14 September 2016
Of waterfalls and the Salient at night
The animals begin to arrive at the Ark. More than two at a time. And the stage is set at the salient for the evening’s entertainment. Of the two thousand elephants in the Aberdares, there’s a herd of twenty at the waterhole. The baby in the family fits squarely under the belly between its mother’s legs. It’s a beautiful scene with the floodlights of the Ark and the full moon.
The elephant family nudge clumps of soil with their toes to lick the salt on the salient. A huge male blows a trunk-full of dust over itself while some in the herd dangle their trunks in the waterhole for a drink.
Meanwhile, a pair of Grey crowned cranes – a bird that’ increasingly rare to find – come to the swamp as do the night birds. An owl hoots and lands on the rock by the water pool. The elephant family leave just as a trio of Spotted hyenas lumber in. They play amongst themselves and lie down to rest for some time before something catches their attention. It’s a family of the Giant forest hog busy foraging on the lush scrub around the Ark. The Giant hogs weighing up to 150 kilograms outstare the hyenas and the show is over as the hyenas skulk away.
Moonlion Safaris 