Tanzania Wildlife
Tanzania’s Wildlife Orchestra
A performance by Tanzania’s wildlife orchestra is a concert not to be missed. There is standing room only, viewed from the open rooftops and safety of 4WD Landrovers.
Listening to the eerie vocalizations of the wildebeest, one can only imagine what they are thinking out loud - for none of the thousands of neighbors seem to care. February’s mating season has not yet begun, so this is not the yearning for a partner, nor is it a signal that the lions and cheetahs are lurking nearby. Perhaps these are the sounds of contentment, while grazing on the delicate Serengeti brush, a pit stop on a meandering journey of migration.
At night, asleep in a deluxe Victorian Tented Camp in the western Serengeti, safety prevails pierced by the not so distant roars of lions deeply exhaling. The Camp guards, calm and alert, listen and watch. For this is not a gated community, and we, the humans, are the intruders. After an hour of a live musical performance, the show is over and the lions prepare for their next audition on the world’s stage.
The Grumeti River unwillingly hosts both its’ banks and its’ depth to skulking crocodiles. Never before have I seen such reptilian giants, seemingly inviting one to inch up closer upon extension of that tremendous jaw, just to see what’s inside. And snap! Those muscles close, a yawn fulfilled, and dreams returned of the next herd of wildebeest and zebra attempting to cross their sacred Grumeti.
Was that a trumpet resounding through the Tarangire savannah? Inspiration for Louis Armstrong may have emerged from the depths of Africa, but who can determine if those thick skinned pachyderms had anything to do with it. African elephants, famed for intelligence and memory, offer a unique insight into sound - their ability to communicate by emitting and channeling low frequency sound. Sensitive skin on their trunk and the bottom of their feet discloses private conversations among their species, in search of mates and social gatherings. Only the elephants know where the party is happening tonight, and we’re not invited!
Silently and graciously giraffes float throughout the Serengeti gazing upwards searching treetops harboring succulent leaves and twigs. Their sounds of munching and regurgitations are peaceful, knowing that their bodies only require sustenance that has roots. Mother and daughter when separated, privately locate one another by whistle or bellow. The sound of a male’s loud cough alerts females to his inner drive. I’ll pass on that one.
Laughter is contagious, and privileged to the spotted hyena. However, the joke remains to be seen by the scattering herd of gazelle, as one of their own lays sprawled in the low grass, feasted upon by cheetahs, with those patient scavengers lurking, waiting their turn. The hyena section of the Tanzanian Wildlife Orchestra is well known for laughing in all the wrong places.
The chanting of the Three-banded Plover maintains the rhythm while the soloist gracefully prances up to center stage, dressed in ballerina pink. All wait in anticipation of the first sweet note of the lesser flamingo, joined by a cacophony of chorale support. It’s like nothing ever heard outside of Ngorongoro’s Crater’s soda Lake Magadi.
Welcome to the Tanzanian Wildlife Orchestra in search of an audience.
By Sandy Schoenberg