The rains have broken over the Ruaha! What was near desert, over a period of a few days has turned into lush woodland
with scattered green grass meadows. Dry sunny mornings are the norm with massive cloud build up during the day
climaxing in a late afternoon downpour drenching the sun baked earth. The Ruaha has come alive! The trees and bushes
have sprung into action producing leaves and flowers turning the whole park from a dull brown to every shade of green
possible.
Perhaps the most rewarding time to visit a park is during this transitional phase, to see the emergence of creatures rarely
seen in the dry season, and to witness the change in general animal behavior as a sense of relief seems to flood over them.
Suddenly there is food and energy to spare shown by the impala as they pronk and bound around for no apparent reason!
We have also seen the return of most of our migrant birds, some of which come from as far away as the Russian Steppes to
escape the harsh Northern winters, many however come from other areas within Africa. The most noticeable of these are
the cuckoos, several species, which start arriving anytime from October and proceed to wreak havoc among other birds
lives as they fly from nest to nest laying their superbly similar eggs in to the nests of other unsuspecting species ultimately
dooming the family. On hatching, the tiny seemingly helpless cuckoos are anything but. After usually hatching first, the
little cuckoo chick instinctively roll the other eggs out of the nest destroying them below, removing all future competition
concentrating all the adopted parents efforts solely on the one cuckoo. Should the intruder hatch after the hatching of
other chicks he is equip with a hook on the beak tip to dispatch his future rivals.
Several species off bee-eater have also returned to Ruaha, surely the most handsome family of birds in Africa. With such
vibrant colours, the bee-eaters can turn most people into avid bird watchers the minute they sight their first one as they
scythe through the air in search of their insect prey and land on a nearby branch to devour it allowing close approaches.
Dozens of new raptor species are frequently spotted, again some of these birds coming from as far away as Russia to take
advantage of food bonanza the rains bring.
The Amur falcons have returned in their thousands and vast flocks of these birds are often seen over the camp after a
shower of rain to cash in on the emerging termites which escape the mounds in their millions after heavy rain. The huge
spur winged geese and bizarre knob billed ducks although present in Ruaha throughout the year have been joined by
numerous others and are now are in huge numbers littered all over the park and can be seen on every pan and waterhole.
It is it this time of year when Ruaha comes into its own and lives up to its expectations of being one of the greatest bird
paradises in Africa.
Lions are still heard on most nights and are still wandering through the camp once a week or so. Festo located a pride of
15 lion all together resting the day away along the banks of the Ruaha river. Leopard as always is a lucky sighting but we are
expecting an increase as many moved away as the bush started to thin out in the dry season.
One species which will always be present in the Jongomero area is our elephants. With several herds being sighted a day
sometimes in the dry season, we are still getting good numbers of these creatures even now. A female elephant or baby has
not been seen for over a month, but all the boys are now beginning to congregate in to large herds and are often spotted in
our area or more often than not, within the camp itself. The best sighting of last month had to be our resident cranky rogue
bull Kingo return to Jongomero with 20 of his friends in tow. After spending most of the day in the camp and putting on a
great show in front of the main area, Kingo who was very well behaved led them all away again.
The buffalos have moved away from the area but with a bit of effort, herds of up to a few hundred can still be seen in the
open areas further North of Jongomero.
General game as always is still in good supply, most drives come back with frequent sightings of most other species. Giraffe
are still bountiful and one drive returned last week with having seen over a hundred! Greater kudus, probably the most
handsome of all antelope are still being seen almost daily together with Zebras, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, hippos, Dik-Diks,
Duikers, Mongoose, Crocs, Jackals, Bat-Eared Foxes and of course, the ubiquitous Impala whom have just calved and their
tiny youngsters can be seen bounding round all over.
As well as all the big stuff, as always time must be devoted to the no less important smaller little things which scamper
around contributing to Ruaha uniqueness. It has been a long wait for the environmentally vital dung beetles and evidence
for this could be seen by the huge piles of dung covering the park. Within a couple of weeks it has all been cleaned up by
these industrious little workers as they squabble over the fresh dung and fashion it into elegant balls to roll away and
hopefully attract a mate on the way. A horrible job but some one has to do it! Dung beetles return vast quantities of
nutrients back into the soil making them one of Africa’s most important, indispensable little creatures. Velvet mites look as
if they are covered in pure red velvet and if there ever was a visually stunning “bug”, this is it. Never seen in the dry, these
animals are mostly underground where they feed on subterranean termites, as soon as the first rains fall, literally billions
emerge from the soil to mate, in some areas the whole ground can take on an almost red sheen and to walk without
standing on one is almost impossible. They then disappear as quick as they appear and we must wait for this time next year
to see them again. Some extraordinary species of snake have began also to make an appearance, the most notable of course
being the African Rock Python and several youngsters have been found near the camp. Mother has not as yet made an
appearance but a 15 foot Python was spotted by friends of ours in another area of the park!
The elephant shrews are up to their usual tricks and several are seen in the camp each night and on occasion keep up the
odd guest with their constant leg drumming to attract mates. However many of them are now accompanied by a few tiny
babies in tow.
As usual, another good couple of months game wise and without doubt my favorite time of year to be in the African bush.
Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year, and all the best for a good year ahead! Andrew Mollinaro
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