Animal Attraction

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Issue 33

If you’re relatively new to the safari experience, wildlife-watching is a great adventure. But what if you’ve been living and working among wild animals for years? Do seasoned national park rangers still get excited about the animals they encounter? Hannah Forbes Black asks four safari guides in Tanzania which species get their hearts thumping every time. Malcolm Ryen, Mdonya Old River Camp, Ruaha Wild dogs “Wild dogs are beautiful – not only physically, but they have a beautiful social structure. They’re the only left-wing animals in the world, where it’s not the strongest that counts, but the well-being of the group. For example, with lions, the adults always fight at the kills, and the cubs eat only what’s remaining. With dogs, pups are always the first to eat, and even injured animals will request food. So they are very special. They play a lot, they’re very nice to watch. “They have a very bad reputation. Until the 1970s many parks used to destroy them, because humans are sometimes stupid and they didn’t like the way dogs kill their prey. Dogs are the most efficient predator: they have a success rate of 70-90 per cent, whereas lions succeed only 20-30 per cent of the time. In the old days, people used to think that where you have dogs you wouldn’t have any other game because they kill everything, but it’s not true because in fact they never stay in one area for long. “They’re very endangered and very delicate. There should be efforts to protect the environment they live in, instead of direct interference with radio collars and vaccinations. They are totally adapted to their environment, so if you protect that you can leave them free and they will survive.” Chris Fox, Mwagusi Camp, Ruaha Elephants “Despite its immense power, the elephant is both intelligent and gentle. They’re very patient and reassuring with each other and they have an incredible memory. The elephant is astonishingly loyal to its family, ready at any moment to take a bullet to protect them. Despite human judgements, they live better within their situation than we do. Humankind judges them and kills them to keep their environment in balance – do we deal with ourselves so harshly? To subscribe or buy this edition, click here “My first memory of elephants was at three years old. I was sitting beside a tree fishing in the Ruaha River, so absorbed with my fishing that I failed to notice a huge bull elephant next to me. I dropped my rod and ran, and the elephant gave chase. I remember thinking my legs were too small and I was not going fast enough. I managed to climb over the wall of the dining banda and roll under the dining table. My legs were shaking uncontrollably, as the elephant’s trunk appeared beside me, plugged bottles out of a beer crate, smashed them against the wall and tried to drink from the floor… “Elephant society is matriarchal. They push the young bulls out of the herd at ten years old when the start to become a sexual nuisance. The females come on heat for only a few days every three or four years. While they live separated from the bulls, they manage to call them using very low frequencies over very long distances – up to fifty kilometres. Ruaha and Tarangire National Parks are probably the two best places where elephants can be observed.” Pietro Luraschi, Mdonya Old River Camp, Ruaha Honey badgers “Honey badgers live in couples – they’re always together and the male is very protective of the female, to the point of attacking a branch that is annoying the female. They have a very particular relationship with the greater honeyguide. The bird eats the wax of the beehive, the badgers eat the honey and the bee larvae. So when the honeyguide locates a beehive, it gets the honey badger’s attention and then leads him to the bees, letting him open the nest and later eating what remains. “Honey badgers are also snake killers. They’re normally fast enough to avoid being bitten, but even if a honey badger is bitten by a very poisonous snake it rarely dies. It kills the snake and then sometimes enters a sort of coma lasting less than an hour. When it wakes up it eats the dead snake. “Last year a couple of them used to come to visit every termite mound in the camp. They didn’t care what was in the way – a herd of impala, a group of people, a buffalo – they never gave up. They were heading for a certain termite mound and nothing would prevent them from reaching it. They’re the most strong-willed animal in the bush.” Onno de Rover, Impala Camp, Selous All of them “What do I choose? The cuddly bush baby with the big eyes who pees on the palms of its hand and feet and then runs up and down the tree in order to leave its scent-mark? Or the fork-tailed drongo that imitates the warning call of the suricates to send them scurrying into their den, so the drongo can eat whatever they left behind in their haste? How about the chameleon crossing the road pretending it’s a leaf and hoping no one will notice its bright green colour against the black tarmac? “Another good example: the larvae of the ant lion creating a perfect round trap in the loose sand to catch its victims? What about the pearl-spotted owl with its two false eyes in the back of its head to deter possible attackers? Or did you ever try to scratch the belly of the gecko hanging outside your mosquito net? It certainly likes it. “How about the black-collared barbet? Its song is so attuned to its partner’s that if one of them dies it’s impossible for it to find another. The baby baboon riding its mother’s back, showing off like a cowboy? The elegant fighting of giraffes as they, like gentlemen, wait for their turn to strike at their opponent in an almost balletic movement? It sounds a bit bunny-huggerish but maybe my favourite animal is the tourist who understands the beauty of it all. Then you know you’ve done a good job as a guide.”

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