Pat Bean's blog

Looking Beyond the Answers to the Questions

July 13, 2011 by Pat Bean

My mind's eye saw this young Maasai girl as one who will face the future unafraid. --Photo by Pat Bean

“A good question is never answered. It is not a bolt to be tightened into place but a seed to be planted and to bear more seed toward the hope of greening the landscape of idea.” – John Ciardi.

African Safari: A Conversation With Bilal

Kim asked Bilal if there were any female guides.

“Some of the other guides do, but I don’t,” he said.

“Huh?” Kim replied.

It seems Bilal thought she had asked him if he ever “visited” girls in the local villages in the evenings when he wasn’t driving us around Tanzania.

His answer when he finally understood the actual question was: “Oh no. They would be too afraid.”

Both replies were telling, I thought.

Our conversations with Bilal revealed a lot more about Africa than what could be seen with the eyes. Of course, we two “uppity” women tried to open Bilal’s eyes as well.

I suspected we were unsuccessful when he laughed in disbelief after Kim told him about our friend, Janice, and my daughter-in-law, Karen – two American women who both hold martial arts’ black belts.

Of course, there are things in life to be afraid of, like hippos that are at the top of the list of Africa's most dangerous mammals. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

“Now those are two women who could even kick your butt,” Kim had said.

But while respectful of our opinions, and us, we could see that Bilal didn’t believe her.

Later, when we were in Kenya, we visited a local Maasai tribe where a couple of the men demonstrated a game played with stones. This time I asked the question: “Do women also play the game?”

The stone game -- played only by men. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

“Oh no. They can’t understand it,” was the response given through our Swahili translator.

My tongue hurt from biting back the retort. We were, after all, guests in another country.

It wasn’t until the Maasai men were demonstrating to us how high they could jump from a standing position that I could once again smile.

A gaggle of young boys were imitating the men – as was one young girl.

She was with the women off to the side, and jumping despite the gentle hand on her shoulder, laid there by one of the women to try to get her to desist.

Perhaps, I thought, she will grow up to be a guide. There was certainly no look of fear in her face.

Posted in African Safari, Travel | Tagged African gender roles, African safaria, hippos, John Ciardi, kenya, postaday2011, tanzania | 5 Comments »

Mullein Coming Into Bloom at Lake Walcott

July 12, 2011 by Pat Bean

Common mullein just starting to blossom -- Photo by Pat Bean

“Oh, grey hill,
Where the grazing herd
Licks the purple blossom,
Crops the spiky weed!
Oh, stony pasture,
Where the tall mullein
Stands up so sturdy
On its little seed!”
– Edna St. Vincent Millay

Travels With Maggie

Beautiful walk this morning here at Lake Walcott, where the mullein’s tall stalks are just beginning to fill with yellow blossoms.

As the weather has turned warmer – although not into the triple digits my family and friends back in Texas have been enduring – things have become to pop out. I see something new every morning when I take my walk with Maggie.

Mullein with the park and lake in the background. -- Photo by Pat Bean

This morning was especially nice, and so I decided to take a break from my African Safari to share it with you.

I’m not sure what the wildflower below is, although I think it may belong to the onion family. Perhaps one of you wildflower experts can identify it. I hope so because I really do like to know the proper names of things.

Meanwhile I’ll be back later today with more recap of Kim and my African Safari adventures.

Who can name this plant? -- Photo by Pat Bean

Posted in Lakes, Nature, Travel, Wildflowers | Tagged common mullein, Idaho, Lake Walcott, postaday2011, Wildflowers | 3 Comments »

Wildlife Ignored Our Undigestable Metal Beast – Thankfully

July 11, 2011 by Pat Bean

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

Bilal always had our Land Rover swept and washed when he picked up us each day for our wildlife adventures. Above are Kim and I in our regular wildlife-watching positions. -- Photo by Bilal

African Safari: Afternoon in the Serengeti

Mating lions -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Bilal picked us up after lunch for an afternoon game drive in Serengeti National Park, one of the largest wildlife refuges in the world.

Meaning endless plain, the Serengeti is spread out over 5,700 square miles and ranges in elevation from 3,120 to 6,070 feet. The park provides habitat for over 500 birds and hundreds of mammal species. USA Today lists it as one of the seven wonders of the modern world.

A Coqui francolin posed for us beside the road. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

It was with great anticipation that Kim and I looked forward to seeing it. And Bilal, with his knowledge of where to find animals didn’t disappoint us.

Our list of mammal sightings included Thompson’s and Grant gazelles, hartebeests, topi, waterbuck, elephants, giraffe, cheetahs, baboons, zebras, lion, and of course lots of birds, including many of those already one my life list and new ones to add to it.

Because I often saw birds before other wildlife, the running joke soon became "Oh, there's an animal beneath that bird." In this case it's a water buffalo with an yellow-billed oxpecker on its back. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

One of our stops was even at a small lake where we saw quite a few water birds, including a family of cute red-billed teal.

On the grasslands, we watched a secretary bird stomp across the plains, then stop to wrestle with a snake of some kind, its favorite meal.

One voyeur viewing was of a pair of lions mating, which Bilal said they would do every 15 minutes or so for about three days. There was a lot of quiet ignoring in between the love sessions, and a lot of snarling during it.

Lion dads, while sometimes aloof around young cubs, do stick around to help protect them after they are born. Cheetah dads, meanwhile, go AWOL and leave all the raising of his offspring, to mom. Most of the cheetahs we saw this day, and for the remainder of our safari, had three or four young ones in tow.

Red-billed teal -- Wikipedia photo

Meanwhile, it continued to amaze me at how the animals acted as if our Land Rover was no threat. Of course we weren’t. Bilal said they just considered us a metal beast that wasn’t good to eat – thankfully.

Way too soon it was time to head back to our lodge for the night, where after dinner in the main lodge, we were walked back to our rooms by a guard. He told us to sure and keep our balcony doors closed against a baboon invasion.

Sleep that night, beneath mosquito netting in our luxurious two-bed suite, was accompanied by a hyena chorus, while our morning wake-up call was served up by howling baboons. It was all awesomely different from our regular routines – and we loved it.

Bird Log of New Lifers: Ruppell’s long-tailed starling, red-necked spurfowl, African white-backed vulture, Coqui francolin, red-billed teal, three-banded plover, Kttlitz’s plover, four-banded sandgrouse, little stint and little grebe, Aug. 23, afternoon drive in the Serengeti.

Next: A feminist conversation with Bilal.

Posted in Nature, Travel | Tagged African birds, african safari, cheetahs, Coqui francolin, Land Rover, lions, Mark Jenkins, postaday2011, red-billed teal, Serengeti National Park, Tazania | 1 Comment »

Luxury Lodge in the Middle of Protected Wildlife Habitat

July 10, 2011 by Pat Bean

A colorful lizard roaming around the lodge swimming pool. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

: The view of the Serengeti landscape from a Sopa Lodge patio was awesome.

“Plans to protect air and water, wilderness and wildlife are in fact plans to protect man.” Stewart Udall

African Safari: Serengeti Sopa Lodge

Kim in the pool in front of the Serengeti Sopa Lodge. -- Photo by Pat Bean

The wildlife viewing didn’t stop when we reached the Serengeti Sopa Lodge, another five-star hotel compound in the middle of nowhere, and again where we were treated like the royalty we were not. This was quite a new experience for this budget traveler. I loved every minute of it.

Meanwhile, not only did the lodge prove cliff-top views of the surrounding Serengeti landscape, but it also overlooked a man-made waterhole where we watched everything from monkeys to hyenas come in for a drink.

There was also smaller, quite colorful wildlife running all about the lodge compound.

Von der Decken's hornbill -- Wikipedia photo

After yet another delicious lunch, including a pumpkin soup that I came home and tried to duplicate in my tiny RV kitchen, Kim wandered out to the pool for a swim so I could take a picture of her with the Serengeti landscape in the background.

Afterward, she chased a red and purple lizard around to take its photo.

I, meanwhile went back to looking for birds. My best find was an strikingly handsome yellow-eyed fellow that I finally identified as an arrow-marked babbler. It would be the only one of its kind I would see on the trip, although I did see other babbler species and understand why they are so named. These birds are quite boisterous vocalizers.

And was being quite successful at it. By the time we met up again with Bilal for our afternoon game drive, my list of new lifers had grown to 67. Below are the ones I added to the list so far this day.

Front of the Sopa Lodge that sits in the middle of nowehere in the Serengeti. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Bird Log of New Lifers: Common ostrich, common fiscal, white-browed sparrow weaver, kori bustard, red-billed buffalo weaver, yellow wagtail, Rufous sparrow, banded parisoma, lappet-faced vulture, secretary bird ( Aug. 23, drive from Lake Manyara’s Serena Lodge to the Serengeti’s Sopa Lodge), Von der Decken’s hornbill, rock martin and arrow-marked babbler (Aug. 23, at the lodge.).

Posted in African Safari, Travel | Tagged African birds, african safari, arrow-marked babbler, lizards, postaday2011, Serengeti Sopa Lodge, tanzania, Travel, Von der Decken's hornbill | 1 Comment »

July 10, 2011 by Pat Bean

“The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense his life … the beautiful vagabonds, endowed with every grace, masters of all climes, and knowing no bounds – how many human aspirations are realised in their free, holiday lives – and how many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song.” – John Burroughs

They say ostriches stick their heads in the sand. Maybe so. But the ones we saw in the Serengeti preferred to stretched out their legs and run. It made for a glorious parade. -- Photo by Pat Bean

African Safari: Colorful Birds

Kori bustard -- Photo by Kim Perrin

The drive from Lake Manyara to the Serengeti was one of the most exciting bird-watching days in my life. I saw my first free roaming ostriches. Much bigger than I imagined, and boy could they run.

We passed a Kori bustard, which strutted across the grasslands like it owned them. We were close enough for Kim to even get a great photograph. This was a big bird, standing over three-feet tall.

There was this great big red-faced fellow, a lappet-faced vulture. he made ugly look beautiful, well at least to the addicted birder.

A flock of Ruppell's griffin vulture, with a lone lappet-faced vulture on the far left. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

A face only a mother could love, or not. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

And then there were the secretary birds, so named because someone thought the stiff neck feathers looked like the quill pens secretaries used to stick behind their ears. it hunts its prey — small mammals, snakes, lizards, young birds, on the ground.

Secretary bird: Do you think this bird's neck feathers look like quill pens? -- Wikipedia photo

Like the bustard, the secretary bird we saw was strutting across the savannah as if it owned it.

Next : the Serengeti’s Sopa Lodge

Posted in African Safari, Travel, Uncategorized | Tagged African birds, african safari, lappet-faced vulture, ostriches, postaday2011, Ruppell's griffin vulture, secretary birds, Serengeti, tanzania | 1 Comment »

Wildlife Conservation Efforts Impact the Maasai

July 8, 2011 by Pat Bean

“Daylight follows a dark night.” – Maasai proverb

A group of Maasai women getting ready to dance for us. They live in a model Maasai community set up for tourist visits. -- Photo by Pat Bean

African Safari: A Hard Life for Women

It was the opportunity to see African wildlife, lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes and all the rest, that brought me to Africa. Kim and I came, or so we have been told, just in time to get at least a tiny glimpse of the continent as it once was.

The poachers, the developers, the fur trade, the masses of humankind are fast changing Africa, with many animals pushed to the brink of extinction – just as the buffalo, wolf and other wildlife numbers came near extinction as settlers moved west across America.

And just as our country finally and wisely set aside land to protect American’s spectacular landscapes and wildlife, Tanzania and Kenya have created national parks to do the same. But the conservation efforts have had a devastating effect on the Maasai, a nomadic tribe that formerly lived and grazed their cattle on what is now protected lands.

The Maasai were once famed warriors of legend who fought all comers – both to maintain their hold on their lands and to capture more. Their downturn began at the beginning of the 20^th century when the British reduced their holdings by 60 percent to make way for their own settlers.

And in the 1940s, most of the Maasai’s remaining fertile cattle-crazing lands were confiscated and set aside as wildlife sanctuaries – conservation efforts I applaud. .

The Maasai leader of the model community sitting in his home of sticks and dung as he explained the Maasai lifestyle to Kim and I. -- Photo by Pat Bean

But I also feel said for the the Maasai fallout, which appears to me very similar to what happened to our own native Americans when white settlers moved in and began to dominate our own landscape.

The solution to the Maasai problem, as proposed by the Kenya and the Tanzania goverments, is for the Maasai to give up their nomadic way of life and assimilate with the rest of the country. While it seems a bit heartless, based on what we saw of the Maasai lifestyle, I agree.

Kim and I often saw many Maasai men wandering aimlessly along the roadsides in the Serengeti, and many very young boys herding a few cattle or goats as we traveled. The women, however, were left to build their stick and dung homes, gather firewood unprotected in lands where lions roam, transport water long distances, and to do everything else necessary to maintain a very meager hold on life.

Not only is the Maasai infant death rate high, many women die in childbirth as well because of the primitive conditions in which they give birth, and because of the lack of medical help. .

Bilal was uncharacteristically outspoken about the “lazy Maasai men,” and frequently expressed concern for the Maasai women. Kim and I certainly felt the same way about them.

I know it’s presumptuous of me, who spent only two weeks in Africa, and most of that wildlife watching in the national parks, to comment on such an emotional ethnic issue. But it was part of the experience. And I feel strongly that it should be shared. .

Recalling those observations, and the emotions that even now they continue to stir, I unashamedly weep for my Maasai sisters.

Next: Bird sightings on the drive from Lake Manyara and the Serengeti

Posted in Travel | Tagged African wildlife, Conservation, Kenya. Tanzania, Maasai tribe, Maasai women, postaday2011 | 1 Comment »

A Rough Ride Equals a Free Massage

July 7, 2011 by Pat Bean

It's easy to see that giraffes are what help give the umbrella acacias their shape and name. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

“Each day I live in a glass room unless I break it with the thrusting of my senses and pass through the splintered walls to the great landscape.” – Mervyn Peake

African Safari: Runners, Wildlife and Thorns

When I travel from place to place in my native America, I try extremely hard never to get on a boring freeway. In Tanzania, Kim and I never had to worry about our driver, Bilal, taking such a wide interstate from place to place. There were none, or at least none in the areas we traveled.

We were lucky if the roads were paved. Their roughness prompted Bilal to joke that along with being our driver, he was giving us a free massage.

Which was perfectly fine with me. The bouncy ride was part of the adventure. And the slower we were forced to go, the more time it offered for sightseeing.

And there was plenty to see this morning as Bilal transported us from Lake Mayara’s Serena Lodge to the Sopa Lodge in the Serengeti. The drive took us from wide-open Wyoming like scenery through a misty jungle that brought images of Jurassic Park floating though our brains.

Wildebeest and morning mist on the Ngorongoro Crater escarpment. -- Photo by Pat Bean

One of the populated areas we passed through was Karatu, which Bilal told us was the home of many great marathon runners. Watching the area’s slim, black men brought to mind images of the Boston marathon and other long-distance races I had seen in which racers with such physiques were always frontrunners.

The misty jungle scenery came near the top of the Ngorongoro Crater, which was formed seven million years ago when the land was pushed up by volcanoes, then collasped. At the crater overlook, a Maasai salesman was immediately upon us, but Bilal suggested that we wait to shop somewhere that would benefit an entire Maasai community.

This hungry simba had his eye on a tommy (Thompson's gazelle). -- Photo by Kim Perrin

Zebra, cheetahs, lions, gazelles, monkeys, giraffes, gazelles, and other African wildlife were also on the sightseeing agenda this morning. We lingered the longest to watch a mother cheetah with four young cubs that stayed mostly hidden in the grass while the mother kept a look out.

Bilal stopped to show us the whistling acacia tree, on which grow hollowed nodes favored by ants. The ants create holes in these bulbous growths and when the wind blows over them the produce a whistling sound.

Despite the thorns, giraffes find this plant a delectable meal.

Whistling acacia

I found this information fascinating, but once again, our sight-seeing put us behind schedule. And so Bilal again put the pedal to the metal to get us to the Serengeti lodge in time for our scheduled lunch. Kim and I just hung on – and smiled.

Next: The Homeless Maasai

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel | Tagged african safari, escarpment, giraffe, Karatu, Lake Manyara, lions, Ngorongoro Crater, postaday2011, runners, Serengeti, simba, tanzania, whistling acacia | 5 Comments »

Lake Manyara Sights too Awesome to Pass Up

July 6, 2011 by Pat Bean

“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” – Eddie Cantor

Lake Manyara sunset was the first of many Africa gifted Kim and I. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

African Safari: Lake Manyara Continued

I know I said we were going to drive to the Serengeti today, but I decided to linger a bit longer at Lake Manyara to share some of Kim’s photos with you.

She took hundreds, if not thousands, compared to my relatively few, and sent me a slide show of the best of them shortly after we returned from Africa. But they were in a format that I couldn’t download onto my computer.

Kim and I in front of our Serena Lodge rondeval. -- Photo by Kim Perrin, using timer and tripod

An orchid growing around the lodge. -- Photo by Kim Perin

Finally, last night, she found a way to send me the originals that I can copy and use for this recap of our 2007 African safari. It would seem a shame to waste her efforts, and all my efforts downloading them this morning, to skip showing you at least a few of them.

I hope you enjoy. And tomorrow, I promise, we’ll drive to the Serengeti.

In addition to lions and elephants, Kim and I also took time for smaller things, like this awesome chameleon we watched as we ate our lunch. -- Photo by Kim Perrin

: A mama lion and two cubs in Lake Manyara National Park. — Photo by Kim Perrin

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel | Tagged african safari, African sunsets, chamelon, Eddie Cantor, Lake Manyara National Park, lions, orchids, postaday2011, Serena Lodge | 2 Comments »

July 5, 2011 by Pat Bean

A Wild Race to Lake Manyara’s Park Gate

This was our first truly close-up look at an elephant. There would be many more before the trip ended. -- Photo by Pat Bean

“…nature has ceased to be what it always had been, what people needed protection from. Now nature tamed, endangered, mortal, needs to be protected from people.” – Susan Sontag

African Safari: The Ugly Poaching Business

There is no nighttime wildlife viewing in Tanzania’s national parks. That’s when the poachers come out, Bilal told us.

It used to be, he said, that the poachers made war on the park rangers, but now the park rangers are shooting back. And Tanzania doesn’t want tourists caught in the crossfire.

This is a Masai giraffe, the largest of the several subspecies of giraffe found in Africa. It is a bit darker than the other subspecies, has jagged spots and tuft of hair on its tail. -- Photo by Pat Bean

But despite the government’s crackdown, according to several recent news articles that I’ve read, poaching is still a major problem in Tanzania, as well as some other African countries, and in some areas is even increasing.

What Tanzania’s official crackdown on the illegal activity meant to us in 2007 was that the park closed its gates at 6:30 p.m. – and there was a big fine for not checking out of it by that time.

Perhaps because of some great last-minute sightings of an elephant dusting herself off and a mother giraffe with a young one that were too terrific to pass up, Bilal may have lost track of time. That was one of the great things about our guide. He always seemed as excited at watching wildlife as we were – well unless it was small, nondescript birds.

Anyway, all of a sudden Kim and I found ourselves being

Yellow-billed oxpeckers. We would see these on the backs of giraffes and water buffalo. -- Wikipedia photo

bounced around in the back of the Land Rover, holding on tightly but with grins on our faces, as a worried Bilal put the pedal to the metal in a race to get back to the entrance before the deadline. It was a deliciously wild ride that added a touch of adventure to our already full day.

We made it with two minutes to spare, and we could audibly hear Bilal exhale a sigh of release, and see the smile return to his face.

He slowed down for the drive back to our Lake Manyara Serena Lodge, and stopped to let us photograph our first spectacular African sunset.

Blacksmith plover: We would see many of these during our drives across Kenya and Tanzania's grasslands. -- Wikipedia photo

I’ve heard artists and photographers talk about Africa’s great light, and now I was getting to see it for myself.

What a great day.

Bird Log of New Lifers: Little egret, white stork, sulphur-breasted bush shrike, common bulbul, tawny eagle, white-rumped swift, emerald-spotted wood dove, blacksmith plover, grey-headed kingfisher, Egyptian goose,

African spoonbill -- Wikipedia photo

black-headed gull, grey-headed gull, great cormorant, lesser flamingo, great white pelican, yellow-billed egret, yellow-billed stork, black-winged stilt, African spoonbill, pied avocent, two-banded courser, southern ground hornbill, yellow-billed oxpecker, fish eagle, long-tailed fiscal, silvery-cheeked hornbill, crowned plover, marsh sandpiper, Hilderbrant’s francolin, helmeted guinea fowl, dark-capped yellow warbler, great reed warbler, cliff chat , August 22 afternoon drive in Lake Manyara State Park.

Next: Drive to Serengeti National Park

Posted in African Safari, Nature, Travel | Tagged african safari, African spoonbill, Blacksmith plover, Lake Manyara National Park, Land Rover, poaching, postaday2011, Susan Sontag, tanzania, yellow-billed oxpeckers | Leave a Comment »

Lions in Trees, Comical Baboons, Oxpeckers on Giraffes

July 4, 2011 by Pat Bean

“We all should know that diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value ..” – Maya Angelou

One of Lake Manyara National Park's famed tree-climbing lions. -- Wikipedia photo

African Safari:Where the Wild Things Are

At the entrance to Lake Manyara National Park is a sign that reads: “Take nothing from the park but nourishment for the soul, consolation for the heart and inspiration for the mind.”

The next few hours would provide Kim and I with plenty of all three.

As a normal rule, lions don’t climb trees. But if we were lucky, we were told, we would see some tree-climbing lions in Lake Manyara National Park.

Southern ground hornbill.

We were lucky.

And along with lions sprawled out on tree limbs, we saw oxpecker birds gleaning insects from the backs of giraffes, watched the comical antics of baboon families, including one small one that would taunt his bigger cousins then rush back to his big male papa for protection.

We saw a few lingering flamingos of the millions that feed on the lake before migrating elsewhere, and dozens of colorful birds. And we came across zebra and gazelles dining together, with a few keeping watch for lions and cheetahs that wanted them for dinner.

Zebras and gazelles dining together in a grassy plain area of the park. -- Photo by Pat Bean

In fact, I don’t think there was even a single moment during our afternoon game drive when we were out of sight of wildlife going about their business. So accustomed to Land Rovers were they, that we were totally ignored, which would not be the case, Bilal warned us, if we were on foot

Lake Manyara, named after the Masaai word manyara for a plant that is used to grow stockades for livestock., has a quite diverse habitat, which accounts for its broad range of species. The landscapes go from lake to jungle, and includes an acacia woodland forest, open grassland, and a swamp.

Lesser flamingoes at Lake Manyara -- Kuru Travel photo

At one of our stops, we had southern ground hornbills strutting around on one side of us, giraffes on the other side of us and both elephants and water buffalo nearby.

I didn’t know which way to look, but I think the hornbills got the majority of my attention. These large black and red birds have voices that some say sound human.

And according to a Masaai folk tale, their conversation is as a man speaking to a woman. He says: I want more cows, and she replies: You’ll die before you get them.

Next: A wild race to the park gate

Posted in African Safari, Travel | Tagged african safari, baboons, flamingos, gazelle, Lake Manyara National Park, Massai folk tale, oxpeckers, postaday2011, southern ground hornbill, tanzania, zebra | 3 Comments »