Mark Haldane, the owner of Zambeze Delta Safaris has continued to work to protect the animals of the area. As part of the plan, he helped to sponsor the “24 Lions Project” back in 2018. This effort was partially funded by the Cabella Family Foundation and the lions were affectionately known as “Mary’s Lions”….Mary being the matriarch of the outdoor sports enterprise!! To date, there are over 60 lions roaming the lands of Coutada 11!!

As Mark and the others researched more about the area to determine what other animals had once survived there but had been poached out of existence, he found that Cheetahs had been plentiful in the area.

So, a plan was put into place to introduce 12 Cheetahs to Coutada 11.  Before they can come in, the chief of the village has to give his approval.   To do this, there is a ritual where he inquires of the gods as to whether this is acceptable.  

I got to witness this event!!!

The chief arrived…..

….with several of the elders and other villagers….

A shrine was set up at the base of a tree…..

….and the villagers gathered around…..

The ritual consisted of the presentation of various items to the gods.  These included flour, millet, Fanta (the orange drink), Coca-cola, hooch (local alcohol), beer, whiskey, red wine, bread, manufactured cigarettes and rolled cigarettes.   With each of these items, the chief intoned certain phrases over and over and the others would answer with a clap and a word that sounded like “boom”.

Once this was over, they passed around all the leftover offerings and the people consumed the rest of it.

This video is a summary of the time.   Be sure to listen for the trilling that two of the women would do.  It is called uvulating and freaked me out the first time I heard it because it sounded like it was coming from the woods behind me…..

When they finished, they packed up…..

….walked to the truck…..

…..and they were gone……

I had two favorite photos from the day….

This one of Chief Tozo…..

….and these four ladies with a child…..

They left their shrine at the base of the tree…..

It was an interesting experience and apparently the gods said okay because tomorrow’s post is about their arrival!!!

Michael and I have always loved to watch birds.   When we lived in Lubbock, Texas we would travel to Palo Duro canyon and try to catch a glimpse of an eagle in flight and then try to photograph it.  Consequently, we have TONS of old photos with a TINY dot in the center!!!

When we lived in Australia, we were in heaven with the parrots that surrounded us each day.  The first night in our duplex, we chased a Sulphur Crested Cockatoo around the neighborhood only to discover that its nest was in our back yard.   I am sure that the neighbors were thrilled!!!

Here in Mozambique, we have been presented with an entirely new set of avians.

One morning I saw a flash of red in the trees and asked Dylan about it.  He told me that it was a Southern Ground Hornbill…

They are the size of a turkey with a large curved beak and a huge wingspan!!!

We have also seen many White-Backed Vultures…..

….and have seen them in action on a buffalo carcass…..

But the birds that have captured my imagination are the storks.  I have NEVER seen a stork in the wild and Dylan has found several that were close enough for photography…. I am in HEAVEN!!!

The first that we found was the Maribu Stork…..

As I photographed and filmed this amazing bird, Dylan told us more about them.    They call it “The Undertaker” and it is closely associated with death.  The upper part of their beak has fine, serrated teeth and Dylan said they are so sharp that you could use them to slice bread.

Because of these teeth, they can easily open an elephant’s super-tough skin and none of the other birds can do that.  Apparently, the vultures will circle a dead elephant and wait for the Maribu to feed first and open the skin, and then they will begin their feast.

I enjoyed watching the stork walk around in the swampy land and when viewed from the side, I think that he looks like an old man walking slowly with his head jutted forward and his hands held behind his back…..you know…..like an undertaker!!!

The second stork that I have been able to study is the “Saddle-Billed” Stork and I recently posted that I was planning a quilt featuring one of these birds.

I feel sure that you will be sick of them before I finish this trip diary, but here goes….

I was first introduced to these amazing birds when we were in the flood plains on our first trip…..

…and then Dylan spotted a lone stork as we were driving along…..

The male stork has a yellow wattle and a dark iris while the female has a yellow iris.  Since this particular bird had a dark iris but no yellow wattle, Dylan determined that it was a young undeveloped male. 

Although you can’t see it in the photo, they have red knees!!

Enough for today. Come back tomorrow for more of the Avians of the Marromeu Complex!!

On both of our trips, I have tried to get some exercise by walking around the airstrip.   The circuit is about 2 miles and I always find something interesting to look at.  If nothing else, I spend the time planning quilts….what could be better than that!!!

On one of the circuits, I was thinking about the lions in the area and that they had been seen about half a mile from camp.  About that time, I heard a rustling in the grass, and I am talking about a BIG rustling.   Because of my previous thoughts, I was quite freaked out!!!

But I carefully looked into the grass, expecting to be running shortly, only to find two of the workers using scythes to cut the grass…..

Whew!!!!

As I continued, I stopped to take photos of a couple of flowers that I saw.   The first was this large bush covered with yellow blossoms….

….and the second this small violet flower……

Remember that it is winter here so flowers are NOT numerous!!!

I have enjoyed seeing tracks of all kinds, whether they be animal (Mongoose in this case)…..

…..or truck!!

I have become COMPLETELY enamored with the tire tracks from the different safari vehicles and am hoping to use them as quilting inspirations in the future…..

And then there is the Dung Beetle!!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am really enjoying watching the Dung Beetles as they work.  I ran across one while I was strolling on the airstrip, but naturally, I didn’t have my phone with me!!  I marked the place where he was and ran back to get my phone.   When I returned, I saw where my footprints ended but couldn’t find him and his HUGE ball of dung!!  I did notice a small track in the sand and followed it about 15 feet until I found him again. 

I watched and videoed for a while and decided to move a stem of grass out of the video.  I guess he thought that I was attacking him because he put his pinchers up in a boxing stance and charged me!!!  He did this three times before returning to his ball of poo.  I decided to continue around my track and let him be.   Please enjoy this video…..

On this particular morning, I decided to visit the camp on the other side of the runway, formally known as Ngazi…..

It is also run by Zambeze Delta Safari but is a much smaller client camp, only containing 3 Rondovels (round buildings) for the customers…..

It also houses all of the Guides and other camp staff in a dormitory-type situation.

As I left the NGazi camp, I saw that Michael had returned from his night of Leopard collaring so I hurried home to hear his story……that one is still to come!!!

As usual, we spent a lot of time driving around looking for animals and then stopping to walk various fields and other areas.

I love it when Dylan and our tracker Albeno (pronounced Al-bayn-yo) stand on the termite mounds so that they can see further…..

As we were walking into one field, we could see an Oribi in the grass…..

Can you see her??

She stayed put and watched us as we approached and finally sprinted off in the other direction….

When Albeno is looking for game, he often hides behind the nearest tree….

At one point, Dylan came to a quick stop and asked if we had ever seen a forest rat trap??   He explained that the rats were large…maybe the size of a rabbit and used for food in many families.  He proceeded to show us and explain how it worked…..

The trap is built next to a rat den.  It consists of a series of sticks that form a “tunnel” for the rat to run into.

 There is a VERY heavy log that is suspended in the air with a vine…..

…..and an intricate trigger system with a piece of fruit attached.  When the rat eats the fruit, it sets off the trigger and the large log falls on the rat……

Unfortunately, this trap was already been tripped but it was amazing to see the ingenuity in building such a complex device.

We also passed a clearing where several of the new concrete beehives had been set.   The bees have not been moved in yet…..

To read more about the Beekeeping effort, check this post

At one point, Albeno tapped on the hood of the truck indicating that Dylan should stop and check something out.   This time, he had spotted leopard tracks…..

… although I have NO idea how he was able to see them from the back of the truck!!!!

Dylan showed us that there were two sets of tracks that belonged to a female leopard and a smaller cub.

This was an important find as there were plans to collar a female leopard in the next week, so all of the trackers and guides have been on the lookout for them. 

As the afternoon grew longer, we passed this scene and I named the photo…..”light at the end of the tunnel”!!

And once again I was rewarded with a sweet sunset……