More from a walking safari

When we were walking, you would see giraffes all around just staring at us. They’d be standing still even a mile off and just staring.

It was so comical that we took to waving and saying hi. They didn’t budge.

Another interesting sight was the lack of a hive for the bees using the baobabs.

Our guide believes that this is the largest baobab in Ruaha:

We were just a bit dwarfed.

Since it’s hard to appreciate just how close we were to the animals while on foot (given my camera’s zoom capabilities), Steve shot this great video on his phone to show scale, and just how quiet elephants can be.

When we’d get near the river, this was the kind of trail we followed:

These were the conditions that allowed us to come round a corner and nearly walk into an elephant! Our guide had no idea that we were coming right up on them, as they weren’t moving, and were actually eating quietly for once. He said, “Turn around now and walk away - quickly.” He had never said anything like that before in 5 days, so we took him quite seriously, and I didn’t stop for a picture.

Now I know you’ve been waiting breathlessly for a better Dikdik picture -

They’re about 12-14 inches tall and weigh 6-8 pounds.

So, now we’re walking on to “fly camp” which is over 8 miles away from the main camp. Near there, I got another shot of a Greater Kudu that shows off the curves of his horns.

Once in camp, we were acquainted with our digs for the next 2 days,

and appreciated the “bar” and dining table on the beach of the river.

Part of the welcoming committee included this wasp that had paralyzed the spider and was dragging it back to its nest.

I’d be remiss in not sharing one of the many species of hornbills that we saw every day. This is the endemic Ruaha Red-beaked Hornbill.

In the afternoons, we would go on driving safaris, and routinely had to negotiate “roadblocks”.

“What you lookin’ at?”