279 : Speckled Pigeon

Speckled Pigeon, Columba Guinea

Some very striking pigeons down by the Great Ruaha River taken about mid week on this Summer's Safari - I love the way I write that - it suggest that every Summer will be Safari time but I think in fairness the result of the holiday world cup must stand and its Canada and Madagascar for the next 18 months - Lemurs here we come and hopefully some bears and a bunch of birds so I won't be short changed.

These pigeons are pretty widespread - There are two females and a male with his fine display of ornate chest feathers here. I will ignore pigeons and doves at my peril as the world has a good couple of hundred species some of which are endangered. Tap in Pink Pigeon in the search box and read about a very long trek to find the fabled survivor of Mauritius. I think my boys need some more long walks in their life as do I !!

I pick up (from a couple of months back at this pace !) with us speeding off to a potential cheetah sighting. There were 3 vehicles at our camp and as many guiding teams - we were lucky enough to secure a vehicle for our family which was lovely. No debates as to whether we made a dash across the park to something that the other two "teams" had seen. We could weigh it up based on interest, how engaged or otherwise the boys were (hunger must be listened to when you're 9 and 11 !). On this occasion we went for it - we often didn't. Stopping on the dirt track the guys surveyed  a patch of short grass dotted with trees. It could have been parkland at a stately home - its that serene.

We then clattered off the road - you are allowed a couple of minutes for a view of an animal and just one or two vehicles at a time (although we never saw more than a couple of vehicles ever and usually friends from Kwihala).

And there he was - lying under a tree with a full belly. As close as you sit to your telly to get the same view. Mrs C was a very happen woman, the boys were ecstatic - I felt very privilaged. Now we have seen a cheetah in the wild before - a long way off chasing a Thompsons gazelle and killing - really just a road runner trail of dust. It was in the Ngorogoro crater and we were accompanied by what 20 other vehicles. When I think about the crater I think - yes - some great wildlife but it feels like a cauldron with all the people. I have also seen cheetahs at Sri Banyas - which is a "canned" safari park basically set up by Sheikh Rashid some time ago and housing large collections of african animals. The Cheetahs get to kill but within a large fenced off area - several square kilometres. I had very ambivalent feelings about that place but I know they do a lot to breed some rarer animals. 

Here in Ruaha - 2 and half hours by light plane from Dar and another hour offroading we were on our own in beautiful striking african country just sat with bird song, and the odd animal noise, a slight breeze and this stunning creature. I must have taken 100 portraits. Please do click and blow up - I have never really looked at a cheetah's face properly. 

The flies are flat lion flies and they clean the blood from a kill from the cats muzzle. Again the white area under the eyes to bounce more light in - I guess for early morning and the evening as these are daylight hunters. The camouflage really does break up the Cheetahs outline at a distance. I love the face stripes - I assume it breaks up the head which would be the only thing visible when they are crouched. It was the length of the cat though - she seemed 6 or 7 feet long to me - I didn't get out and measure but the most graceful limbed thing I have ever seen - and the length of the tail. The eye colour - stunning. What a beauty.  

There is something about a large animal not in a zoo - just in the same way at home we get excited by a fox or a deer out there you really pinch yourself. These wonderful creatures deserve our greatest efforts to preserve and protect. I am reduced to bland statements today. He won't get fed once a day by a keeper - He sets off to hunt and has a 30 % chance or so every time she makes an energy punishing run at 68 mph ! They can then overheat and have to just lie and cool down before another attempt. Absolute adaptation. 

I had a P G tips card collection when I was a child and knew from the age of 5 or 6 that this as the earth's fastest land animal.  It tool me a good 40 years to get to see one in the wild but I am glad I made the pilgrimage. Thats what safari is - a pilgrimage away from the telly, the zoo - a voyage back to a wilderness that hangs on by its very fingertips. I am glad that Mrs C and the boys got to really drink in a cheetah , quietly and peacefully, hushed whispered family conversation, smiles from the guides, careful picture taking, no rushed movements - absolute delight. Wildlife bliss. Not too much else I can say. 

I leave you with a view of my favourite truck under a big sky in the evening light. It is so out of body when I look back - so intense an experience if you love nature and all that stuff thats its probably just as well that its once a year at most. I have to do some reading up on Canada I think and work out my big 5 for there - has to involve a beaver and a moose ! I may need a puffa jacket or some odd kit like a jumper ! 

Speckled Pigeon; Columba Guinea

Ruaha National Park, Tanzania

July 2013