The highlight of the Tanzania NCA Reserve Route is the spectacle of watching thousands of wildebeest and zebras nibbling on the water grass. Where the rain falls, the water and grass are delicious, and it is a breeding place for wildebeest. Newborn wildebeest enjoy the most nutritious tender grass at the right time, and wildebeest in pairs of mother and child can be seen everywhere, which naturally becomes the object of predators to covet. We saw a female cheetah with a baby cheetah teaching the art of hunting calves. The wildebeest resisted vigorously, but was finally defeated, ending with the calf wildebeest reduced to a cheetah mother-son lunch. Sightings of such sightings are unattainable during riding, and giraffes, coyotes, gazelles, jackals, monkey baboons, warthogs, and many unknown species of deer, birds and birds can be seen everywhere.
A few weeks later, I led another group of horsemates on a long journey to the MMNR Reserve, which borders Kenya to the north. The area is home to a variety of wildlife that has remained unchanged for centuries.
Along the way, you can see buffalo, lions, elephants, giraffes, birds and birds, and if you are lucky, you may encounter cheetahs or leopards. The horse team rode out two or three times in the morning and evening to experience the beauty of the pristine wildness and watch the wildlife ecology. Its wide variety of genera is dizzying. Among the "African Five", African lions, elephants and buffaloes are generally easy to see, while leopards and rhinos require a bit of luck. A professional guide will follow you all the way, sometimes you may not be able to find it all day, and suddenly turn around and find a leopard hidden in the tree in front of you.
As for rhinos, they are even rarer, because of the rampant poaching, governments have concentrated most of them in specific areas, and armed personnel have been sent to protect them for many years; Common in the water are hippos and crocodiles, which are highly aggressive, and knights can only overlook from afar, not close to them. Safety comes first when the horse team marches. Horse friends are in the wild land, surrounded by various animals, people and horses are small and fragile at the moment, plus everyone's mobile phones and cameras do not leave their hands, taking photos and clocking in on the way, it is easy to relax their vigilance. Generally, animals do not take the initiative to attack the horse team, but they must be extra careful in two situations: one is when the animal eats, and the other is when the mother beast has cubs, and the defense is strong. In case of emergencies, the guide will wear a firearm just in case.
In addition to the guide leading the team and the horses in front and behind must be vigilant, the rider must also watch and listen in all directions, because the arrival of wild animals is completely unpredictable. The most thrilling one, the horse team strolled on the grassland, there was no movement around, and everyone rode easily and chatted. As we reached a large tree and prepared to make a detour, we had just rounded a dead corner when we saw an elephant screaming and rushing towards us. The horse's muscles suddenly tensed all over his body, and his ears turned back and forth.
Seeing this, the leader and guide immediately put the spear on his chest to make a shooting gesture. The elephant sprinted to nearly 100 meters to a sharp brake, its two huge ears constantly fanning back and forth, and the elephant's trunk roared wildly into the sky, like thunder. The guide signaled the group to stop and follow the order. At this time, I found a baby elephant in the forest not far behind the elephant, and it is estimated that when enjoying the joy of parent-child in the trees, he was frightened by the sudden horse team, and the mother elephant protected the child. The guide whispered softly to the horse friends not to panic, but to prepare for a quick run. Then he asked the members of the horse team to turn around one by one in order, and rode away from the scene slowly, dissolving the panic of the moment.
Afterwards, the guide explained that the scene was actually very dangerous, not that the mother elephant would get close to attack the horses, but when the elephants were too close, the horses would instinctively frighten and run, and I would definitely fall one by one, and the consequences were unpredictable. Of course, unexpected warm moments also appear quietly from time to time, and one day the horse team walks along the riverbank, and sees a group of lions lazily lying in the sun in the distance.
Looking closer, the four lionesses are all sleeping, two lying on their stomachs with their eyes closed, two lying on their backs, their feet facing the sky, and two cubs playing on the side. As he watched, six lion cubs who looked like plush babies stumbled out of the grass, squeezed into their mother's arms and rubbed delicately, in a very pleasing manner, completely unaware of the existence of the horse team, let alone smelling a trace of the mighty wildness of the king of ten thousand beasts. Most of the time the horse team goes out on a slow walk, leisurely enjoying the scenery in front of them. The highlight is that, when it is safe to do so, the guide will let the horse team run and chase gentle herbivores such as zebras and giraffes on the grassland, which is an unforgettable gallop.
Riding across the Mara River is a daring adventure, and the guide first scouts the river and its banks, makes sure there are no crocodiles or hippos threatening, and sets out to cross the river. The river was wide, the flow was large, and the water was knee-deep, and a female horse friend walked to the middle of the river, and suddenly cried out out of fear. The horseman asked her not to move, approached cautiously, and led her horse safely to the other side.
This incident later became a joke after everyone had a full meal. The horse team's camp is located on the bank of the Mara River, and dozens of hippos can be seen playing in the water near the river, sometimes looking at us with suspicious eyes. The guide specifically reminded us not to leave the camp after nightfall, because the hippopotamus would swim ashore in the middle of the night for fear of being attacked unexpectedly. Overnight campsites vary, ranging from one night to two or three nights, depending on the route. A sumptuous dinner night is indispensable, and water and wine are safe. The fatigue on horseback of the day gradually receded when the cups were staggered and slightly drunk. All horses unsaddled and caged and rested not far from the camp, without any fence barriers, surrounded by lions, leopards, wild dogs and other predators, in an extremely dangerous situation, can only rely on guides and horses to maintain a high degree of vigilance, patrol all night.
Sunrise, sunset and other landscapes are also a feast for the senses. Because there is no pollution, no light damage, and no one to disturb, the fiery red sunset is round and large, presumptuously rendering the horizon, and the dazzling clouds are ever-changing, and it is difficult to hide the emotion of crying. The starry sky at night is indescribable, let yourself lie flat in large characters and look up at the starry sky, and the giant black screen of 180 degrees on the horizon is dotted with billions of stars, twinkling in bands and blocks.
The moon is a huge silver platter hanging in front of you, as if you can reach it. At this time, the soundtrack next to the ear is the most original "symphony": the predation and wailing of nocturnal animals, the screams of birds and birds, the courtship of insects, thousands of kinds of natural sounds intertwined into music, endlessly.
Text, picture/CJ Zhou Zhongwei