Dave Taylor's African Safari: Dave Taylor's Safari Diary - Lake Magadi

Dave Taylor's Safari Diary
Lake Magadi
Page 8

For an hour or so we wandered along Munge Creek looking for cats (leopard or lion) and found none. Then we headed for Lake Magadi (also called Lake Makat) and suddenly it seemed as if all of Africa spread out before us. Gone was the disappointment. Christmas had arrived!

The lake is a soda lake (the lake’s African names both mean "soda"). It has no outlet and as water evaporates, the concentration of salts and other chemicals build up. This then, becomes an ideal breeding ground for algae and diatoms which flourish here. It has been estimated that a single square kilometer of soda lake can produce over 2 .5 tonnes (2.5 tons) of algae. That is a figure roughly equivalent to the productivity of 7 square kilometers (2.7 square miles) of good grassland.

Of course it is not the algal ‘bloom" that excited us. It was the hundred thousand or more flamingos that fed on it. The shoreline was pink with them in every direction.

A Drink and Dinner Perhaps?

The spot along the shore where Munge Creek empties into the lake was our destination. The creek is freshwater and, on both mornings we were there, most of the wildebeest herd trekked down to drink. The low grunting call of the animals as they approached filled the air, broken occasionally by the garish braying of the many zebras that mixed among them. The place was alive with sights, sounds and odors.

The shoreline for 100 meters (100 yards) or so was devoid of grass and a relatively safe place to drink. There were few places for a lion to hide. Even so, the animals were nervous and a snort could send the herd into mini-stampedes.

The scent of lion must have hung like a pall over the area. We could see at least a half dozen or more of the big cats lying contentedly by the same stream from which the wildebeest were drinking. Sometimes they crouched down and waited for "dinner".

To be successful, a lion likes to be about 30 meters (98 feet) from its victim. The prey should be facing away. The wildebeest seemed to know this and took care not to get too close to the cats and to always keep them in sight.

Death had come here earlier in the morning, probably at dawn. Hyenas were feeding on the remains of a carcass at the lake’s edge. Since it takes them only 40 minutes or so to consume an entire wildebeest there really wasn’t much left by the time we got there.

We never witnessed a hunt here but the drama and tension were real. We left this tableau with reluctance.

Select a Page:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19