Back in the game

It has occurred to me that I’ve posted a lot of pictures of the big five and forgotten about the other less cooed over beautiful animals here in the delta. The often misunderstood hyena being one of them.

Before I left I heard all sorts of horror stories about the spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) yes I am learning the latin names of mammals here in the delta which I might add is nothing to our resident two year old Keita who knows them already and all the latin names of the trees... ahem.....anyway......did I mention she is two?

There were stories where they had pulled children out of tents and killed them. From camp fires etc. All cases caused by negligence I might add. Tents left open to feed or catch a glimpse of one does and will result in this sort of outcome. Don’t get me wrong, horrible situations but there are rules for a reason. Because of these stories I was somewhat turned off by the Hyena and thought of them as scraggily ugly scavengers to be thought poorly of and to be afraid of.

Once I got to see one several times I started to see the beauty in them as there is in all animals. Still scavenger like, they are the only carnivore the eats virtually everything and can swallow a sliver of bone up to 9cm long and digest it with in hours, giving me something to be afraid of, from the comfort of the vehicle he is a lovely spotted beautiful animal.








The Jackal (canis adustus) is another often spotted animal here. To compare to something familiar to those at home, they look much like a fox. One will often see them eating the jackal berries form a jackal berry tree.









And my most favorite and not seen nearly enough for my liking the wild dog (Lycaaon pictus) such a magnificent and beautiful animal. They are a pack hunting dog and live in numbers that often reach 20 or more dogs. Stunning to watch but unfortunately rarely seen and as they move fast on the hunt making them very difficult to follow.





























I have also had the privilege to see a Caracal (Felis caracal) the african version of a Lynx, unable to take a picture as it was too dark at the time as they are mainly nocturnal, I’ve stolen this from google images. Stunning little creatures with the most amazing eyes and pointing ears.











Just the other day, as well at last light (google pic) we saw a beautiful Serval (Felis serval). At first I thought it was a baby leopard. It is the tallest of Africa's small cats with long legs.