are several hundred thousand chimpanzees left in the wild; they are also classified as endangered.

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BABOONS

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While the great apes of Africa are our closest living relatives, and the species with whom we share almost all of our DNA, baboons are also surprisingly like us in their mannerisms, expressions, and diet. Baboons are some of the largest monkeys and are not considered apes. In fact, they are Old World monkeys, which means they lack the prehensile tails possessed by the New World monkeys.

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Baboons have very large canine teeth and doglike muzzles and are covered in long, smooth hair. In Africa, there are five species of baboons that can be spotted in different habitats, national parks, and reserves. In general, however, these Old World monkeys prefer to stick to the open savanna, where there are some good-sized trees to climb.

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Olive baboons are the most widespread of the species, occurring in more than 20 countries and centralized around equatorial Africa. Yellow baboons are found predominantly in East Africa and reach down to Zimbabwe and Botswana. Chacma baboons prefer a drier habitat and are commonly seen throughout southern Africa. The diminutive Guinea baboon resides in western Africa, and the white-maned hamadryas, or sacred, baboon lives in the Horn of Africa and parts of Ethiopia.

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Unlike most smaller monkeys, baboons are mostly ground-dwellers who prefer to climb trees at night to keep safe while sleeping. They live in troops that can number up to 300 and are dominated by a group of males, while the vast majority of the group is made up of females and young. Vocalizations among baboons are of paramount importance for communication within the group. They use a language consisting of squeals, shrieks, and barks, which communicate different things.

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Visual cues are just as important among baboons. This is especially relevant, as they see in full color. Their breeding relies on females advertising their colorful rumps to males who can judge whether a potential mate is in estrus by the color of her skin. Facial expressions, such as raised eyebrows or bared teeth, also portray visual messages between baboons. And physical touch plays an important role in solidifying relationships and hierarchy.

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Grooming is a part of everyday life for baboons. You’ll see them methodically checking one another’s fur, picking at fleas and other parasites to keep their fellow troop members in good condition. This social behavior—called allogrooming—goes a long way toward maintaining relationships between smaller groups within the troop. Females rely on males to protect them from threats, and to keep these males loyal, the females make sure they spend enough time grooming them and taking care of their needs.

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Some of the best places to watch the social behavior of baboons are South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, the Okavango Delta in Botswana, the Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti of Tanzania, the Kruger National Park in South Africa, and the residential areas around the Cape of Good Hope in Cape Town, South Africa. These primates are widespread, and depending on where you are, you’ll get quality sightings of chacma, yellow, or olive baboons on the open grassland. Seeing the Guinea baboon will require a trip to West Africa, while the hamadryas baboon is restricted to the hills along the Red Sea.

MONKEYS

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Of the dozens of monkey species on the continent of Africa, there are not many that are commonly seen outside of special expeditions. The vervet monkey is one of the most commonly seen of Africa’s primates.

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Easily identified by their light-gray bodies, black faces, and long tails, vervet monkeys are seen in troops of up to 40 or more individuals. Like baboons, they are highly social and rely on allogrooming to create bonds with other members of the troop. Males sort out any ranking issues with aggressive displays and physical fights. They also use a variety of vocalizations and calls to communicate with one another—an estimated 36 different calls, including ones to signal distress or alarm when there is a predator in the vicinity.

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Vervets rely on a sentry to let them know when there is a threat in the area. This role is usually filled by the dominant male of the troop. He will take his place at a high point, such as the top of a tree, where he has a good view of the surroundings, and if he sees a bird of prey, snake, or leopard, he will emit an alarm call specific to the type of threat at hand.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Another species of guenon that can be seen in the forests of northeastern South Africa, Mozambique, and up into Kenya is the samango monkey. Similar in appearance to vervet monkeys but slightly larger, samango monkeys are very partial to fruits and flowers, especially those found at the tops of tall trees, where they can forage in relative safety.

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Other types of monkeys belong to the Colobus genus, and the most commonly encountered is the black-and-white colobus of east equatorial Africa. These monkeys are strictly tree-dwelling and live off leaves, almost always choosing to leap between the tree canopies rather than descending and climbing the next tree. Their fur is long and wispy, and they have long tails. If you’re on safari in Uganda’s national parks, you are likely to see a black-and-white colobus monkey, or even a rare red colobus monkey, which is identified by its red crown of fur on an otherwise grayish body.

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BUSH BABIES AND POTTOS

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Bush babies, more formally known as galagos, vary from the size of a small rodent to the size of a domestic cat. There are a number of species and subspecies occurring throughout Africa, some of which you are likely to see on safari, especially one that incorporates a nocturnal element. What characterizes these nocturnal primates are their extra-large eyes designed for expert night vision and their fast, agile movements between trees.

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Bush babies have long tails that help them balance as they move, and their leaping abilities are phenomenal, allowing them to cover a distance of up to 15 feet in a single leap. They have dexterous fingers and toes, equipped with fingernails for a good grip, and they feed on mostly insects and the sap from trees. Because trees form the basis of their existence, these animals need to live in a wooded habitat. They sleep during the day in family groups in tree cavities before they separate at dusk to forage—but not before an extensive grooming session.

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Another nocturnal primate is the potto. This member of the prosimian family is slow moving and is found in tropical Africa in the same territories as the chimpanzees and mountain gorillas of Uganda. Just more than a foot in length, pottos have large, forward-facing eyes and are covered in thick fur. They have a unique defense mechanism that involves rolling their heads between their front limbs when they are threatened and then headbutting their opponents with the backs of their necks, which are armed with spiny vertebrae.

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There are various other galago and potto species and subspecies that can be found in Africa, and incredibly, new discoveries are being made all the time.

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The easily accessible savannas offer some superb primate sightings in the form of baboons, vervet monkeys, and bush babies, while the more secretive corners of the African equatorial forests house some of the largest and smallest primates alive today. Heading out on a guided night walk in Kibale Forest, Uganda, might provide a chance of seeing a potto in action, while just relaxing at a safari lodge in the evenings in southern Africa could bring a bush baby right to you.

SUGGESTED READING Campbell, The Taming of the Gorillas. Goodall, 40 Years at Gombe. Petter and Desbordes, Primates of the World.

ACTIVITIES 1. Research how much genetic makeup we share with chimpanzees, gorillas, and bonobos. You might be surprised to learn that the exact percentages vary depending on how genetic makeup is defined. 2. Watch the 1988 film Gorillas in the Mist.

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AFRICA’S SMALL MAMMALS LEC TURE 15 Some of the most fascinating creatures encountered during an African safari are far smaller than lions, elephants, and gorillas but play equally important roles in the ecosystem. This lecture highlights the smaller mammals of Africa that safari-goers are most likely to see—from mongooses to rabbits to the very peculiar-looking ground pangolin.

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Consider the diverse and commonly seen mongooses of Africa. This group of small carnivores is made up of a number of species living throughout Africa in habitats varying from semiarid areas to marshy wetlands and savannas. Some live solitary lives or pair up with a mate, while others live in communities numbering from about a dozen to more than 30 individuals.

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The most famous member of the mongoose clan is undoubtedly the meerkat. Living in large social groups and also called suricates, these fascinating creatures are most likely to be seen on safari in either Botswana or Namibia, although they can also be found in the more arid parts of South Africa. Habituated groups will interact with safari-goers at various camps in the Makgadikgadi Pans area of Botswana, which provides one of the most endearing encounters we can have with the smaller African mammals.

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The smallest of all the mongooses is the appropriately named dwarf mongoose. This miniature mongoose is a social character and cooperates exceptionally well within its pack, which is led by an alpha pair. These animals are strictly diurnal, and before the sun sets, they retreat to their burrows, which are mostly abandoned termite mounds. Dwarf mongooses spend the night indoors within their marked territories, and once the sun has risen, the alpha female will lead her pack outside again.

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During the day, the mongooses will forage within their home ranges, never venturing too far from their place of cover. They feed on snails, various insects, scorpions, small reptiles, and eggs, and they pay particular attention to the sounds of the bush around them. If another animal—such as a bird, monkey, or squirrel—emits an alarm call, the mongooses will heed the warning and run for cover.

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A species of mongoose that thrives in the semiarid landscapes and grasslands of southern Africa is the yellow mongoose. Named because of its yellowish, furry coat, this mongoose is not as sociable as the dwarf mongoose, whose territory it rarely overlaps. It lives in burrows and, like all mongooses, is active during the day and eats a diet broadly made up of insects, rodents, centipedes, and eggs.

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Due to its harsher environment, the yellow mongoose supplements its carnivorous diet with fruit and seeds when available. Yellow mongooses live with their family members in groups numbering up to 10, but when the youngsters are nutritionally independent, they move off in search of a life outside of their natal group. As a result, safari-goers are most likely to see solitary individuals or pairs.

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The most widely distributed species of mongoose is the slender mongoose. This generally solo animal can be found from sea level all the way up into the Ethiopian highlands at 9,000 feet above sea level. Despite having such a broad range, they are not seen all that regularly, and if you spot one on safari, it is always worth stopping to have a look. With reddish fur and a pointed face, this species has a long, slim build, as its name suggests, and a tail that ends in a dark tuft.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The white-tailed mongoose is one of the largest species of mongoose and regularly attains a weight of 10 pounds. They can be found almost everywhere on the continent, except for the arid southwest deserts and the tropical rainforests. You are most likely to encounter this large mongoose foraging widely for food at night by itself, as it is nocturnal.

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Of the three primary differences between hares and rabbits, the most obvious is their size: Hares are larger than rabbits, and hares possess larger hind legs and longer ears. The second major difference is that hares do not burrow or retreat to underground warrens as rabbits do; rather, they use scrapes above ground for nesting, often under a bush. And third, when it comes to their young, hares give birth to precocial leverets, which are carried in the womb for almost two weeks longer than a rabbit carries its kits.

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While both hares and rabbits are predominantly nocturnal and might look similar to the untrained eye, rabbits stick to dense bush and areas with more cover. The long-legged hare is quick and darting, while the much smaller-legged rabbit hops at a slower pace. Hares are much more likely to be encountered on a safari. A hare can actually run more body lengths per second than a cheetah, which can “only” run 16 of its own body lengths per second.

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Hares are incredibly fast animals, and the Cape hare can only be outrun by the cheetah. If we’re looking more broadly at African safari areas, we are likely to see the Cape hare and the scrub hare interchangeably. The Cape hare thrives in the more arid areas of Africa, whereas the scrub hare is more likely to be seen in Africa’s open woodland and wetland areas.

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It’s unlikely but not impossible to see hares during the day; after all, they don’t hide underground. Rather, they lie on the surface in shallow dug-out holes, which have usually been made by other animals, such as warthogs or aardvarks. Once dusk sets in, keep your eyes peeled for the highly camouflaged gray-brown hare. Sometimes, the best sightings of hares occur when they run along the road in front of the game-drive vehicle, illuminated in the beams of the headlights.

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Both hares and rabbits have the surprising habit of consuming their own feces. Some animals eat dirt to facilitate digestion and nutrient absorption, and others nibble on bones for much the same reason. Hares and rabbits are famous for making the most out of their plantbased diets by eating their food twice—the second time being when they eat their own feces. They produce two different types of feces: a soft kind they can eat and reabsorb the nutrients, and a hard kind they can’t eat.

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Another small mammal you may encounter on a night safari is the springhare—which, despite the name, is not actually related to hares and rabbits, but rather belongs to the rodent order. There are two species of springhare, both of which are most likely to be seen in the more arid areas of east and southern Africa. These large, energetic rodents can often be seen bounding through the African bush on a night drive. They resemble miniature kangaroos and are a favorite of safari-goers.

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Many people think that the animal known as the hyrax also belongs to the rodent order, but that’s a misconception. Hyraxes, also called dassies, are actually in their own order and are not in fact closely related to rodents. The rock hyrax lives in areas of rocky outcrops, cliff faces, and vegetated boulders. Tree hyraxes, on the other hand, prefer trees.

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All hyraxes are smallish, rotund, and pale grayish-brown in color. They have tough, padded feet that are constantly moist and sticky enough to cling to the rocks and trees, helping them easily scale smooth surfaces. They eat mostly grass and browsing material and sometimes fruit and seeds, and they are frequently seen warming themselves in the early morning sunlight. These colony creatures live in groups dominated by a single male with a host of females and are not likely to be seen alone.

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Much smaller than the 10-pound hyraxes are the squirrels of the safari world. There are ground squirrels and tree squirrels to look out for, depending on what part of Africa you’re in. Both are highly capable of climbing trees and moving fast on the ground, and both have bushy tails. But they also have distinct characteristics that we can use to tell them apart.

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Tree squirrels, also called bush squirrels, occur throughout east and central Africa and in the northern parts of South Africa. The most likely species to be seen is the Smith’s bush squirrel, which have yellowish fur and are about a foot in length—half body, half tail. They have larger hind legs than forelegs, and their toes are equipped with claws, which are useful for their tree-climbing habits. Ground squirrels are much larger, with an extra half of a foot on the tree squirrel and weighing more than two pounds. They also have claws, which they use for digging up roots and bulbs to eat, and their color is light brown rather than the yellow of the Smith’s bush squirrel.

THE WEASEL FAMILY

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Africa has two species that closely resemble the skunk: the striped polecat and the striped weasel. Both are very rarely seen, nocturnal, and solitary animals with black-and-white fur and defensive anal secretions that are released when an individual feels threatened. Despite the similarities between these African species and skunks, taxonomists classify skunks in the Mephitidae family, whereas the two African species are placed in the Mustelidae, or weasel, family.

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Striped polecats are slightly larger than striped weasels at about a foot in length, and while the weasel has a distinctly badger-like face, the polecat’s face more closely resembles that of a mongoose. The polecat also has three white spots on its face: one above each eye and one in between them. Both species have long, conspicuous, bushy tails, which hide their most potent defense mechanism. While these carnivores of the night are both equipped with sharp claws and teeth, they use a highly noxious spray from their anal glands to keep predators at bay.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Sharing a family classification with these two nocturnal critters is the most unlikely weasel of all: the otter. Otters are at home in the watery regions of Africa, living in rivers, lakes, estuaries, and seas. There are four species of otter in Africa, and all are facing the dire challenge of habitat loss despite their broad distribution. As a result of this challenge, their populations are decreasing.

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If you’re exceedingly lucky, you might spot a rare smaller mammal while on a night safari: the pangolin. This scaly denizen of the night belongs to an order called Pholidota and comprises four African species; the only one you might be fortunate enough to encounter, however, is the ground pangolin.

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Also called the scaly anteater, the ground pangolin actually feeds on termites and not ants. It has a long tail and nose, and its body is covered by numerous armored scales that offer it protection from predators. Its main defense strategy is to roll up in a tight ball to cover all its vulnerable areas with its armor.

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The presence of the ground pangolin—and that of other uniquely adapted animals, such as the clawless otter and the rock hyrax—demonstrates just how biodiverse the continent is. Safaris are all the richer for bringing us into contact with an abundance of these small mammals. t

Pangolins are one of the most illegally trafficked mammals in Africa. Unfortunately, their numbers are plummeting due to the demand for their scales in eastern traditional medicines. The unusual, almost reptilian features of the pangolin are yet another reminder of the astonishing range of wildlife that Africa has to offer.

SUGGESTED READING Estes, The Safari Companion. Kingdon, The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. Smithers, The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion.

ACTIVITIES 1. Try to name the differences between hares and rabbits. 2. Watch past episodes of Meerkat Manor and learn more about these fascinating creatures.

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AFRICA’S REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS LEC TURE 16 Reptiles and amphibians have been given a bad rap throughout history, and many people tend to avoid animals like snakes, lizards, toads, and frogs. However, reptiles and amphibians are as much a part of a visit to Africa as any other animals you’re likely to encounter on safari. This lecture explores some of the continent’s most impressive species.

CROCODILES

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The Nile crocodile is the second-largest crocodile in the world. Although several other smaller crocodile species exist in Africa, these are found in countries in West Africa where the safari industry is underdeveloped or nonexistent. The Nile crocodile, by contrast, occupies territories throughout much of the continent, including the lakes, rivers, and marshes of sub-Saharan Africa, where it shares its habitat with the hippopotamus.

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Crocodiles are carnivores, feeding mostly on fish, which they catch in their jaws using the element of surprise. Just like leopards on land, crocodiles are ambush predators in the water and need to get as close to their prey as possible before launching an attack. During the Great Migration of wildebeest, when millions of gnu and zebra stampede through river crossings, crocodiles lie in wait for a feast that happens once a year.

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These enormous, scaly reptiles are modern-day dinosaurs. Living for up to 100 years and occasionally exceeding 19 feet in length, crocodiles have changed very little from the way they looked 65 million years ago, when the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event wiped out roughly 80 percent of the animal species on earth. Crocodiles not only survived that event but have continued to thrive in the face of new threats over millions of years.

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Wherever there are large, warm river systems in Africa, you can bet there will be crocodiles. The banks along some of the continent’s great rivers are often full of basking crocs, sunning themselves with their mouths open. They can often be rather social and not specifically territorial, so it’s not uncommon to see many together.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Monitor lizards are the largest lizards in Africa, resembling Komodo dragons with their forked tongues, geometric scales, powerful tails, and unmistakable gait. Monitors are not aggressive unless provoked. These powerful reptiles use their long tails as powerful whips to scare off any potential predators, and even lions are known to heed the warning.

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Two species exist in Africa—the rock monitor and the water, or Nile, monitor—and they occupy just about all areas of the continent, avoiding only the Sahara, Namib, and Kalahari Deserts. These cunning reptiles will try to consume just about anything that can be swallowed; birds, small mammals, fish, and even baby crocodiles are all part of the monitor’s carnivorous diet.

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Water monitors are the more striking of the two, and you’ll stand the greatest chance of seeing one if you scan the rocky and sandy banks along rivers, where the monitor is likely to be sunning itself. When they are fully grown, water monitors can reach more than six or seven feet in length, including their tails.

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Rock monitors are bulkier and less slender than the water species, and their coloring is a duller gray-brown with yellowish markings, as opposed to the darker green and bright yellow of the water monitor. Rock monitors have more rounded snouts, and adults have a white patch of skin on their throats.

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SMALLER LIZARDS t

Africa’s many species of smaller lizards vary greatly in size, diet, and habitat. They can be organized into five broad groups: Old World lizards, also known as true lizards; skinks; agamas; geckos; and chameleons.

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Most true lizards have four well-developed legs, long tails that they can shed when threatened, claws on their feet, and tiny granular scales on their bodies. These lizards are active during the day and generally live on the ground or in trees but are not known for burrowing. There are sand lizards, tree lizards, rock lizards, and mountain lizards; some, such as the Namaqua sand lizard, are strikingly colored, particularly in breeding season.

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In comparison, skinks have tightly packed, smooth scales that appear almost iridescent in the light. They have almost nonexistent necks and smaller heads and eyes than Old World lizards. Many skinks are burrowers, which is why they have polished, aerodynamic scales. And some even have no eyes and reduced legs as an adaptation for squirming in the sand or soil. On safari in southern or East Africa, you might come across bicolored striped skinks and multicolored rainbow skinks. These reptiles are constantly on the hunt for small insects, which they pursue and grab with their wide-gaped mouths.

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The agamas are some of the most easily identifiable lizard families because they have prominent triangular heads, some of which are bright blue or red. They can grow to quite a size and have rather irregular scales, flattish or cylindrical bodies, and long tapering tails, which, unlike true lizards and skinks, cannot be shed. Agamas also have visible eyelids and are certainly among the flashiest and most decorated of reptiles. Males engage in mutual combat accompanied by elaborate, colorful displays, while females cryptically blend into the neutral color of the ground and tree trunks.

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Unlike most of Africa’s lizards, which are diurnal, many geckos, such as the common barking gecko, are nocturnal. This lizard family is unique because they have tiny hairs on their feet that enable them to grip smooth, vertical surfaces with ease. They also have exceptionally large eyes, which have no eyelids and are kept clean and moist by their soft, flat tongues.

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Chameleons are unmistakable and look nothing like the other members of the lizard family. Most notably, chameleons have large, protruding eyes that can move independently of one another. They have narrow, horizontally compressed bodies and prehensile tails that assist their arboreal lifestyle. With the ability to change coloration according to their surroundings, chameleons allow oblivious insects to come closer and closer before suddenly shooting out their long, sticky tongues and securing their prey.

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You’d be forgiven for thinking that Africa’s fast-moving, fanged snakes are incredibly dangerous—and, truthfully, they can be—but the fact is that there are hundreds of snake species in Africa and only a handful are actually deadly. Most African safari guides have the knowledge and experience to identify and handle the common snake species in the area, and they know which species should be given a wide berth.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The black mamba is one of the most venomous snakes in the world, and it is to be avoided without question. This large snake averages around eight feet in length and can grow as long as 13 feet in some cases. It is dark gray in color with a pale underbelly and dark eyes. Most significantly, the inside of the black mamba’s mouth is black. It eats birds, small reptiles, and mammals and is active during the day. It can move extremely quickly on the ground, and while it is not considered arboreal, it can easily climb trees.

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While the black mamba is the most feared of Africa’s snakes, puff adders are a close second. These chunky snakes are responsible for a large proportion of the total snakebites on the continent, primarily because they are well camouflaged and have a wide distribution. They are beautifully patterned, blending in exceptionally well with brown, beige, and yellow colorations, textured scales, and marble-like eyes. Puffies, as some safari guides call them, are stocky snakes with broad, triangular heads, and their technique is to ambush their prey.

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Out of the 150 snake species found in southern Africa, only 15 can be regarded as life-threatening.

The cobras of the world are notorious, and Africa has its fair share of cobra inhabitants. The most likely species to be encountered in the drier regions of southern Africa, especially the Kalahari, is the Cape cobra. This snake can appear in a wide variety of colors, from yellow to black. Cobras are classically identified as having the ability to raise a hood when threatened, and some species actively spit venom as a defense mechanism. They are large, heavy snakes with smooth scales that have varying patterns and colors even within a single species.

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The back-fanged boomslang and vine snakes have some of the most virulent hemotoxins known to man, but they are generally peaceful snakes that are very reluctant to bite. Additionally, due to their small fangs that are placed right at the back of their mouths, they normally need to bite a finger or an ear to inject any venom. Boomslangs are long, slender, bright-green snakes, and vine snakes are intricately patterned with very large eyes. Both species are almost entirely arboreal, spending most of their time high up in the canopy.

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Some safari-goers have been fortunate enough to come across one of the largest snakes in the world: the African rock python. This snake can reach lengths of 20 feet or more and a weight of 200 pounds in exceedingly large specimens. They are not venomous; instead, they kill their prey by constriction, gripping the head or neck with their jaws and then squeezing with ever-tightening coils around the body until the prey animal can no longer inhale.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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The snakes mentioned here are among the most dangerous on the continent, but their presence should not be a reason for avoiding Africa. Most safari lodges carry antivenom for the dangerous species found in their area, and many have aircraft on standby to get a victim to the hospital in good time. Leave snakes alone; don’t approach them or chase them off. Wear closed shoes and long trousers at night or if walking in the bush. Don’t reach into dark crevices or tree trunks, as these are often the favorite lairs of many snake species.

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Tortoises are fairly commonly encountered on safari, and there is one species in particular that is the most likely species to be found. The leopard tortoise is the fourth-largest tortoise species in the world and is named for its attractive patterning, which is particularly visible in younger individuals. It can grow in excess of 80 pounds in rare cases and is a truly impressive sight on any safari.

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In areas where there is abundant water, watch out for the different species of terrapins that can often be seen sunning themselves on the banks of rivers or on protruding structures in ponds and lagoons. Terrapins share their watery domains with a large variety of amphibians.

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If you are staying near a waterhole or pan on your safari, you will be delighted by the nocturnal frog chorus. Some of these nocturnal musicians have enchanting names like bubbling kassinas, tinker reed frogs, and whistling rain frogs. There are too many species to list here, but if you’re interested in frogs, there are some excellent field guides that you can bring with you.

SUGGESTED READING Alexander and Marais, A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa. Channing, Amphibians of Central and Southern Africa.

ACTIVITIES 1. Visit a pond or watery habitat close to where you live at night in the summer. Listen for the sounds of frogs and try to identify them. 2. Research how many species of snakes exist in the world. Now research how many of those are venomous and dangerous to humans. Put this figure into a percentage.

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KEY BIRDS OF AFRICA LEC TURE 17 From the gigantic ostrich to tiny iridescent sunbirds to multicolored bee-eaters and bizarre hornbills, the birds of Africa are an indispensable ingredient to a successful and enjoyable African safari. This lecture takes a look at the fascinating world of Africa’s birdlife and provides some mind-blowing facts about the world of birds.

BIRDING TIPS

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A good pair of binoculars is key to spotting Africa’s many bird species. More dedicated birders might also bring spotting scopes, tripods, and sound equipment.

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The most common mistake that people make when trying to use binoculars is the following: They will see a bird and then look down to locate their binoculars, taking their eyes off the subject before trying to relocate it through the binoculars. In most cases, this is next to impossible due to the increased magnification. The best way to view a bird through binoculars is to keep your eyes locked on the bird, feel for your binoculars without taking your eyes off the bird, and raise them straight up to your eyes.

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Binoculars with a wide field of view are recommended, with 8×42 being optimal. The 8 refers to the magnification; in other words, the image will appear eight times closer than normal. The 42 refers to the diameter in millimeters of the objective lens. The greater this number is, the more light is allowed into the binocular; a higher number leads to much better light transmission, and this results in a brighter image, especially in low-light conditions.

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In addition to packing a good pair of binoculars, bring a great field guide to the birds of the area you are visiting. There are many different options here, but try to limit the scope to the exact region you are visiting. If you are technologically savvy, you will probably want to invest in an African bird identification app.

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BIRDS OF PREY t

Africa’s dazzling variety of raptors, or birds of prey, includes eagles, falcons, hawks, kestrels, owls, and vultures. These are the predators and undertakers of Africa’s skies, and they come in all sizes, shapes, and forms. Each has developed unique strategies for surviving.

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The bizarre secretary bird can be found in southern and East Africa and is the striding predator of Africa’s open areas. Although some debate surrounds the origin of its name, one theory is that it is named for the 20 distinctive black crest feathers, resembling quill pens stuck behind their (invisible) ears, much in the manner of secretaries of a bygone era. Their two incredibly long central tail streamers resemble the tailcoats that many of the—mostly male— secretaries wore in those days.

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The largest of the diurnal raptors besides the secretary bird and the vulture is the eagle. Typically, eagles have long, broad wings, with deeply slotted primary feathers that resemble long fingers, and feathered legs. There are more than 20 African species that include true eagles, snake eagles, hawk eagles, and African fish eagles. jj The African fish eagle, with its clearly defined white, black, and rufous plumage, is likely to be seen on any safari where there is water. Its call is one of the signature sounds of Africa, and its swooping dives to pluck large fish from the water have delighted many a safari guest. jj The largest and most powerful eagle in Africa is the martial eagle. This massive bird feeds mainly on small mammals, ground birds like guineafowl, and water monitors, but it has even been known to prey on animals the size of small antelope. Their large size renders them unmistakable. jj The second-largest eagle in Africa is the aptly named crowned eagle. Beautifully patterned with rufous, white, and black markings, these birds have very broad, relatively short wings and long tails that are used for maneuvering through their forested habitats, where they hunt predominantly monkeys, especially the common vervet monkey. jj One species of eagle that is unmistakable both in flight and when perched is the gorgeous bateleur eagle. This striking bird has a very diagnostic black-and-white plumage and a distinctive large head with a red bill and large eyes. In flight, it can be readily identified by its rocking and rolling pattern.

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Vultures are the aerial undertakers of the African bush. These birds are Old World vultures and are not closely related to the New World vulture species of the Americas. Vultures sometimes get a bad rap, but they are a vital part of the health of Africa’s ecosystems, keeping the environment free of rotting carcasses that can carry disease. They are also among Africa’s most imperiled groups of birds, with thousands poisoned and hunted every year across the continent.

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There is no better-known African bird species than the ostrich. But many people don’t realize that there are actually two species of ostrich: the common ostrich and the Somali ostrich. That’s understandable, though— because most visitors to Africa will only see the much more widely distributed common ostrich.

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Another group of largely terrestrial birds likely to appear during a safari are the spurfowl, francolin, and guineafowl. You might also see some of Africa’s large host of waterbirds—from ducks to flamingos to herons—and a massive diversity of shorebirds. Spoonbills, various species of ibis, and two species of pelican call the continent home.

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Arguably the most beautiful and impressive of the African storks is the saddle-billed stork. Standing almost five feet tall and with distinctive black-and-white plumage, the saddle-billed stork is easy to distinguish from the marabou stork, which has the dubious reputation of being one of the world’s ugliest birds. These giant storks are often found in the company of vultures feeding on carcasses and have even been known to frequent dumping sites in more urban areas.

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Two species of flamingo occur in Africa: the lesser and greater flamingo. The East African lakes, Swakopmund and Walvis Bay in Namibia, and parts of the Cape are the best places to view these aweinspiring birds. And when it comes to the egrets and herons, Africa has its fair share—from the huge goliath heron, standing five feet tall, to the tiny dwarf bittern that could fit snuggly in a large coffee mug.

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While most people associate parrots with South America and Australia, Africa also has a wide variety of these inquisitive and intelligent birds. The well-known African gray parrot is actually very threatened in Africa and is unlikely to be seen on safari, as it inhabits the thick forests of central and west Africa. But watch out for tiny lovebirds and noisy and widespread Meyer’s parrots with their bright-yellow shoulder epaulets.

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The turacos are a uniquely African order of birds. Their 23 species range from the dull-gray goaway bird to the brightly colored purple-crested turaco. Unlike the gray variety, most turacos have bright-red wings and bright-green bodies.

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The eight species of wood hoopoes and the closely related scimitarbills are endemic to Africa. They are both slender birds with long bills and tails, but the wood hoopoes are generally more brightly colored and occur in groups rather than individuals or pairs. The most likely species to be seen are the green wood hoopoe and the common scimitarbill.

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Although there are many species of honeyguides represented in Africa, the most likely species to be encountered are the greater and lesser honeyguides. The greater honeyguide is well known for its incredible behavior of guiding humans to wild beehives. These birds will actively seek out local humans and chatter excitedly until the human follows them to the source of the honey.

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Sunbirds are among the most beautiful and endearing of Africa’s birds. Resembling hummingbirds with their long bills, these birds are also mostly nectar feeders. Like the hummingbirds of the New World, they are also well represented by a huge variety of species; more than 80 species can be found on the African continent.

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Shrikes are small but bold predatory birds that are well represented in Africa. Most shrike species are solitary or found in pairs, and some are among the most colorful birds on the continent. Two of the more charismatic species that may be encountered on safari include the spectacular crimson-breasted shrike and the gray-headed bush shrike, sometimes referred to as the spookvoel or ghostbird.

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Invest in a good bird guide, do your research before setting out, and keep your eyes peeled when you hit the ground in Africa. Woodpeckers, larks, cisticolas, cuckoos, and flycatchers are just some of the additional families of African birds to keep an eye out for.

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Weavers are industrious birds that are well known for their intricate and complicated nests. Almost 80 species of sparrowweavers and weavers exist in Africa, and with this diversity comes an amazing variety of different nest designs.

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Widowbirds and whydahs are sexually dimorphic birds, especially in the summer months, when males will display with their ridiculously long tails to the drab-brown females. Look for the common pin-tailed whydah and the long-tailed widowbird. Closely related to the widowbirds are the bishops.

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The lilac-breasted roller is arguably the most photographed bird in Africa, and countless photographers have sat waiting patiently to capture its bright-blue wings in flight. Other beautiful roller species include the broad-billed roller, the purple roller, and the European roller, which is a common migrant from up north.

SUGGESTED READING Kennedy, Birds of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Loon and Loon, Birds. Pickford, Pickford, and Tarboton, Southern African Birds of Prey. Sinclair and Ryan, Birds of Africa South of the Sahara.

QUESTIONS 1. Approximately how many species of birds can be found on the African continent? 2. What countries comprise “southern Africa” in the context of bird field guides?

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TOP BIRDING SPOTS OF SOUTHERN AND EAST AFRICA LEC TURE 18 Some people visit Africa with the express purpose of seeing birds. With approximately 25 percent of the planet’s bird species, Africa is a mustvisit continent for anyone interested in avian diversity. This lecture examines some of the continent’s top birding destinations, focusing in particular on southern Africa, Kenya, and Tanzania—three locations that also offer traditional safari experiences.

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Right at the tip of the African continent is arguably the best birding city on the continent: Cape Town. It also happens to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and its surrounding areas are home to the vast majority of the species endemic to the country of South Africa. These are iconic bird species, such as the Cape sugarbird, the Cape rockjumper, and the Knysna warbler.

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Table Mountain National Park and Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden offer a perfect introduction to the Cape’s birding. Cape spurfowl, helmeted guineafowl, various species of brightly colored sunbird, paradise flycatchers, and the elusive Knysna warbler call this area home. And the scenery within the park and the gardens are arguably some of the most breathtaking in the world.

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Boulders Beach is well known for its colony of African penguins. There are so many here that it’s hard to believe that they are relatively recent arrivals. In fact, the first pair nested here in the 1980s. These days, there are several thousand penguins that nest all over the beach and even in the gardens of the local residents.

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Rooi-Els is arguably the most accessible site close to Cape Town for the legendary Cape rockjumper, a name that correctly conjures up images of boulder-hopping creatures. These birds constantly find themselves on the most-wanted list of pretty much every visiting birder. Cape rockjumpers are typically found at relatively high altitudes, but here, the birds sometimes descend to sea level.

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About an hour’s drive north of Cape Town is the magnificent West Coast National Park. From a birding perspective, this park is best known for its staggering numbers of migrant shorebirds that are easily viewable from several well-appointed bird hides. It is also one of the better sites to see the black harrier, the southern black korhaan, and the strangely named yellow-and-black bokmakierie.

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Inland from West Coast National Park is the vast expanse of the Karoo, a semidesert region that is home to a suite of birds that is specially adapted to living in this drier environment. Here, the coastal species are replaced by highly sought-after birds, such as the Karoo korhaan, Burchell’s courser, cinnamon-breasted warbler, and Karoo eremomela.

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Kruger National Park is separated from many other top wildlife areas by the ease it can be accessed by birders on an independent basis. The vast park provides a safe haven for many of Africa’s larger and more iconic bird species, such as saddle-billed storks, martial eagles, southern ground hornbills, and kori bustards. Colorful smaller species are also well represented, with rollers, bee-eaters, and kingfishers of various hues and sizes.

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The Punda Maria Rest Camp in particular is an excellent location to scan buffalo herds for these amazing birds that feed on ticks and parasites on larger herbivores. Other range-restricted species to watch out for include the African finfoot, Retz’s helmet shrike, brown-headed parrot, and Senegal lapwing.

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Neighboring South Africa to the west is the dry country of Namibia, which only has one true endemic bird: the dune lark. However, the country also boasts almost 20 near-endemic species whose ranges are almost entirely restricted to Namibia. Southern Namibia, in particular the Sossusvlei area, is the home of the dune lark. Look for these handsome birds at the bases of some of the largest red dunes in the world. Near-endemic species to look out for here include Ludwig’s bustard and Rüppell’s korhaan.

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To the east of Namibia is Botswana. What this landlocked country lacks in endemic birds it more than makes up for in accessibility of tough species, numbers of birds, and the overall wildlife experience. This breathtaking part of the world is home to a dazzling array of bird species, including many species in the Okavango Delta, such as Pel’s fishing owl, the slaty egret, and the wattled crane. Around 40 percent of all land in Botswana is under conservation either as wilderness areas, game reserves, or national parks.

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Bordering Botswana to the east is Zimbabwe, one of Africa’s foremost birding countries. Zimbabwe has recorded around 700 bird species. While the country has no true endemics, Robert’s warbler, Chirinda apalis, and Swynnerton’s robin are unlikely to be seen anywhere else. The country is also famous for its regular sightings of that most wanted of birds: the African pitta.

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Hwange National Park and Mana Pools National Park are the most visited safari destinations in Zimbabwe, and the birds here will not disappoint. Well known for its great diversity of raptors, including African hobby and Dickinson’s kestrel, Hwange is also a good place to see rare bird species, such as the beautiful racket-tailed roller and the ground-dwelling three-banded courser.

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Although Zambia is a fairly established African safari destination, it is probably even better recognized as a premier birding location. Kafue National Park, in the center of the country, and the eastern Bangweulu Swamp are arguably the best places to see the holy grail of African birding: the prehistoric-looking shoebill.

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To seek out Kenya’s rarest and endemic birds, a keen birder needs to move beyond the well-visited national parks and venture into lesser-known territory. Arabuko-Sokoke Forest, near the coastal town of Malindi, tops the list and features many threatened and highly localized bird species, such as the Sokoke scops owl, Sokoke pipit, and spotted ground thrush. The forest is also home to the largest single population of east coast akalat, Amani sunbird, and the endemic Clarke’s weaver.

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In western Kenya, Kakamega Forest features spectacular rainforest species like hornbills and turacos, including the incredible great blue turaco. About 194 forest-dependent species call Kakamega home, including an estimated 45 species found nowhere else in the country. Large raptors like crowned eagles and banded snake eagles abound here. But it’s not only known for larger bird species. The tiny, endangered Turner’s eremomela lives here, as does the highly sought-after African green broadbill and the globally threatened Chapin’s flycatcher. With luck, even the charismatic and famously intelligent African gray parrot may be seen.

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There are many other excellent birding sites in Kenya: The Taita Hills, near Voi, are home to the beautiful Taita thrush, the tiny Taita white-eye, and the Taita apalis, all of which are classified by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as either critically endangered or endangered. The Aberdare Range north of Nairobi is seldom visited other than by birders; the national park features some basic accommodations, and guides are available. The endangered Sharpe’s longclaw and the vulnerable Aberdare cisticola live in the highland grasslands near the Aberdare mountains. Nearby Mount Kenya also offers excellent high-altitude birding.

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Mount Kenya produces a treasure trove of forest species, including the elusive scaly francolin, eastern bronze-naped pigeon, dusky turtledove, white-headed wood hoopoe, and golden-winged sunbird. Raptors are especially well represented on the mountain, such as the Eleonora’s falcon, the northern hobby, the Montague’s and pallid harriers, and even the occasional lammergeier.

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The scarce and threatened papyrus yellow warbler can be found in papyrus swamps on the shores of Lake Victoria, along with special birds like the papyrus gonolek, white-winged warbler, and papyrus canary. These are all species that are adapted to specifically living in papyrus swamps.

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Tanzania has its fair share of East Africa’s birding diversity. Like Kenya, the traditionally visited parks, such as the Ngorongoro Crater and the Serengeti, are obvious treasure troves for East African birding. Tarangire National Park has recorded more than 500 species and is an excellent location to see some of East Africa’s endemic species, such as rufoustailed weavers, ashy starlings, and yellow-collared lovebirds. And don’t forget the pink hue of Lake Manyara, with its many thousands of flamingos and pelicans.

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Situated in the south of the country, the Selous Game Reserve is a haven for birds. Embarking on a boat safari on the Rufiji River allows close viewing of the reserve’s many waterbirds, including large numbers of African skimmer.

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By far the most special birding in Tanzania can be found in the Eastern Arc Mountains, sometimes called the sky islands in reference to the fact that each is physically separated from the others. These mountains are thought to be the oldest in Africa, and the isolation of each mountain range has led to a great deal of endemism.

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The Udzungwa Mountains west of Dar es Salaam have forest reserves that hold species such as the Udzungwa partridge, dappled mountain robin, and Sharpe’s akalat. Besides the great birding, a trip to Udzungwa Mountains National Park should include a hike to the spectacular Sanje waterfalls.

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In Tanzania, great local birding guides are available for hire from the villages of Lushoto or Mambo. t

The Uluguru Mountains are located about halfway between Udzungwa and Dar es Salaam and are the only locality for the endemic Uluguru bush shrike and Loveridge’s sunbird. In addition to these localized bird species, visiting birders should keep an eye out for Abbott’s duiker, one of the rarest African antelopes.

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The Usambara Mountains are a relict patch of the great tropical forests that once covered Africa from east to west. A handful of endemic birds exist here, such as the Usambara alethe and Usambara weaver. A night excursion to see the Usambara eagle owl is highly recommended, although sightings of this rare bird are by no means guaranteed.

SUGGESTED READING Chittenden, Top Birding Spots in Southern Africa. Cohen and Spottiswoode, Essential Birding. Cohen, Spottiswoode, and Rossouw, Southern African Birdfinder.

ACTIVITIES 1. Make a top-five list of the birding destinations that appeal to you most. 2. List the top 10 African birds that you would most like to see on a visit to the continent and figure out where you’d go to see them.

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AFRICA’S TREES, PLANTS, AND FLOWERS LEC TURE 19 It’s one thing to be able to recognize the animal stars of a safari or to test your knowledge of Africa’s birds, but identifying some of the common botanical species will really bring your safari experience together. To get you started, this lecture identifies some of Africa’s common tree and plant families and examines their cultural significance.

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The vegetative landscapes of Africa can be loosely divided into forest, grassland, savanna, desert, wetland, and floral kingdoms. Each of these biomes is made up of plants that are suited to the levels of rainfall, soil types, and exposure to heat, cold, and fire. Depending on where your safari takes you, there are a few key plant species that you should learn to identify.

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Some of the most popular safaris are conducted in the savanna biome, where fertile soils and seasonal rainfall have created the perfect habitat for herbivores and carnivores. For the most part, this is the habitat of South Africa’s Kruger National Park and of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, and Kenya. Through the central belt of the continent is the tropical rainforest, and in the southwestern and northern areas are the deserts. All these locations have something different to offer in terms of vegetation.

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Trees are incredibly diverse and complex, and there are thousands of species and subspecies occurring throughout Africa. Some have fruit, while others have seedpods; some have spindly branches, while others are thick and fleshy. If there is one tree that epitomizes an African safari, it is the umbrella thorn. This iconic African tree belongs to the African acacia group of trees and is shaped just as its name describes: like an umbrella.

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Silhouetted against a deep orange sky on the open savanna, the umbrella thorn acacia is the quintessential image of Africa. It is drought-resistant and thrives in semiarid thornveld and woodland as well as in the Kalahari. It has a flattened, broad canopy that provides plenty of shade for the animals that gather beneath it, and it is armed with sharp thorns that are typical of the African acacia family.

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Despite its spiky appearance, the umbrella thorn produces leaves and pods that are nutritious and favored by browsing animals such as giraffe, impala, and eland, and its intricate branches are a great place for birds to build their nests.

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Africans have traditionally used the inner bark of the umbrella thorn to make rope, and its trunk and branches are popular for building furniture. t

Another member of the African acacia group occurring throughout southern and East Africa is the knob thorn. Its name refers to the trunk and branches, which are covered in knobs that end in hooked thorns. It can grow up to 70 feet tall and has a network of branches and small, circular leaves that start low to the trunk. In the spring, the knob thorn comes alive with fluffy ivory-colored flowers, and its pods are popular among elephants, giraffes, monkeys, and other animals with a mixed diet.

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Fever trees are also a member of the acacias and are some of the fastestgrowing thorn trees in the subcontinent. Like most acacias, they’re popular among bird species that weave their nests in between the thorns, where their eggs will be safe from predators. Quite unlike any other tree in Africa, the fever tree has an instantly recognizable greenish-yellow bark. The Zulu name for the fever tree is umkhanyakude, which means “shines from far,” an apt description for the glow that the trees give off in a setting or rising sun.

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Since the earliest days of our species, humans have experimented with the medicinal uses of trees—indeed, the vast majority of our modern medicines come from trees and plants—so it’s no surprise that some of the common trees you’ll find on safari are used to treat physical ailments. The combretums are trees characterized by winged pods, and they are widely used in traditional medicine.

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Some of the greatest and most recognizable African trees are the figs. Characterized by pale, smooth bark, fig trees come in various shapes and sizes, but all of them have tiny flowers, which are found inside fleshy receptacles disguised as fruit. Sycamore figs grow as tall as 70 feet, and their trunks have a wide girth, fixed to the ground solidly by a powerful root system that protects the tree from being shoved over by elephants. Sycamore figs bear fruity flowers year-round, and their small, round bulbs are feasted on by a great variety of birds and animals.

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Besides the sycamore fig, other members of the Ficus genus include the rock fig, which roots itself in flat rocks, round boulders, and cracks in cliff faces. Like other figs, this tree has pale, smooth bark and large, simple leaves and exudes a milky latex, which is traditionally used to remove warts. The powerful rock-splitting roots of this fig can clamber and channel their way to water for some 200 feet. It is hardly surprising that a concoction from the bark is taken by some tribal men as a strengthening tonic.

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Africa’s famous baobab trees are often humorously referred to as upsidedown trees. These tall, thick-trunked trees have long been the subject of folklore. The fruit of a baobab arrives in the African fall and is encased in a large velvety pod. Popular among baboons and humans alike, the baobab fruit has many medicinal benefits.

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The baobab fruit is a vital ingredient in modern-day beauty products and is globally recognized as a nutrient-rich superfood.

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In general, shrubs are smaller than trees, but this isn’t always accurate. A shrub is a plant that has multiple woody stems growing out of the ground, whereas trees mostly have a single main trunk. In between the leadwoods and fig trees of the savanna lie scattered shrubs that are as much a part of the ecosystem as the larger vegetation. In desert landscapes like the Namib, the arid floor is sparsely populated with drought-resistant shrubs and succulents that are designed to retain water in their stems.

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One of the most unusual of the desert plants is the Welwitschia. It is endemic to the Namib, where it exists in the fog belt for about 600 miles along the Skeleton Coast. The Welwitschia is admired by botanists and scientists all over the world. This semisucculent plant looks like a mop of tattered, waxy leaves on the ground, but in fact, it only has two leaves that split over time. Each plant can live for more than a thousand years, surviving off the moisture from the famous coastal fog.

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The potato bush is widespread in Africa, so it’s a shrub that safarigoers in various regions are likely to encounter. A medium-sized shrub, the potato bush has many long, slender branches that are dense with alternating leaves. Small, berrylike fruit grows on each leaf stem, starting out green and ripening to a dark purple. There are also tiny yellowish flowers that bloom in the spring and open in the early evening.

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The magic guarri is another shrub that has many uses to local people. Its scientific name, Euclea divinorum, refers to the significance of this plant to traditional healers, otherwise known as sangomas. The wood of the magic guarri is almost never used as firewood by local people because it is considered too useful as a powerful water-divining tool.

Many people hang branches of magic guarri at their front doors to keep evil spirits at bay, and those who are looking for riches see this shrub as a good indicator of gold deposits underground.

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Many of Africa’s trees and shrubs have beautiful seasonal flowers. In the springtime, the landscape flushes with color and the trees take on a whole new identity. Sjambok pods have bright-yellow blooms, wisterias turn purple, and the weeping boer-beans sprout rich red flowers that attract many species of sunbirds and other nectar-seeking animals.

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Other plants flower throughout the year or reserve their most attractive forms for winter. The impala lily is one of these—a semisucculent with waxy green leaves and bright-pink-and-white star-shaped flowers. In fact, the safari landscape is home to a broad array of wildflowers, including orchids, aloes, and lilies.

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There is one place in Africa that stands out as a worldclass destination for viewing wildflowers, and that is the Cape Floral Region at the southernmost tip of the continent. This region is one of only six recognized floral kingdoms in the world, with an estimated 9,000 plant species concentrated in a surprisingly small area. It is by far the smallest of the world’s declared floral kingdoms, but it is significantly valuable in terms of biodiversity, and about 70 percent of the species growing there are endemic.

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South Africa’s national flower is the magnificent king protea, and the Cape Floral Region abounds with proteas and pincushions. But these spectacular plants live among other world-renowned floral families. There is so much to see in South Africa, including the many species that comprise the fynbos, renosterbos, and succulent plant communities. The varied landscapes of the floral region encompass mountains, valleys, vleis, and beaches, and the associated wildlife just adds to the appeal.

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The parks and reserves visited on safari are defined by the makeup of their vegetation. We wouldn’t be able to enjoy the herds of ungulates or the flocks of birds without the presence of the acacias, combretums, or fynbos. Africa’s flowers, shrubs, and trees thrive in areas that nourish them uniquely, and in turn, they attract the species that rely on them to survive. It’s amazing to consider how all the pieces of nature’s puzzle fit together and how vitally important the leaves, fruit, branches, and roots have been for generations of humans and animals alike.

SUGGESTED READING Manning, First Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Southern Africa. Palgrave, Trees of Southern Africa. Pooley, First Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa.

ACTIVITIES 1. Go to your local nursery and find out which plants come from Africa. You might be surprised to find a number of species that are popular in gardens outside of the African continent. 2. Go to your local nursery and ask them if you can take a clipping of an African bush or tree. Take that clipping back home and use the key in Palgraves’s Trees of Southern Africa to try to identify the species of tree or shrub.

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ISLAND AND BEACH SAFARIS LEC TURE 20 Africa is most famous for its rugged terrain, wild animals, and luxury safari destinations, but fewer people know that it has world-class beaches, wildlife-rich islands, exceptional scuba diving, and some of the world’s best surfing breaks. Combining a classic safari experience with an island or beach destination is a popular way to explore the natural wonders of both the savanna and the sea.

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Madagascar is located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mozambique. It is the fourth-largest island in the world, and it is widely recognized as having some of the most unique flora and fauna on the planet. Having broken off from the mainland millions of years ago, the island boasts landscapes, plant life, insects, and animals that have evolved on their own. There are butterflies of every color and chameleons that range from the size of your fingernail to the size of your arm. You’ll also find a dazzling array of orchids and birds.

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Eerie yet alluring, this mysterious island has only recently emerged on the tourist map. As recently as the 1990s, the only way to travel through Madagascar was to seriously rough it; there was very little tourism infrastructure across the country.

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The situation today is very different; visitors have the opportunity to traverse Madagascar on guided tours, stay in quality accommodations, and discover the many secrets of this megadiverse island. Still, this is a destination that requires a sense of adventure and is most popular with travelers who are keen hikers, birders, divers, and nature lovers.

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The whole eastern stretch of the island is the wet rainforest region. Much of its original expanse was wiped out by deforestation and logging, but the remaining forest is now protected in parks and reserves, and it has numerous lemur inhabitants. These are Old World primates that predate monkeys, baboons, and gorillas. The lemurs are relatives of the bush babies and pottos, but because Madagascar broke away from Africa millions of years ago, they evolved independently of their mainland cousins.

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Around half of the world’s chameleon species are found on Madagascar, including the world’s largest species—the Malagasy giant chameleon, which is the longest, and the Parson’s chameleon, which averages largest in weight— and the world’s smallest species, Brookesia micra. And the numerous chameleon species are just some of the more than 300 reptile species that inhabit the island. Scientists have also identified more than 80 species of snake on Madagascar, and amazingly, none are dangerous to humans.

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The island’s largest native carnivore is the fossa, which used to be classified as a cat but has since been reclassified as a member of the mongoose family. It has sharp claws and canines, and it hunts lemurs in the trees. Like a leopard, it is an ambush predator, but it is also adept at chasing the arboreal primates through the treetop. The best place to see the fantastic fossa is on the dry west coast in Kirindy Reserve.

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Birding tours dedicated to finding specific species in unique habitats are popular on Madagascar, and birders from all around the world flock to the island with binoculars and reference books at the ready. Even if you’re visiting a national park to see lemurs and lizards, you’ll benefit from having a basic knowledge of which feathered creatures to look out for.

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Madagascar is the ultimate destination if you’re looking to explore the land, trek through canyons, and climb through dense forests. But the wonders continue offshore. Madagascar has more than 3,000 miles of coastline, and the nation includes 250 small islands surrounded by some incredible coral reefs.

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There are whales and sharks and turtles that breed in Madagascan waters. Nosy Be in the northwest and the Île Sainte-Marie in the east are two popular beach destinations for whale watching and coral reef explorations. If you’re into refined, somewhat Westernized, pearly-white beaches with expensive cocktails, Nosy Be is the place to be. For a laidback, rustic, local beach experience, Sainte-Marie is much less popular and a little more natural.

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The Seychelles, situated northeast of Madagascar, is a chain of remote and idyllic islands that have made an incredible comeback from the havoc wreaked by the long reach of the human arm.

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Of the 155 named islands in the Seychelles archipelago, Mahé is the largest, and it’s the gateway to all the surrounding islands. It has all you need in terms of shops, restaurants, hotels, and activities, but it’s when you venture to the surrounding islands that you find the real magic of the Seychelles.

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As with Madagascar, many Seychelles islands were severely deforested and cultivated for economic gain. In the case of North Island, mass plantations of coconut palms wiped out the indigenous trees and plant species. Without the correct habitat combined with the introduction of invasive species, animal and bird numbers were severely depleted, and some species died out entirely.

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Today, North Island is flourishing with original Seychelles species, and nature has been restored to an amazing extent. Once alien plant and animal species were removed, a period of intense gardening, growing, and replanting took place to repopulate the island with its natural vegetation. The success of this project meant the renewed presence of the highly endangered Seychelles white-eye and the Seychelles blue pigeon, among other birds.

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Restoration efforts also brought the return of the hawksbill and green turtles that once again lay their eggs on the shores. These turtles are critically endangered, and North Island is one of their most important nesting sites.

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North Island has become one of the leading ecotourism establishments of the Indian Ocean, and combining a Serengeti safari with scuba diving and kayaking off the beaches of North Island is a deeply satisfying way to explore both the land and the sea of tropical Africa. The underwater conditions are tremendous, with many different dive sites to explore.

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For birders, the Seychelles is an important location for seabirds and migratory birds. When North Island was rehabilitated, wedge-tailed shearwaters and white-tailed tropic birds returned to the island and are making a strong comeback. Aride Island is the mile-long home to more kinds of seabirds than on all the other islands combined. And Bird Island, a remote islet, hosts enormous populations of birds, including a spectacular colony of sooty terns.

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The Outer Islands of the Seychelles chain are far-flung from the main cluster and are so biodiverse that they are reserved for research and scientific discovery. The Aldabra Atoll has long been protected from the impact of humans, and today it is one of the world’s largest and most scenic collections of coral reefs. Most notably, the atoll houses the greatest population of giant Aldabra tortoises on the planet—some 150,000 of them, each weighing between 350 and 550 pounds.

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The islands of the Seychelles are also home to the Seychelles flying fox, known to some as the Seychelles fruit bat. These winged mammals are very important for seed dispersal on the granitic islands. This species can also be found on Mafia Island off the Tanzanian coast to the west. On the larger islands with good tree coverage, the upside-down flying foxes can be seen hanging and chattering in groups. When they take flight, their wings open to a span of 40 inches.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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To visit Madagascar and the Seychelles is to experience the distinctive flora and fauna of lands cut off from the rest of the world by miles and miles of ocean. But closer to home, on the seafloor and sandy shores of the African continent itself, there is plenty of oceanic beauty that will complement any land-based safari.

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From the eastern coast of South Africa to the Red Sea of Egypt, there are stretches of beach that are full of sunbathers, surfers, and divers enjoying the temperate Indian Ocean in the shade of palm trees. The safari scene in southern and East Africa can easily be paired with a seaside finale—it’s just a matter of choosing where to pitch your beach umbrella.

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The beaches of Mozambique are some of the finest and most affordable in southern Africa. The people speak Portuguese, and the favorite local drink is an easygoing rum, which is often served in a hollowedout coconut. It is a rural country full of swaying palms and quaint seaside villages.

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Mozambique’s Quirimbas Archipelago is a preserved cluster of islands surrounded by diverse reef systems. The mangroves and seagrasses create the ideal habitat for large marine herbivores called dugongs. Very similar to manatees, these blubbery creatures are just one of the reasons that the Quirimbas islands are a special haven for diving enthusiasts.

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Benguerra Island is another pristine Mozambican location for diving and beaching. Waters are calm, warm, and crystal clear, making the diving experience exceptional, and life on land isn’t so bad either. Just offshore from southern Mozambique, Benguerra can be easily tied in with a safari in southern Africa. Horseback riding on the private island, picnics on the beach, and diving with manta rays and turtles in undisturbed waters are perfect coastal offerings.

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Farther north, Zanzibar and Tanzania’s Mafia Island are perhaps the most popular beach safari spots because of the close proximity to the Serengeti, Ngorongoro Crater, and Maasai Mara. Perhaps the most incredible aspect of scuba diving off Mafia Island is the seasonal presence of the 20-ton whale sharks that arrive between October and February each year.

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South of Mozambique, off the tropical coast of South Africa’s KwaZuluNatal, a spot called Aliwal Shoal is one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. Here, divers will find one of the few places on earth where tiger sharks, bull sharks, and oceanic blacktips can be encountered without a protective cage. If you’re looking for a heart-racing experience with the creatures of the deep, Aliwal Shoal is the place for you.

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At the tip of the continent are the Blue Flag beaches of the Cape, where restaurants are strung along the sand between Table Mountain and the deep blue sea. This is a metropolitan seaside experience, and it’s one of the most popular places to be during the summer. Diving in the Cape is challenging because of the cold water, and sometimes the visibility is not ideal, but it is entirely different from anywhere along the Indian Ocean coastline.

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South Africa is also highly ranked as a surfing destination. Jeffrey’s Bay, in the Eastern Cape, hosts annual surfing competitions with consistently good conditions. J-Bay, or Supertubes, as it is colloquially called, is a world-class spot, and the whole town has adopted a surfing culture.

SUGGESTED READING Behrens and Barnes, Wildlife of Madagascar. Bowler, Wildlife of the Seychelles. Mittermeier, et al., Lemurs of Madagascar.

ACTIVITIES 1. Compile a list of the five largest African islands. Now compare the size of Madagascar to countries that you might be familiar with. 2. If you had to embark on an East African safari, what beach and island options would you choose as add-ons to your safari? Consider the same for southern Africa.

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The Great Tours: African Safari

THE SOUNDS OF AN AFRICAN SAFARI LEC TURE 21 What do you hear when you’re deep in the wild areas of Africa? When you fall asleep at night, there is no lingering hum of household electronics, distant wail of sirens, or car horns. Instead, the total darkness is punctuated by the calls of crickets, frogs, bush babies, and hyenas. Ongoing whistles, grunts, and shrieks are a reminder that you are surrounded by living creatures—creatures that create the soundtrack to any African safari.

HOW TO LISTEN

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If you’re a first-time safari-goer, there will be plenty of strange outbursts from the trees or the rivers that will stop you in your tracks. It won’t take long to realize that just about everything has an identifying sound, from the distant thunder bringing in a storm to the dull thud of marula fruits hitting the ground outside your tent.

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At dusk, the sounds you heard during the day fall silent and the new shift of African sound-makers takes over. Then, the eerie calls of nocturnal predators ring through the night, followed later by the birds that announce the break of day.

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To hone your identification skills, make sure you take the time to listen. It’s such a peaceful and relaxing activity to sit on the deck outside your safari tent and let the sounds speak to you. You might hear the rapid knocking of a woodpecker on a tree trunk or the faraway whinny of a zebra on the plains.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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You might not be able to name the animal responsible for the sound, but the important part is being open to hearing it. Your safari guide will undoubtedly be able to tell you what you were hearing, so don’t be shy to ask. It will enhance your experience tenfold to put a name to the noises you hear, heightening your awareness of how much life there is around you.

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There are some excellent wildlife and bird apps on the market that can prepare you for your auditory safari. If you’re planning a trip to Africa, you should really take advantage of them. Listen beforehand to a few of the sounds and calls of the more common species you can expect to see, and you will be amazed at how much this knowledge can enhance your safari.

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Depending on your location, certain sounds will stand out more than others. For example, if you’re on safari in the river systems of the Zambezi or Luangwa valleys, your sounds are likely to be dominated by hippos. Because bulls dominate the social harems, they are the ones that readily snort and honk to ward off intruders. This frequently heard sound is one of the most loved noises of the bush, and you’ll become very familiar with it during your stay.

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Elephants communicate using a variety of grumbles and trumpets, and they rely on these sounds to send clear messages to their mates and their enemies. When threatened or nervous, elephants react by trumpeting, and if necessary, they will make themselves as big as possible by fanning out their ears and stampeding while roaring through their trunks. But elephants also express joy by trumpeting. Rumbling is a more nuanced form of elephant expression, but you will probably hear it more often.

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Baboons have a very distinctive and surprisingly loud bark that can be heard from some distance away. This is often a sign that a predator has been spotted by one of the troop’s sentinels. If you hear these loud barks, scan your surroundings carefully, as you may well be rewarded with an awesome leopard sighting.

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Spotted hyenas—or as they are famously nicknamed, “laughing” hyenas—have as many as 14 different calls, and the classic “laugh” is only one of them. The hysterical cackle is a classic safari sound, and it will send shivers down your spine when you hear it. It is the hyena’s primal call of piqued interest and intimidation.

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The whooping call of the spotted hyena is another part of its audio repertoire. It is a lingering, far-reaching call to communicate with other clan members as they rally together to defend territory or hunt. Often, this call is heard when sitting around a fire under a blanket of stars. It starts on a deep note and increases in pitch, lasting for a few eerie, ominous seconds.

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The iconic roar of a lion is a buildup of long bellows. Both male and female lions roar, but the male’s roar is a deeper, more powerful sound. Around sunrise and sunset, they often start roaring to communicate their activity with the pride or to warn neighboring prides to stay away from their territory. It’s an incredible sound that carries for about five miles on a still night.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Compared to lions, leopards call in short, rasping bursts, which sound like someone sawing a piece of wood. In the dead of night, this call is possibly the most exciting to hear. Elusive leopards can be hard to find, but the throaty coughs are a dead giveaway, acting as a reminder that the silent night stalker is in our midst. Even the most seasoned safari-goers perk up and listen intently when a leopard reveals itself by its call.

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Most birds are active during the day, when they are busy foraging, courting, and building nests, and this is when they communicate with song. At night, while most birds perch and sleep, the nocturnal birds wake up and contribute to the soundtrack of safari evenings.

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In summer, when the migratory species arrive for the wet season, we start to hear old favorites that have been absent for a year. The woodland kingfisher is the unofficial orator that announces the beginning of the summer safari season. Its call is loud, high-pitched, and trilling. The initial chirp is followed by a cascading series of notes, and it is repeated over and over again.

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Another migratory visitor is the cuckoo. A number of different species arrive for the season, and they come with quite outstanding calls. The diedric, African emerald, and red-chested cuckoos have the most recognizable calls, which, like the woodland kingfisher, are a sure sign that summer has arrived.

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Any safari close to water is likely to be punctuated by the loud cry of the African fish eagle. This unique wail tumbles out over and above the other sounds of the bushveld, and there is just no mistaking it. If you spot the fish eagle while it’s calling, you’ll see how it dramatically throws its head back and forth as it belts out its tune—an iconic sound of Africa.

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Birds are excellent indicators of predators in the area. The threats are not necessarily big cats but might be anything from an eagle in the sky to a snake in the grass. The frantic alarming of guinea fowls is a great example. The groundbirds are some of the noisiest of the African bush, and they make themselves heard most frequently at dusk and dawn.

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Identifying different birds by call can be tricky, but there are quite a few that you will hear over and over again that become regular, signature sounds of the bush. t

Owls are active at night, and they are something very special to hear. The spotted eagle-owl has a typically owllike “hoo-woo hoo” call. It is gentle and comforting, and if it sounds near enough, it is worth searching the trees with a spotlight to try and catch sight of this handsome fellow with yellow eyes and prominent ear tufts. The Verreaux’s eagle-owl, by contrast, emits a deep, croaky grunt, often in conversation with a mate.

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To the untrained ear, some of the sounds you hear at night in the African bush can be puzzling. The large animals are quite distinct, and some of the birds can be easily identified by call. For the most part, however, insects and frogs form the foundation of the nocturnal cacophony, and they are quite tricky to identify when you hear them in the blackness of night.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Mammals, birds, frogs, and insects rely on sound to communicate, and it’s our privilege to listen in. On safari, we get to observe not just with our eyes, but with our ears as well. The effect can be profound—because the closer we listen, the more connected we’ll feel to the vibrant energy of the African bush.

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Crickets and katydids dominate the nocturnal insect calls and are generally heard over and above the rest. When individual male crickets emit their shrill chirps, the calls are caused by stridulation, which is the action of rubbing their wings together. Like crickets, katydids produce shrill sounds by rubbing special organs on their wings against one another.

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In riverine areas—and particularly after some good rains have fallen—the sounds of the African bushveld at night erupt with the tinkling, croaking, squeaking, and bubbling sounds of frogs. There are leaffolding frogs, rain frogs, tree frogs, sand frogs, and all different kinds of hoppers that contribute to the clamor of a warm sub-Saharan night. Frogs have always been described to “croak” or “ribbit,” but in fact, the variation in frog and toad calls is so great that there are some sounds you would never guess were frogs at all.

ACTIVITIES 1. Learn the following 10 signature sounds of the African bush: African fish eagle, spotted hyena, lion, impala during the rut, scops owl, fiery-necked nightjar, greater bush baby, hippo, elephant sounds, and baboon and vervet monkey alarm calls. 2. Go outside and listen carefully to the sounds around you. Try cupping your hands around your ears to isolate a distant sound and see how this amplifies the noise.

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SAFARI DESTINATIONS OFF THE BEATEN PATH LEC TURE 22 This lecture explores parts of the north and west of Africa as well as some lesser-known spots on the subcontinent. Because some of these countries have been troubled by civil unrest, they are often treated with skepticism, although they are loaded with exotic animals, rich culture, and ancient history. Conservation efforts in these areas are helping to restore once-brimming natural ecosystems and make them the safari hotspots of the future.

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Ethiopia is Kenya’s northern neighbor. In the south of Ethiopia is the Omo region. This is uncharted territory where documentarians and photographers can explore tribal traditions largely untouched by Westernization. It is a truly eye-opening and awe-inspiring part of the country where you will see men and women with painted bodies, clay plates worn in their lips and earlobes, and scarification patterning their skin.

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Farther northeast is Bale Mountains National Park, which is the high-altitude home of one of the most endangered carnivores on the planet: the Ethiopian wolf. With fewer than 500 individuals remaining, this rusty-coated coyote-like animal is a treasure of the country. Like the African wild dog, these canids are pack animals and rely on a community structure to raise their pups. Up in the highlands, they thrive on grassy plateaus and scrublands, where they prey on the giant mole rat, among other rodents.

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Another high-elevation animal that is unique to Ethiopia is the gelada, the world’s last remaining species of grazing primate. Endemic to the rocky highlands and high-altitude grassy plateaus of the country, large concentrations of geladas live in the Simien Mountains. These Old World monkeys are big, ground-dwelling primates that sleep on cliff ledges at night and live in groups that can number in the hundreds.

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Ethiopia’s striking combination of fertile mountains, woodlands, lakes, and arid landscapes makes the country a top African birding destination, second only to South Africa in the number of endemic birds. Specials include the Abyssinian woodpecker, the Abyssinian longclaw, and the Abyssinian long-eared owl. The high moorlands in the Simien Mountains and Bale Mountains National Park are where you can spot the endemic blue-winged goose. If you visit the ancient religious center of Lalibela, make sure to look out for the colorful black-winged lovebird and the striking insect-loving banded barbet, among many others.

CHAD

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Moving northwest on the continent, we arrive in Chad, a third of which is rooted in the Sahara Desert. In these vast and desolate sand dunes, the discovery of a 7-million-year-old primate skull in the early 2000s solidified Chad’s incredible archeological value. But the safari action happens in the southern reaches of the country, in Zakouma National Park.

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In a groundbreaking partnership between African parks and the Chad government, elephant populations are on the increase for the first time in decades, and general game populations are increasing, too. But this war on poaching has come at a severe cost to the brave men and women working to protect Zakouma’s precious resources. In 2012, six African park rangers were ruthlessly gunned down during their morning prayers, testament to the dangerous circumstances that these champions of wildlife face every day.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Zakouma is a shining light for conservation in this entire region of Africa, which unfortunately has a tragic and recent history of prolonged civil conflict. Because of this conflict, central and west African destinations lack tourism infrastructure, and visiting requires no small amount of grit and determination on the part of the traveler. There is no hiding the fact that both the wildlife and their habitats have suffered tremendously, but what remains outshines the dark days of conflict. t

The wet season here lasts from about June to October, when rains flood the rivers and the plains become verdant and green. The season for travel is during the drier months from November to May, when the roads in Zakouma become more navigable. Predators come in all shapes and sizes, from the growing lion population to leopards, spotted and striped hyenas, wild dogs, servals, jackals, and civets. Herbivores include the savanna buffalo, Kordofan giraffe, red-fronted gazelle, bohor reedbuck, Buffon’s kob, and plenty of other North African specialties.

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Perhaps one of the greatest reasons to visit Chad is to see the dryseason flocks of red-billed queleas that hum through Zakouma in incredible numbers. You don’t have to be an avid birder to be amazed by the sheer density of the flocks, moving in unison and creating liquid shapes in the air. With the abundant insect population come the bright-red-and-turquoise flocks of northern carmine bee-eaters. The constant birdsong of doves, turacos, and vocal groundbirds form the Zakouma soundtrack.

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On the northwestern coast of the continent and just a stone’s throw from Europe is Morocco. Full of fragrant spices, flavorful foods, and artisanal wares, Morocco is also the home of the Saharan safari experience. Here, you can cross the desert on the back of a camel or in a 4×4, marveling at a landscape of endless golden dunes smoothed by wind against a backdrop of powdery-blue skies. Some of the best stargazing in the world can be experienced in the Sahara, far away from the light pollution of civilization.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Most safari accommodations take the form of Moroccan Bedouin-style tents that are pitched on the desert floor. Outside in the darkness, there is the chance to see the nocturnal jerboa and the fennec fox. The jerboa is a jumping rodent with disproportionate features that actually make it very cute. It has hind legs that are four times longer than its forelegs and a very long tail that helps it balance. The huge-eared fennec fox, the world’s smallest fox, is the jerboa’s greatest threat.

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Morocco’s safari activities don’t end in the Sahara. Just as appealing are the camping and trekking excursions in the High Atlas Mountains, where climbers have the opportunity to summit North Africa’s highest peak, Toubkal, at 13,600 feet. From November to May, you can enjoy excellent skiing at some of the well-established ski resorts, keeping an eye out for the endangered Barbary macaque.

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Back down at sea level, Morocco’s Atlantic coast is popular among surfers. The small fishing village of Taghazout is the country’s most popular surfing spot, with some world-class breaks and familyfriendly waters, too. If you’re keen to experience the quality of the Moroccan surf scene, it’s best to go in winter, when the waters offer their best waves. And give yourself time to experience the cities of Marrakesh and Fez.

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SENEGAL

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The westernmost point of Africa is the country of Senegal, which straddles the tropics, with its northern half in the Sahara and its southern half embracing the Gambia River. It is a fascinating and incredibly biodiverse land known as the “country of hospitality.” Welcoming and stable, Senegal is a haven for safe and stimulating travel. Its capital city is the coastal hub of Dakar, which is vibrant and bustling. As for wildlife, the real value of Senegal lies in its combination of dry forests and wetlands and its multitude of rivers and riverine vegetation.

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On Senegal’s southwestern coast is the Siné-Saloum Delta, which is one of the most celebrated birding destinations in West Africa. A vast coastal inlet with a network of mangroves, swamps, rivers, and lakes, the Siné-Saloum Delta is a World Heritage site that is celebrated not only for its bird populations, but also for its cultural significance. The seaward area of the delta is characterized by shell mounds or middens, which are humanmade bars of shells collected over the last few thousand years.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Inland from the delta and along the Gambia River is the World Heritage site of Niokolo-Koba National Park, where the rare coexistence of lions and chimpanzees is found. Fed by a series of large rivers, this national park is diversely vegetated and sustains high numbers of animals and attracts plenty of birds. Perhaps the most notable large animal of NiokoloKoba is the western giant eland. This western variety of giant eland is more or less restricted to Niokolo-Koba, and it is listed as critically endangered, with only around 200 individuals remaining.

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West African lions, spotted hyenas, leopards, and African wild dogs make up the predator population of the park. But its remote location and poor tourism infrastructure mean that this safari experience won’t produce sightings of these animals like a trip to the Serengeti or South Africa would. The park is 3,500 square miles in size, and within it are only about 50 lions—the last population in Senegal. Add elephants, buffaloes, and hundreds of birds to the mix and Niokolo-Koba is something very special, and way off the beaten track.

Chimpanzees live secretly in the forested areas of Niokolo-Koba National Park, where researchers from the Jane Goodall Institute monitor their lives via camera traps.

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In Nigeria, a delicate ecosystem of tropical rainforest houses the critically endangered Cross River gorillas. These are the most endangered apes in Africa, with only approximately 250 individuals surviving in lowland and submontane forest on the slopes of Nigeria’s Cross River State. Unlike the almost-guaranteed gorilla sightings in Rwanda or Uganda, here they are so scarce and scared of people that even researchers have to work very hard to catch a glimpse of them.

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You can take a guided walk through this phenomenal forest and learn about the gorillas’ nesting and feeding behavior, discover the medicinal properties of thousands of plant species, and tick off more than a handful of exciting bird species. Besides the gorillas, other endangered primates include the drill and the Preuss’s red colobus— two endangered monkey species that, along with the gorilla, only exist in these mountain forests.

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Nigeria is home to many other primate species—24 different species in all. Among these is the Nigerian-Cameroon chimpanzee. This is the most endangered of all four subspecies of chimp in the world, and it lives here in the protected forests. The stronghold of this chimp is in Nigeria’s flagship national park, Gashaka Gumti, where about half of the total population lives. The rare and elusive golden cat also finds refuge in the forests here, though your chances of seeing one might not be high.

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With a long Atlantic coastline, dense equatorial forests, mangrove rivers, extensive deserts, and savannas, Angola is a marvel of wild terrain. This is a country with perhaps the least amount of tourist traffic, as it recovers from 30 years of civil war that wreaked havoc on animal populations. Back in the day, the beaches were nesting grounds for turtles, and the forests were populated by buffalo, elephant, and rare giant sable.

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Angola’s Quiçama National Park is undergoing the same kind of recovery and repopulation projects that have been carried out in countries like Mozambique. As a result, the park is slowly regaining its footing as a safari destination. After decades of damage and violence that killed half a million people, Quiçama could have been considered irreparable. But one of the largest animal translocations in history brought elephants from Botswana and South Africa to a new life here in Angola.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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In Angola, a previously undiscovered pocket of threatened Afromontane forest habitat was recently sighted in 2012 and explored by researchers. What they found was proof of the country’s phenomenal biodiversity. BirdLife International declared the Namba Mountains and its forest an Important Bird and Biodiversity Area after threatened and endangered species were spotted there. All 20 birds associated with this dwindling habitat were seen, including some endemic to Angola, such as the Swierstra’s francolin.

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It is discoveries like these that are putting Angola back on the map and reminding us all of its heyday, when thousands of buffalo and elephant roamed the plains. This is a destination for nature lovers, 4×4 enthusiasts, birders, and photographers. Angola, Africa’s final frontier, might just be the answer for rugged visitors who have traveled Africa before and want to escape the sometimes-congested tourism of the Maasai Mara and Kruger National Park.

SUGGESTED READINGS Briggs, Ethiopia. ———, Mozambique. Fodor’s Travel Guides, Fodor’s Essential Morocco. Ham and Grosberg, West Africa.

ACTIVITY Watch the 2010 National Geographic film Africa’s Lost Eden.

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CITIES AND OTHER SAFARI ADDITIONS LEC TURE 23 While the typical safari experience is a 4×4 excursion through the wilds of Africa, a modern-day safari should feature other travel highlights, such as cities and culture. This lecture explores some of the activities, places, and cultural options that are a perfect complement to the more familiar elements of an African safari.

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Cape Town, South Africa—the “mother city”—is a coastal metropolis where a melting pot of local and international cultures comes together between globally unique nature reserves, mountains, and seas. It has everything from five-star luxury at the famous Victoria and Alfred Waterfront to one of Cape Town’s oldest residential areas, the colorful Bo-Kaap.

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Situated at the foot of Signal Hill, Bo-Kaap is both photographically stimulating and culturally significant. Each house, standing shoulder to shoulder, is painted a different color so that the divisions between buildings are expressively demarcated by various bright hues.

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Beyond Bo-Kaap, the postcard-worthy, unmistakable image of Table Mountain watches over the city. Take a cable car to the top and gaze out over Table Bay, the city bowl, the white sandy coves of the Atlantic seaboard’s beaches, and Robben Island.

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Robben Island is one of the most visited and well-known tourist attractions in the country, and it represents an important part of South Africa’s history: It’s the place where Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, spent a large part of his 27 years in prison. Boat transfers to Robben Island leave from the waterfront, and guided tours takes you on an insightful visit of the prison.

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The streets of Bo-Kaap are alive with yellow, red, and purple homes, which during Apartheid were uniformly painted white. As if emancipating themselves from the oppression of the Apartheid era, the residents of Bo-Kaap painted their houses every color under the sun. t

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Farther afield are the Cape Winelands, which are not only scenically beautiful but also produce some of the best wines in the world. The legacy of French and Dutch settlers in these mountain valleys is preserved in the quaint villages of Franschhoek and Stellenbosch, and tours of the wine farms are world-class. Family-friendly and romantic, the winelands are enjoyed by Cape Town locals and visitors alike, and the culinary experience is nothing short of superb.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Cape Town is often treated as a destination in and of itself, but Johannesburg is the travel hub for southern Africa. Many safari-goers fly in and out of Johannesburg, colloquially known as Joburg, en route to the Kruger National Park, Botswana’s Okavango Delta, or the deserts of Namibia.

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Johannesburg is a big city and the business district of the country, but it is also the capital of African culture and history, including a hip urban culture full of graffiti and industrial art. Joburg memorializes the recent political history of Apartheid, starting with the enlightening Apartheid Museum and the suburb of Soweto, where Nelson Mandela once lived.

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As with Cape Town, getting around Johannesburg is easy, with excellent infrastructure, professional guides, and Uber taxis. The tour guides offer a higher level of safety and security as well as enhance the overall experience with their insights and knowledge. Not far from Johannesburg is a World Heritage site known as the Cradle of Humankind—an area that has produced more hominin fossils than anywhere else in the world.

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NAIROBI

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Nairobi is the gateway to East Africa, and it’s well worth exploring. It’s busy, colorful, and noisy. Like many cities in Africa, it is dusty and dilapidated in some places, but Nairobi’s cluttered streets and local markets collide with high-rise buildings and museums that showcase both tribal and colonial elements of Kenya’s history.

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Nairobi’s past is intriguing, but the city’s present-day culture has a richness all its own. There are places to eat local food like ugali, which is a traditional African cornmeal porridge, or you can take part in a traditional cookout. You can even sip Kenyan coffee in historic colonial buildings that are now considered Kenyan institutions. Shop at the popular Maasai Market, which is a good place to watch basketweaving and beading in action or to pick out your favorite traditional blanket to take home as a keepsake.

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If you’re more inclined to appreciate wildlife, the city of Nairobi has its own national park, and nearby is Giraffe Manor, where a Rothschild’s giraffe might drink tea out of your teacup. It’s also where the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust has spent many years rehabilitating orphaned elephants and preparing them for a life in the wild. Written about as “the green city in the sun,” Nairobi is an intriguing blend of modernday chaos and natural landscapes, with deep connections to the history of the African safari.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Rwanda’s Kigali is a shining example of cleanliness and order. What is perhaps most inspiring about this city is that it has risen from the ashes of unparalleled darkness. In 1994, in the space of just three months, nearly a million Rwandans were massacred in one of the worst genocides of modern times, while the rest of the world stood idly by and watched.

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This humanitarian disaster has been memorialized in the film Hotel Rwanda, and in Kigali, the Genocide Memorial stands as a place of remembrance and learning. Kigali is the hub city from which to explore Rwanda’s wildlife offerings, and there are some solid reasons for spending a day or two immersing yourself in the friendly environment of one of the safest and most progressive cities in the world.

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The culture of Kigali is electrifying, and for art lovers, there is the Inema Arts Center, where East African artists have their work on display. Exhibitions offer the chance to purchase authentic pieces for your home. The Inema Arts Center also keeps the dance culture of Rwanda alive. Young dancers in training learn the traditional dance of their people and nurture the theatrical talent that has historically defined Rwandans.

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Lunch buffets are a thing to behold in Kigali, and if you embark on a tour in the lively neighborhood of Nyamirambo, you can see how all the cooking is done and even lend a hand by preparing some of it yourself. This neighborhood is predominantly Muslim, but it is also the hub of Kigali’s nightlife, and while the rest of the city has an early-to-bed motto, Nyamirambo keeps the lights on a little later.

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While the sun is still up, make sure you get to the market and buy yourself some patterned kitenge cloth from sellers on the roadside and stop in at a milk bar for a mandatory glass of fresh cow’s milk. One of Africa’s safest and cleanest cities, Kigali is a definite stopover for at least a night or two before going on a gorilla trek or venturing to Akagera National Park.

ADVENTURES

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If you’re looking for a thrill, there are plenty of adventure experiences throughout Africa that will set your pulse racing. White-water rafting, bungee jumping, and gorge swinging are some of the more daring activities on offer at Victoria Falls, which pairs perfectly with a safari in the Zambezi basin or Botswana. Canopy tours and zip-lining through the trees are tamer and slower-paced ways to enjoy the view, but many would argue that the best view is from above. Helicopter flights certainly offer the grandest perspective of all.

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The Okavango Delta is another place that is exquisite when seen from the sky. Scenic flights over the world-renowned wetland in a tiny plane, seeing the loops and turns of the Okavango channels or a herd of swimming elephants, are nothing short of mesmerizing.

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Northern Kafue National Park and the Maasai Mara in Kenya have become some of the most celebrated ballooning destinations in Africa. Rising into the sunrise in the basket of a brightly colored balloon and drifting over some of the continent’s wildest places is certainly not to be missed if you happen to be in the area at the right time of year.

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Speaking of being up in the air, a hike to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro—Africa’s tallest mountain, at 19,341 feet—is an exhilarating experience. A hike to summit is only for those with good fitness levels, and it takes about five days to reach the summit. The trip up Kilimanjaro can be approached from either the west or the east.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Whether you’re underwater or in the air, safari operators have taken the opportunity to showcase every element of the continent and cater to just about every desire. If you’re preparing for a trip to Africa, it is worth doing the research and finding out about what is on offer that could add to the standard game-drive experience. Lecture 23 I Cities and Other Safari Additions

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HUMAN CULTURE

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Take the opportunity while you’re in Africa to meet the people, visit a tribal village, and learn a greeting in the local language. Taste the local beer and watch a traditional dance, because making a human connection is as impactful as embracing the wild side of a safari.

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There are villages that specifically host tourists and demonstrate the traditional ways of tribal life. The Maasai and Samburu cultures of East Africa are among the best known, due to Kenya’s early exposure to the Western world through safari. Images of Maasai and Samburu warriors are widely admired, and many Kenyan and Tanzanian safari experiences will involve cultural insights into the traditions of these seminomadic tribes.

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Namibia’s Himba and Herero people, the Mursi tribesmen of Ethiopia’s Omo valley, and the Pygmy people native to Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable Forest are some of the other African communities that engage in cultural tourism. South Africa is dominated by its Nguni culture, with geometric Ndebele paintings and stirring Zulu anthems, and Botswana’s Kalahari is where the authentic San culture is preserved.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Experiences like these offer the opportunity to explore the richness of ancient and ongoing cultures—the heart and soul of the land. But not every homestead or village is designed for tourism. It’s vitally important to respect peoples’ privacy when roaming the cities or driving through rural areas. In most places where cultural heritage is important, there are dedicated centers, villages, and communities that participate in creating the experience for visitors.

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Traveling ethically is all about respect for the people and their communities. As mesmerizing as some traditional clothing or makeup might be, many people hold their traditions sacred, and as visitors, we should keep that top of mind. Asking someone if you can take a photo of their market stall or their home is the right way to approach. Even better is to join a village tour, where a professional guide from the village itself can show you around, talk you through the practices you’re seeing, and let you know what it’s all about.

SUGGESTED READING Ham and Kaminski, Kenya. Richmond, Bainbridge, Carillet, and Corne, Cape Town & The Garden Route.

ACTIVITIES 1. Plan a three-day touring itinerary of Greater Cape Town and incorporate attractions like the penguin colony, Table Mountain, the wine route, and Robben Island. 2. List the 10 most visited cities in Africa.

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TIPS FOR A SUSTAINABLE SAFARI LEC TURE 24 The conservation of Africa’s wildlife and wild places—and the responsibility we have to travel sustainably—is of paramount importance. By choosing to travel responsibly and partner with eco-conscious safari operators and lodge owners, you will play a part in conserving nature. Included in this lecture are examples of some of the safari activities that allow you to participate in real-life research and conservation activities.

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The term travelers’ philanthropy refers to an emerging voluntary movement designed to empower local communities and contribute to the ongoing conservation of Africa’s imperiled wildlife species. There is a staggering growth in this form of philanthropy worldwide, especially in travelers from the United States. This assistance might come in the form of financial resources or of whatever time and talent you’re able to provide.

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The rise in the movement is accompanied by a global shift in travel tastes toward sustainable and responsible tourist destinations. Additionally, it is estimated that charitable giving by Americans alone exceeded 400 billion dollars in 2017. At the same time, government aid to developing countries is decreasing at a steady rate. Therefore, the importance of travelers’ philanthropy for environmental and social causes in developing nations—and those in Africa, more specifically—is massive.

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Africa’s wilderness areas and the wildlife they sustain are precious but endangered resources. Conservation efforts and responsible ecotourism play a pivotal role in preserving them. But for conservation to succeed, the needs of rural communities must be met so that conserving the wildlife that surrounds them becomes an invested interest of the local people themselves.

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Africa’s wildlife and cultures face many challenges, such as the rapid extinction of species, civil conflict, destructive agricultural practices, and poaching. t

The millions of dollars in government funding for community development and conservation rarely reaches the coffers of the organizations addressing these challenges. Therefore, new avenues of financial assistance need to be sought to administer locally identified priorities. Travelers’ philanthropy has the capability to fill this niche and grow these avenues of support exponentially.

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When you book a safari, you are often required to pay conservation fees for the different game reserves and parks you are visiting. These additional expenses are direct contributions to the general upkeep of protected areas and go toward maintaining roads, removing invasive plant species, managing waterholes, paying anti-poaching units, and maintaining tourist facilities. But some African safari activities take conservation fees to another level by offering travelers a unique experience that gives them a hands-on role in conservation.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Experiential safaris have their roots in the desire to get closer—to experience Africa on a deeper level. Those who participate in experiential safaris don’t just get the thrill of witnessing wildlife in their natural habitat; they also come away with the satisfaction of having contributed to something significant.

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Experiential safari activities can range from participating in a rhino darting exercise in South Africa to tracking wild dogs in Zimbabwe, and they normally involve paying a higher conservation fee to benefit the nonprofit that is doing the work on the ground.

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Darting and collaring wild African animals is a job for the professionals— veterinarians and scientists who have dedicated years to research and practice. It is important work that helps gather data on animal behavior, migration movements, diet, and breeding. In the case of endangered species, it also helps monitor populations and protect their well-being. Rhinos in particular are being darted and tagged for this very reason, and the exercise is sometimes offered to lucky guests who pay to witness and take part on the ground, with the proceeds going to rhino conservation.

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In a similar way, there are opportunities to be part of elephant collaring operations or releasing translocated wildlife into their new homes. While strict controls and expertise ensure that these important endeavors are carried out safely and carefully, it’s important to realize that these are very active and fluid situations, and the priority is the safety of the animals. In most cases, you’ll have to sign indemnity forms, even though strict safety protocols are followed at all times.

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As a way of generating funds for its lion conservation project, Hoanib Skeleton Coast Camp offers special desert lion safaris. The experience ranges from tracking the lions in the sand to locating them using satellite and drone technology. If there is a lion that needs a collar replaced or data retrieved, the lion is located and sedated before getting a quick health checkup and receiving whatever treatment it needs.

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Experiential safaris like these have the capacity to promote positive change. But beware of opportunities that are advertised as conservation experiences but in fact are detrimental to wildlife and are counterproductive to conservation. If you’re planning to have a hands-on experience, be aware of organizations that invite you to look after baby animals or interact with wild animals under the guise of conservation.

The Great Tours: African Safari

Lion cubs in particular are at the center of these unethical practices, and plenty of well-meaning volunteers pay large sums of money to spend time cuddling and bottle-feeding baby lions. This activity is far from natural. More often than not, these practices involve the unregulated breeding of lions that are kept in enclosures for the sole purpose of producing cubs. Big cats are dangerous animals, and their instincts make them unsuitable as pets or for human interaction. Paying big money to t There are legitimate animal orphanages walk with tame lions or out there that do incredible work and that ride tame elephants are are worth supporting financially, but make not recommended safari sure you do your research so that your time activities, and they are and money will play an active part in the unlikely to contribute to conservation of that species. conservation in any way. t

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RESPONSIBLE ECOTOURISM

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Ecotourism long ago replaced hunting safaris as the popular form of African travel. Today, it is an industry that is designed to conserve remaining wilderness areas, reduce poverty in rural communities, and protect endangered species—all while delivering a high-end safari experience to paying guests from all over the globe. There are leaders in the industry who have designed safaris that deliver on every level, paving the way for travel that gives back, rehabilitates, and preserves.

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The most impactful conservation work takes place in the luxury safari space, where lodge owners and operators create unique and beautiful journeys to some of Africa’s most remote and sought-after destinations while giving back to conservation and communities at the same time.

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Low-impact lodge construction is first on the list of ways that these goals are achieved. It’s easy to imagine how building infrastructure destroys natural land by digging up the earth, clearing trees, and laying foundations that prevent the natural landscape from ever recovering. Part of what makes an eco-friendly camp sustainable is building above ground, eliminating the use of concrete foundations, and using poles to build elevated rooms on wooden floors. Making use of sustainable materials from trusted local suppliers is a vital part of the process.

The Great Tours: African Safari

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Incorporating the natural growth of trees into the construction of the lodge is another important consideration, as is the use of innovative water management techniques in the building and plumbing processes. With such an incredible number of safari lodges and camps being built today, the only way to keep it sustainable is for the lodges to work for the environment, not against it. The true leaders today are not only minimizing their impact, but also creating systems that promote the growth of the natural habitat.

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By default, because many luxury lodges operate on large tracts of wilderness areas, expanding the green frontiers of Africa becomes a vitally important positive consequence of ecotourism. Through sustainable ecotourism models, these responsible lodge owners and operators are protecting the land across the continent—land that would otherwise be under hunting or agriculture. Through reforestation, repairing fragmented ecosystems, opening wildlife corridors, and reintroducing natural species to vast wilderness areas, precious habitat is being protected and encouraged to flourish. Conservation-minded lodge operators support anti-poaching teams that patrol these wild places.

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Equally important is partnering with local communities and engaging the people of Africa in the business of ecotourism. It is at the core of responsible travel. But it goes even further than that: Africa’s rural communities need to receive tangible financial benefits from ecotourism.

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Some luxury camps are built in areas that are owned by local communities. This is land that forms part of the livelihood for local people. It is where they have built their homes, where they graze their livestock, or where they once hunted for their food. Many of the most successful community conservation partnerships deliver clear and tangible financial benefits to the people who live inside or on the outskirts of these wilderness areas. These partnerships also result in more employment and secondary income opportunities like producing goods for the lodges or for sale to tourists. These efforts reduce poaching and lead to a healthy respect for wildlife.

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Travelers’ philanthropy has so many rewards—not least of which is the reward of knowing that you’re making an investment in the future. Thanks to sustainable tourism, the unforgettable safari experience that’s waiting for you today can also be available to your children and your children’s children. It’s our privilege not only to visit Africa’s wildlife and her people, but also to play our part in sustaining the future of this great continent for generations to come. 202

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Some of the greatest conservation victories occur when poachers become conservationists. By gaining access to income, education, and health care, local people are now starting to take ownership of their wilderness areas again. Many safari lodges provide jobs in anti-poaching, guiding, and hospitality, and some even provide seed funding for incomegenerating projects like beading cooperatives, honey cultivation, and craft production.

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Through tourism-generated funding, children in local communities are getting better access to education, and part of that education is teaching sustainability: how to conserve water, look after the environment, and develop permaculture gardens for sustainable food.

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As tourists and travelers, our role is to support the right operators in their mission to end poaching, reclaim natural habitats, support rural African enterprise, and protect endangered species. For the men and women on the ground who live and breathe conservation, it is a world of harsh realities, difficult decisions, immense satisfaction, and sometimes devastating sadness. So please make sure that the places that you are staying at contribute positively to conservation and communities. Ask your travel agent about the most sustainable lodges in the area you are visiting.

SUGGESTED READING Ghimire and Pimbert, Social Change and Conservation. Hanes, White Man’s Game. Hulme and Murphree, African Wildlife and Livelihoods.

ACTIVITIES 1. Research how much a live lion is worth to the economy of a country versus the amount gained from hunting it. 2. With lessons learned from this lecture, compile a checklist that outlines how to give responsibly to Africa’s people and wildlife.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS Aiken, Bruce. The Lions and Elephants of the Chobe. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1988. Alexander, Graham, and Johan Marais. A Guide to the Reptiles of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2007. Allison, Peter. Whatever You Do, Don’t Run: True Tales of a Botswana Safari Guide. Guilford, CT: Lyons Press, 2008. Anthony, Lawrence. The Last Rhinos: My Battle to Save One of the World’s Greatest Creatures. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012. Bailey, Adrian, and Robin Keene-young. Safari: Journeys through Wild Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2006. Balfour, Daryl, and Sharna Balfour. African Elephants: A Celebration of Majesty. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1998. Bannister, Anthony, and Rene Gordon. The National Parks of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1987. Beard, Peter. The End of the Game. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988. Behrens, Ken, and Keith Barnes. Wildlife of Madagascar. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016. Bernabe, Richard. Wildlife Photography: From First Principles to Professional Results. London: Ilex Press, 2018. Bosman, Paul, and Anthony Hall-Martin. Cats of Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Fernwood Press, 1997. Bowler, John. Wildlife of the Seychelles. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006. Branch, B. A Field Guide to Snakes and Other Reptiles in Southern Africa. Fort Myers, FL: Ralph Curtis Publishing, 1998. 204

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Briggs, Philip. Mozambique. 7th ed. Buckinghamshire, UK: Bradt Travel Guides, 2017. Briggs, Philip. Ethiopia. 8th ed. Buckinghamshire, UK: Bradt Travel Guides, 2019. Bull, Bartle. Safari: A Chronicle of Adventure. London: Penguin Books, 1992. Campbell, Bob. The Taming of the Gorillas. London: Minerva Press, 2000. Carnaby, Trevor. Beat about the Bush. Johannesburg, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2014. Channing, Alan. Amphibians of Central and Southern Africa. Menlo Park, CA: Protea Book House, 2001. Chittenden, Hugh. Top Birding Spots in Southern Africa. Halfway House, South Africa: Southern Book Publishers, 1992. Cohen, Callan, Claire Spottiswoode, and Jonathan Rossouw. Southern African Birdfinder: Where to Find 1400 Bird Species in Southern Africa and Madagascar. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2006. Cohen, Callan, and Claire Spottiswoode. Essential Birding: Western South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2000. Currie, James Alexander, and Bonnie J. Fladung. When Eagles Roar: The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer. West Palm Beach, FL: Ukhozi Press, 2014. Dagg, Anne Innis. Giraffe: Biology, Behavior and Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014. Du Preez, L., and V. Carruthers. A Complete Guide to the Frogs of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Random House Struik, 2011. Emmett, M., and Sean Pattrick. Game Ranger in Your Backpack: Allin-one Interpretive Guide to the Lowveld. Pretoria, South Africa: Briza Publications, 2012.

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Estes, Richard D. The Safari Companion: A Guide to Watching African Mammals. Halfway House, South Africa: Russel Friedman Books, 1999. Estes, Richard D. The Gnu’s World: Serengeti Wildebeest Ecology and Life History. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2014. Estes, Richard D. The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2012. Fodor’s Travel Guides. Fodor’s The Complete Guide to African Safaris: With South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Victoria Falls. 5th ed. El Segundo, CA: Fodor’s, 2018. Fodor’s Travel Guides. Fodor’s Essential Morocco. El Segundo, CA: Fodor’s, 2018. Foley, Charles, Lara Foley, Alex Lobora, Daniela De Luca, Maurus Msuha, Tim R. B. Davenport, and Sarah Durant. A Field Guide to the Larger Mammals of Tanzania. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. Frost, Willem, and Trevor Carnaby. The Antelope of Africa. Johannesburg, South Africa: Jacana Media, 2015. Ghimire, Krishna B., and Michel P. Pimbert. Social Change and Conservation. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd., 2000. Ginn, Peter J., W. G. McIlleron, and P. le S. Milstein. The Complete Book of Southern African Birds. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1989. Goodall, Jane. 40 Years at Gombe. New York: Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1999. Groning, Karl, and Martin Saller. Elephants: A Cultural and Natural History. Cologne, Germany: Konemann, 1998. Grzimek, Bernhard, and Michael Grzimek. Serengeti Shall Not Die. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1961. Hall-Martin, Anthony, Clive Walker, and J. du P. Bothma. Kaokoveld: The Last Wilderness. Johannesburg, South Africa: Southern Book Publishers, 1988.

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Ham, Anthony, and Michael Grosberg. West Africa. 9th ed. Franklin, TN: Lonely Planet, 2017. Ham, Anthony, and Anna Kaminski. Kenya. 10th ed. Franklin, TN: Lonely Planet, 2018. Hancock, Peter, and Ingrid Weiersbye. Birds of Botswana. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2016. Hanes, Stephanie. White Man’s Game: Saving Animals, Rebuilding Eden and Other Myths of Conservation in Africa. New York: Metropolitan Books, 2017. Hulme, David, and Marshall Murphree. African Wildlife and Livelihoods: The Promise & Performance of Community Conservation. Oxford, UK: James Currey Ltd., 2001. Hunter, Luke. Carnivores of the World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011. Kennedy, Adam Scott. Birds of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. Kennedy, Adam Scott. Birds of Kenya’s Rift Valley. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. Kennedy, Adam Scott, and Vicki Kennedy. Animals of the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Conservation Area. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2014. Kingdon, Jonathan. The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2015. Liebenberg, Louis. A Photographic Guide to Tracks and Tracking in Southern Africa. London: New Holland Books, 2001. Loon, Rael, and Helen Loon. Birds: The Inside Story. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2005. Manning, John. First Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Southern Africa. Cape Town: Penguin Random House South Africa, 2011.

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Marais, Johan, and Alan Ainslie. In Search of Africa’s Great Tuskers. Johannesburg, South Africa: Penguin Books, 2010. Mcintyre, Chris. Botswana Safari Guide: Okavango Delta, Chobe, Northern Kalahari. 5th ed. Buckinghamshire, UK: Bradt Travel Guides, 2018. Mcintyre, Chris. Namibia. 5th ed. Buckinghamshire, UK: Bradt Travel Guides, 2015. Mittermeier, Russell A., Edward E. Louis, Matthew Richardson, Christoph Schwitzer, Olivier Langrand, Anthony B. Rylands, Frank Hawkins, Serge Rajaobelina, Jonah Ratsimbazafy, Rodin Rasoloarison, Christian Roos, Peter M. Kappeler, and James Mackinnon. Lemurs of Madagascar. Arlington, VA: Conservation International, 2010. Mountain, Alam. Paradise under Pressure. Johannesburg, South Africa: Southern Book Publishers, 1990. Moussaieff Masson, Jeffrey, and Susan McCarthy. When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals. New York: Delacorte Press, 1995. Newman, Kenneth. Birds of Southern Africa: Kruger National Park. Johannesburg, South Africa: Macmillan, 1985. Newman, Kenneth. Birds of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2002. Nolting, Mark. Africa’s Top Wildlife Countries. 8th ed. Fort Lauderdale, FL: Global Travel Publishers Inc., 2012. Palgrave, Keith Coates. Trees of Southern Africa. 2nd ed. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1997. Painter, David, and Wilf Nussey. Kruger: Portrait of a National Park. Johannesburg, South Africa: Southern Book Publishers, 1987. Petter, Jean-Jacques, and Francois Desbordes. Primates of the World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2010. Picker, M., C. Griffiths, and A. Weaving. Field Guide to Insects of South Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2004.

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Pickford, Peter, and Beverly Pickford, and Warrick Tarboton. Southern African Birds of Prey. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1989. Pooley, Elsa. First Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa. 2nd ed. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2016. Pringle, John. The Conservationists and the Killers. Cape Town, South Africa: TV Bulpin, 1982. Richmond, Simon, James Bainbridge, Jean-Bernard Carillet, and Lucy Corne. Cape Town & The Garden Route. 9th ed. Franklin, TN: Lonely Planet, 2018. Sartore, Joel. The Photo Ark: One Man’s Quest to Document the World’s Animals. Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2017. Seidensticker, John, and Susan Lumpkin. Great Cats. San Francisco: Fog City Press, 1991. Shackley, Myra. Wildlife Tourism. London: Thomson Business Press, 1996. Sinclair, Ian, and Peter Ryan. Birds of Africa South of the Sahara. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 2003. Smithers, Reay H. N. The Mammals of the Southern African Subregion. Pretoria, South Africa: University of Pretoria, 1986. Stuart, Chris, and Tilde Stuart. Mammals of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1996. Thompson, Garth. A Guide’s Guide to Guiding. Johannesburg, South Africa: Jacana Press, 2006. Van Den Heever, Alex, Renias Mhlongo, and Karel Benadie. Tracker Manual: A Practical Guide to Animal Tracking in Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Penguin Random House, 2017. Van Wyk, Braam, and Piet Van Wyk. Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1997. Venter, Fanie, and Julye-Ann Venter. Making the Most of Indigenous Trees. Pretoria, South Africa: Briza Publications, 1996. Bibliography

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Walker, Clive. Signs of the Wild. Cape Town, South Africa: Struik, 1984. Whelan, Tensie. Nature Tourism: Managing for the Environment. Washington, DC: Island Press, 1991.

ONLINE ARTICLES Adyeri. “Differences between Mountain and Lowland Gorillas.” https://www.adyeri.co/blog/2017/4/13/differences-between-mountainand-lowland-gorillas. African Parks. “Zakouma National Park.” https://www.africanparks.org/the-parks/zakouma. Africa Geographic. “Gorilla Trekking: Comparing Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo.” https://africageographic.com/blog/gorilla-trekking-comparing-rwandauganda-dr-congo/. Africa Geographic. “Facts about Eastern Lowland Gorilla Trekking in Kahuzi Biega National Park.” https://africageographic.com/blog/facts-eastern-lowland-gorilla-trekkingkahuzi-biega-national-park/. Africa Geographic. “7 Reasons to Love Shoebills.” https://africageographic.com/blog/reasons-to-love-shoebills/. Bale Mountains National Park. “Ethiopian Wolves.” https://balemountains.org/research/ethiopian-wolves/. Barcus, Christy Ullrich. “What Elephant Calls Mean: A User’s Guide.” National Geographic, May 2, 2014. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/what-elephant-callsmean/. Briggs, Philip. “Getting There: Ngorongoro” Safari Bookings. https://www.safaribookings.com/ngorongoro/getting-there.

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Chodosh, Sarah. “These Freaky Baboon Shrieks Could Push Back the Evolution of Speech.” Popular Science, January 12, 2017. https://www.popsci.com/human-baboon-vowel-sounds-speech-capabilityevolved/. Currie, James. “How Do Birds Get Their Color?” 10,000 Birds, August 28, 2012. http://www.10000birds.com/how-do-birds-get-their-color.htm?doing_ wp_cron=1563234665.8858349323272705078125. Desert Elephant Conservation. “About Namibia’s Desert Elephants.” https://desertelephantconservation.org/about-desert-elephants. Desert Lion Conservation. “Welcome to Desert Lion Conservation.” https://www.desertlion.info. Durant, Sarah M. “Living with the Enemy: Avoidance of Hyenas and Lions by Cheetahs in the Serengeti” Oxford Academic, November 2000. https://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/11/6/624/221526. Earth Touch News. “Top 10: Iconic African Trees.” September 2, 2014. https://www.earthtouchnews.com/natural-world/natural-world/top-10iconic-african-trees/. Easy Travel. “The Top 10 Amazing Facts about Ngorongoro Crater.” April 10, 2018. https://www.easytravel.co.tz/facts-about-ngorongoro-crater/. Eyes on Africa. “The History of Safari: How It All Began.” http://www.eyesonafrica.net/Articles/safari-history.htm. Fossey, Dian. “Making Friends with Mountain Gorillas.” National Geographic, January 1970. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/1970/01/mountaingorillas-study-dian-fossey-virunga/#close. Giraffe Conservation Foundation. “IUCN Red List Confirms: Giraffe Are under Threat.” December 8, 2016. https://giraffeconservation.org/2016/12/08/iucnredlist-giraffe-vulnerable/.

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Gorilla Tracking. “Comparing Mountain Gorillas vs. Lowland Gorillas.” May 30, 2018. https://www.gorilla-tracking.com/blog/comparing-mountain-gorillaslowland-gorillas/. Gorillas-World. “Gorilla Social Structure.” February 6, 2014. https://www.gorillas-world.com/gorilla-social-structure/. Gorongosa National Park. “Our Story.” https://www.gorongosa.org/our-story. Guttman, Amy. “Nyamirambo: Kigali’s Coolest Neighborhood.” Rough Guides, May 15, 2015. https://www.roughguides.com/article/nyamirambo-kigalis-coolestneighbourhood/. Hance, Jeremy. “Google Earth Used to Discover Unknown Forest in Angola, Scientists Find It Full of Rare Birds.” Mongabay, July 9, 2012. https://news.mongabay.com/2012/07/google-earth-used-to-discoverunknown-forest-in-angola-scientists-find-it-full-of-rare-birds/. IOL. “Angola’s National Parks Are Quickly Repopulating with Elephants.” October 8, 2018. https://www.iol.co.za/travel/travel-news/angolas-national-parks-arequickly-repopulating-with-elephants-17367629 IUCN Red List. “Striped Hyena.” http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/10274/0. Kenya Wildlife Service. “Come Touch the Sky.” http://www.kws.go.ke/content/mount-kenya-national-park-reserve. Laikipia Forum. “Wildlife Conservation.” http://laikipia.org/Thematic_areas/wildlife-conservation/. Lion Recovery Fund. “Saving Senegal’s Last Lions.” https://www.lionrecoveryfund.org/project/saving-senegals-last-lions/. Lund, Nicholas. “The Shoebill: Or, the Most Terrifying Bird in the World.” Audubon, August 5, 2016. https://www.audubon.org/news/the-shoebill-or-most-terrifying-birdworld.

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1001slide/E+/Getty Images. LC-DIG-ppmsca-36541/Public domain. Cay-Uwe/E+/Getty Images. SeppFriedhuber/E+/Getty Images. Tinpixels/E+/Getty Images. John Rowley/Getty Images. Chet_W/iStock/Getty Images. 1001slide/E+/Getty Images. Rixipix/iStock/Getty Images. Anup Shah/E+/Getty Images. kitz-travellers/iStock/Getty Images. Staincliffe/iStock/Getty Images. NNehring/iStock/Getty Images. Dhoxax/iStock/Getty Images. charliemarcos/iStock/Getty Images. anankkml/iStock/Getty Images. maiteali/E+/Getty Images. Andre Erlich/iStock/Getty Images. GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. Cassandra Moons/iStock/Getty Images. Pawel Gaul/iStock/Getty Images. Tiago_Fernandez/iStock/Getty Images. Cezary Wojtkowski/iStock/Getty Images. thejack/iStock/Getty Images. ANDREYGUDKOV/iStock/Getty Images. Freder/iStock/Getty Images. henk_ruitenbeek/iStock/Getty Images. AJ_Watt/E+/Getty Images. HannesThirion/iStock/Getty Images. tarabird/iStock/Getty Images. Artush/iStock/Getty Images. Zuberka/iStock/Getty Images. 2630ben/Getty Images. Martin Ngugi/iStock/Getty Images. Simoneemanphotography/iStock/Getty Images. USO/iStock/Getty Images. Martin Ngugi/iStock/Getty Images. anankkml/iStock/Getty Images. Photocech/iStock/Getty Images.

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Sloot/iStock/Getty Images. MarkusBeck/iStock/Getty Images. Divesh_Mistry/iStock/Getty Images. posteriori/E+/Getty Images. Farinosa/iStock/Getty Images. Hajakely/iStock/Getty Images. Trevorplatt/iStock/Getty Images. pjmalsbury/E+/Getty Images. laurenpretorius/iStock/Getty Images. LouisHiemstra/Getty Images. wilpunt/iStock/Getty Images. Evgeniia Ozerkina/iStock/Getty Images. nicolamargaret/iStock/Getty Images. brytta/iStock/Getty Images. Sarah Sears/iStock/Getty Images. Steve Adams/iStock/Getty Images. SolStock/E+/Getty Images. brittak/Getty Images. ClaraNila/iStock/Getty Images. Elsen Karstad/500px Prime/Getty Images. Cheryl Ramalho/iStock/Getty Images. GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. jez_bennett/iStock/Getty Images. GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. SoopySue/iStock/Getty Images. heckepics/iStock/Getty Images. Kenneth Canning/Getty Images. adogslifephoto/iStock/Getty Images. JurgaR/Getty Images. wrangel/iStock/Getty Images. Vac1/iStock/Getty Images. pchoui/iStock/Getty Images. robric77/iStock/Getty Images. ANDREYGUDKOV/iStock/Getty Images. Friedemeier/iStock/Getty Images. christophe_cerisier/iStock/Getty Images. GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. Fantastic Geographic/iStock/Getty Images. erwinf/iStock/Getty Images.

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135 THEGIFT777/iStock/Getty Images. 136 Cecilie_Arcurs/Getty Images. 136 Falconstare/Wikimedia commons/CC BYSA 4.0. 137 THEGIFT777/iStock/Getty Images. 137 GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. 138 Miki Meller/iStock/Getty Images. 138 Utopia_88/iStock/Getty Images. 138 johandew/iStock/Getty Images. 138 Utopia_88/iStock/Getty Images. 139 adogslifephoto/iStock/Getty Images. 139 DaddyBit/iStock/Getty Images. 139 1001slide/iStock/Getty Images. 140 GlobalP/iStock/Getty Images. 140 gan chaonan/iStock/Getty Images. 140 Louis Roodt/iStock/Getty Images. 141 TT/iStock/Getty Images. 142 Subodh Agnihotri/iStock/Getty Images. 143 Julian Parsons/iStock/Getty Images. 143 aaprophoto/iStock/Getty Images. 143 nomis_g/iStock/Getty Images. 144 Abdelrahman M Hassanein/iStock/Getty Images. 144 bazilfoto/iStock/Getty Images. 145 SoopySue/iStock/Getty Images. 146 Kesu01/iStock/Getty Images. 147 KarelGallas/iStock/Getty Images. 147 Kagenmi/iStock/Getty Images. 148 1001slide/iStock/Getty Images. 148 Binty/iStock/Getty Images. 149 Marc Veraart/flickr/CC BY 2.0. 150 IVANVIEITO/iStock/Getty Images. 151 B&M Noskowski/E+/Getty Images. 153 sasimoto/iStock/Getty Images. 155 Marion_Smith/iStock/Getty Images. 156 littleyaibua/iStock/Getty Images. 157 kelifamily/iStock/Getty Images. 158 jordieasy/iStock/Getty Images. 159 dennisvdw/iStock/Getty Images. 160 belizar73/iStock/Getty Images. 160 Farinosa/iStock/Getty Images.

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4FR/E+/Getty Images. Africanway/iStock/Getty Images. Janos/iStock/Getty Images. Rainer von Brandis/iStock/Getty Images. Lucasdm/iStock/Getty Images. AJ_Watt/E+/Getty Images. rkraan/iStock/Getty Images. JasonPrince/iStock/Getty Images. Nuredeenn/Wikimedia commons/ CC BY SA 4.0. Richard Mortel/flickr/CC BY 2.0. Dgwildlife/iStock/Getty Images. Henk Bogaard/iStock/Getty Images. StanislavBeloglazov/iStock/Getty Images. Mlenny/Getty Images. typhoonski/iStock/Getty Images. JackF/iStock/Getty Images. Mnimmz/Wikimedia commons/ CC BY SA 4.0

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SYTExperience/iStock/Getty Images. Dhoxax/E+/Getty Images. Alexcpt/iStock/Getty Images. NicolasMcComber/iStock/Getty Images. South African Tourism/flickr/CC BY 2.0. chingting huang/iStock/Getty Images. Mutiganda Janvier/Wikimedia commons/ CC BY-SA 4.0. delforob/iStock/Getty Images. nicolamargaret/E+/Getty Images. BackyardProduction/iStock/Getty Images. Karisiasafaris/Wikimedia Commons/CC BY-SA 4.0. JordiStock/iStock/Getty Images. flowcomm/flickr/CC BY 2.0. Björn Forenius/iStock/Getty Images. hurricanehank/iStock/Getty Images. raisbeckfoto/Getty Images. Grafissimo/Getty Images.

Additional patterns and shapes: Lindybug/iStock/Getty Images. melazerg/iStock/Getty Images.

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Iulilel/iStock/Getty Images. chuvipro/ DigitalVision Vectors/Getty Images.