Out of Africa

Welcome to the 3rd and final edition of Wandering Aidan's Africa saga!

A huge group of elephants by a watering hole.

This baby seems to be the victim of drippy drinking.

The floors in our cabin are very, very slippery.

A hyena! Their physical structure is less graceful than most African animals- their bodies look like they should continue in some way past their back legs, or at least be a little bit longer.

There are two kinds of hyena: spotted and brown. This one is a spotted hyena.

A jackrabbit.

The same elephants as before.

Some of the area of the game reserve used to be farmland. There is apparently still some residual barbed wire, a few strands of which lodged in our car.

This is a male water buck...

...And this is a female. They actually have targets on their rear ends. Of all the birthmarks...

Hyena droppings are often white, as hyenas tend to eat bones as well as meat.

We had three amazing encounters with lions. One encounter started with some lion tracks. Everyone was looking over the side of the vehicle, trying to decode or just observe the tracks. I was the first to look up, and therefore the first to see that the lion was right in front of us. We tracked it and its friends into the underbrush and watched them join a few others.

We found another group of lions sleeping in a small clearing just big enough for the three of them. We learned that lions are not as graceful as we might have been led to believe when they're tired. They tend to flop over in order to lie down. One lion even slept with his back feet in the air.

The final encounter was of, again, three lions- one male and two female. One of the females slept with her head on a rock, while the other stayed awake. The female started roaring, in a way which I'm told was meant to indicate to males that she was available. However, the male lion then started roaring even more loudly, in a way that said to the males, "Don't bother- I'm here too, and I'm much stronger than you."

Note: the video is not playable on mobile devices.

This is the oldest male we've seen, possessing plenty of scars and a huge, beautiful mane. It is probably nearing the end of its lifespan.

We also saw a few creatures with names that I couldn't quite make out while we were driving away. They looked like impala, but with a more brown color (though still light) and slightly altered body structure and horns.

Along with the somethings, there were also elephants (bathing), zebras, and wildebeests (not pictured). Wildebeests and zebras will often hang out together, as zebras eat the top of the grass, and wildebeests eat the bottom.

I hope you enjoyed our African adventures. Next on Wandering Aidan: a live report from Munich, Germany!

Next up: Munich, History, and Beer!

Hakuna Matata

Hello and welcome to the second African edition of Wandering Aidan! Today was the same as yesterday- in other words, amazing. Let's get the show started.

Impala at the watering hole. The location is very popular.

An elephant taking a bath. It makes you wonder why anyone would want to drink out of this.

African days vary wildly in terms of temperature- warm during the day and frigid at night. Here is a photo taken at the start of our afternoon game drive...

And here is one from about the end.

These adorable burrowing rodents are mongooses. The plural is not mongeese.

An elephant threatened and charged us away just so it could scratch itself on this tree that we were blocking.

A sighting of two adult male lions, doing their trademarked absolutely nothing. Our guide claims that this does not count as a lion sighting, and that a lion sighting only counts if you can see their legs.

We encountered a huge group of adult female elephant with their young.

Either a beautiful African sunset is occurring behind us, or I just had a really good idea.

We were so focused on some other animals that at first we didn't even notice this giraffe standing a few feet away from us.

A hugely rare sighting: a leopard. We managed to get very close while it was taking a drink.

The cat stalked into the bushes, and disappeared so well that neither us nor another group could find it again, even working together. Leopards are more skittish than most of the other animals at the reserve, as they weren't brought in by humans- they were here before the area became a game reserve.

Yep, the African savanna sure is ugly.

We came across a fantastic sighting in the early morning- a huge pride of lions! Being cats, they thought the road was meant just for them.

Their mannerisms are surprisingly house cat-like. We spotted lions lying down, chasing each other, and even using trees as scratching posts. Even the way they move brings to mind their much smaller and fluffier cousins.

The pride comprised mostly of females and young males. This one seems to be a young male, judging by the scruffy mane that is starting to grow in.

Tree squirrels! Not everything in Africa is exotic and bizarre.

This is a yellow hornbill, nicknamed the "Zazu bird" due to its resemblance to the character from The Lion King. The resemblance is much more obvious if you see the tail feathers. The female hornbills lose some of their feathers during the incubation period of their eggs, so that their plumage can be used as extra nest material to keep the eggs warm. Since this renders the female flightless, the male will block off the tree hollow in which the female nested with mud to protect her. He will leave a small hole in which to drop food.


Here is a picture that shows the tail feathers. It's a bad angle, but you get the idea.

A vulture blending in with a tree.

When we pushed our way through some bushes, we discovered a clearing on the other side that acted as an elephant village. However, we were rejected by border security: a protective mother.

This is our room. It was a pleasant surprise, as I was prepared for a tiny traditional-style hut.

This is our shower. Yes, I know it's outside, but the only thing that can see you showering is whatever animal happens to be passing by on its way to the watering hole.

Thanks for reading!

Next up: even more animals!

Kudu and Rhinos and Dogs, Oh My!

Greetings from South Africa! I bring tidings of savanna sightseeing. This is the first stop in our 2.5-week trek through four continents. We left from Hong Kong (representing Asia), then flew and drove to this African game reserve (Africa). Afterwards, we will wander to Munich (Europe), then Prague in the Czech Republic, then back into Germany for a taste of Berlin, then England, and finally back to Denver (in North America).

But enough about the other continents; here's what we saw in Africa!

This is an impala, drinking from the watering hole by the main lodge. Like all other impalas, it has an "m" on its rear end, which our guide claims is advertising "McDonalds" for lions.

A thirsty elephant, also found at the watering hole.

This is a Kudu, similar to the impala but larger and stockier.

These are baboons, our close evolutionary relatives. They seem to be closer to some people than to others...

A water buffalo.

This giraffe seemed to drink in an odd position compared to the others.

A baby elephant! Say it with me: 3, 2, 1, AWWWWWWWWWW

These are white rhinos. We never saw the black variant.

Two baby elephants trumpeting and play-fighting. Their trumpets sound exactly like they are portrayed in movies. By the way, this picture and the following ones are from today, while the others were taken yesterday.

When we saw this elephant, it was ripping down a tree to get at the leaves on top.

An adorable (yet murderous) wild dog. This species is possibly the world's most endangered predator- possibly because only the alpha male and alpha female are allowed to mate. They are also some of the most successful predators, catching about 80 percent of their targeted prey, as opposed to a more standard 30-40 percent.

The alpha male will occasionally urinate on the other members of the pack. This may explain why they are notorious for their stench.

Thanks for reading!

Next up: more animals!