Ever since I arrived in Ruaha, I have been told many interesting stories and this week, I got to see one for myself. People here generally fear elephants, but not so much when it comes to pregnant cows. That is what I heard from one shopkeeper at the park’s headquarters, which is in the eastern part of Ruaha National Park. She told me that elephants that are about to give birth usually hang around the headquarters, which is surrounded by human settlements. Thus, the people are used to seeing elephants at any time of the day. Near the headquarters, one can also easily observe herds of gazelles and warthogs. At night, lions and hyenas join the party too sometimes. The shopkeeper added that there had been an elephant seen visiting the area every other day and to my luck, I got to see her just before returning to do my surveys. I was really impressed to see the elephant so close to human settlements and the situation appeared as a normal occurrence.
This female elephant regularly visited the park’s headquarters and the locals suspect she was about to give birth in the coming days
Back at the camp, we also have other animals that like to hang around. On a particularly windy day, one juvenile green snake was having a rough day. It had made the roof of our banda (thatched house) its own home. Leandro and I spotted it in the morning basking in the sun, not intent on getting to the ground. Later on when Leandro and I were working in our tent, a strong gust of wind blew the poor animal from the roof of the banda onto the roof of our tent. The snake dusted itself quickly and slithered back to the roof. It was quite a sight. According to our field assistants, if the small snake sticks around, it will control the rodent population and also keep away other (potentially dangerous) snakes too. All in all, we felt sorry for the snake. We did not see it when we returned in the afternoon and we hope it had a better day after the windy period. I also had one of those ‘rough days’ in the park when I was doing my survey this week. My study area in the park is divided in five transects and this week I covered the Jongomero area. The area, located in the southern part of the park, is very pristine, has great spots for viewing wildlife, and is also home to one of the most exquisite tourist lodges in the park, the Jongomero Safari Camp. The camp has exceptional views by the river. Baraka, my field assistant who has worked in the park for more than four
years and knows the lodges very well, claims that Jongomero is his favourite camp in the park.
years and knows the lodges very well, claims that Jongomero is his favourite camp in the park.
Our new friendly neighbour, the green snake
There’s only one problem with the area: a little past the lodge, there’s a breeding ground of tsetse flies. Baraka and I had several encounters with them every time we slowed down. So many of the flies would rush into the car but luckily they did not bite. They just annoyed us with their swarming. However the experts of infuriating swarms have to be sweat bees. According to Bob and Sonja (the camp manager), these little insects “test your will to live” due to the irritating sound of their buzzing around your eyes, ears, and nose. They are attracted to the salt in human sweat, and on this day, it was searing hot. The sweat bees had much fun tormenting Baraka and I, and along with the tsetse flies, the whole day was going not so well. Just when I was excited about the prospect of heading back to the campsite, away from the tsetse flies and having a good bath to get rid of the sweat for the bees, we had not one, but two flat tyres one after the other. Baraka and I found a safe spot to change the first flat tyre. By the time we got the second one, it was getting late but luckily less than 5 minutes after we parked the car, a ranger pick-up truck heading to a nearby village stopped by. Fortunately, the rangers were heading to the village to pick up goods from Iringa and then head back to the park headquarters later on. They gave us a ride to get our tyres fixed and back.
From the front seat of a Landcruiser to the back of a pick-up truck, all in one day.
The park rangers at the gate were so understanding because we left the park at around 5pm and returned when it was already dark. Normally, no cars are allowed into the park after 6pm. The rangers stood guard while we changed the flat tyre and also helped us. We reached back home safely. All in all, it was a typical day of unexpectedness meeting the extraordinary residents of Ruaha.
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