In Search of Mythical Beasts

The last time we went to Ireland, when the kids were small, was not good. It rained. The kids moaned. The only one really happy was Danny.

The dog.

Thus is took some persuading to go again. This time it was to stay with friends John & Susie. Lured there by the promise of Guinness, dragons and, of course, leprechauns.

 

Being the good hosts that they are (and they are good hosts) they spent the week doing the tourist thing and showing us the sights of Northern Ireland. 

We started with a visit to the local Glen, shrouded in golden leaves. Here surely would be leprechauns galore. 

 

Nope.

 

Then to Belfast. This was a little disappointing as no bomb craters could be found. Someone had been cleaning up. We did however go and see a giant exhibition about a boat. We couldn't find the boat either.

 

We did visit, with some reluctance, a couple of famous local hostelries, sampling their fine wares, finishing at the 'most bombed hotel in the world'. It's good to be famous for something...

On entering the hotel, a stunning coincidence. There was being held a Faculty of Homeopathy (yes, there is such a thing) conference, hosting one of my arch-enemies of the pseudoscience brigade, he who loves nano-particles instead of medicine. Sadly he had just left. When enquiring after him, I was asked if I was a fan. My response was not printable. Still I thought, there must me more chance of seeing a leprechaun here than of homeopathy actually doing something. No luck in either department.

We then went on to visit a hoard of hives (I'm not sure of the collective noun).

You may wonder at this being on the tourist trail, but you must understand that both John and Susie are somewhat obsessed with these little buzzing beasts. Totally obsessed. They have bee magazines in their toilets.

However, these hives were right next to one of the places where Game of Thrones was filmed! My chance to see dragons!

 

For me, this was special. I'm a great fan, and was hoping to see some filming, but their filming season has changed as 'winter is coming'. 

 

So no dragons. Or leprechauns.

We also has a day's trip up the Antrim coastline. Beautiful.

Let the pictures speak.

 

 

You may notice a distinct lack of leprechauns.

 

A great day, but we arrived at the north of the coastline too late to see the Giant's Causeway, forcing my now fatigued hosts to take us there the next day.

 

 

 

Although, as you might have guessed, no mythical little creatures.

Well, that is not entirely true. For a couple of days in the Emerald Isle, there were a couple of little creatures (Jac & Tia) staying with our hosts.

 

They were certainly mischievous if not mythical. At least I caught up with my Dr Seuss reading.

A great week. Lots of good food, lots of good Guinness (lost count after thirteen pints) and lots of sight seeing. 

We were sad to have to return to Belfast airport for the journey home. Although that was the only place I did see leprechauns...

 

Mahale

Our last three nights in Tanzania were to be extremely remote and remarkable indeed. After several intense days on safari, it was time to chill. 

The Mahale Mountains National Park is at the western extremity of the country, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. 

Roads? There are none. The only access is by crossing the country in a small plane and then by boat from the short and slightly scary airstrip to the Greystoke Mahale camp.

 

It's a long trip, but a couple of years shorter than it would have been a hundred years or so ago. It is oh so worth it. It is not just an amazing camp, it is also smack-bang next to the largest known colony of chimpanzees on planet earth.

The camp is both beautiful and relaxing. There were only five other couples there with us, plus the amazing staff. Great food, great comfort, there can be few places like this on earth.

 

The mornings of the two full days we spent there were used in search of our quarry, our closest living non-human relatives, the chimps. There are about 800 chimpanzees in the mountain rainforests behind the camp. Most are left completely wild, but one troop of about 70 individuals are habituated to humans, although they generally ignored us completely.

 

On each day we had excellent sightings of the chimps over a long period, thanks to our guide Butati. A total of one hour's contact on each day was spread out to make the mornings fascinating and absorbing.

Watching the antics of the youngsters was a thrill.

 

Being close to the alpha male, humbling.

 

Watching their interaction, you realise how close to we humans they are. Agression, empathy, love, it's all there.

 

Whether sitting thinking...

 

or simply hanging around...

 

these creatures are full of expression...

 

The differences between us are minor compared to the similarities. Genetically, they are nearly identical. Most evolutionary changes involve epigenetics (changes in the gene switches) rather than actual gene mutation. Look at them and you are looking at us.

Their social interactions are complex, but very similar to our own. I could have stayed there watching them for a very long time, but visits are strictly limited so as not to interfere with their normal lives. We were priveledged indeed to be there.

The afternoons were spent winding down, the evenings eating, drinking and being merry. That I can do...

With much regret we left Mahale to head home. Nearly 10 days in Tanzania. But leaving, for me, is not the end. The small matter of nearly 7,000 photos taken whilst there was to be real compensation. So far I've whittled them down to about 250. 

I hope you enjoyed them.

 

For all photos of Mahale, click here

If you have nothing better to do, I've shoved all the photos from the safari into one place here.  I'll undoubtedly be adding more in the coming months.

Thank you Tanzania, you are a truly amazing country.

The Serengeti - the good, the bad and the ugly.

In nature, there is no good, no bad. There is just your point of view. A crocodile pulling down a young Gnu beneath the water with its mother helplessly looking on, crying out. Is the croc bad? A crocodile feeding to survive, is it good? 

To our eyes, the leopard is graceful and beatiful, the Gnu it hunts and kills is ugly. This seems a little unfair on the poor old Gnu.

Our trip to the Serengeti had been awesome. Only three nights spent there, but over thirty hours on game drives thanks to our amazing guide, Ian. Between long hours spent with big cats, elephants and experiencing the Mara crossing, there was an apparently endless stream of wildlife.

There were birds stunning in their beauty...

 

varied in their size...

 

and in their beauty or lack of ...

 

Along with herbivores large...

 

herbivores petite 

 

and herbivores less than pretty

 

The Endless Plain (the Serengeti) could not go on forever. We reluctantly had to leave. Our next stop however (our last in Tanzania) was to be a stunning climax to an awesome week.

Superlatives are just not good enough...

Here's some photos that haven't made it into the previous blogs...

Joe vs Jumbo

What makes the average Joe Bloggs different from the rest of the animal kingdom? This sounds easy to answer, but is it? What is there that sets us apart, that makes us unique? 

Have a think. What would you say?

Here's a list of possible answers:

Humans:

• are intelligent
• have opposable thumbs
• can use tools
• stand upright
• speak
• are nearly hairless
• control fire
• make war
• murder
• love
• have empathy
• have a soul

Maybe you can add to this list?

Let's compare this list to the humble, if ginormous, elephant.

Are they intelligent? Absolutely. Their IQ may not be as high as ours (arguably) but, with a brain six times the volume of ours, they are high on the list of those species waiting to take over once we bugger up our future. Anyway, every time they've been asked to sit an IQ test, they've proven too intelligent to even bother.

Next, opposable thumbs and tool using. Ok, you've got me there, no opposable thumbs. On the other hand (trunk) their nasal proboscis is soooooo much more flexible than our bone ridden hand. 

 

Controlled by up to 100,000 muscles, this can take a little learning to control.

 

Can they use their trunks for tools? Yes they can, and they do, albeit rarely. They prefer line dancing...

 

Standing upright allows us to free up our hands. Jumbo has gone one better, it keeps its four limbs firmly on the ground, and uses its nose instead of hands. Winner: the elephant.

Humans can love. And some humans seem to think that only humans can love. All the emotions we have, evolved from our ancestors. They must have felt love too. The evidence is strong that many species feel love. Not all (spiders may be an exception) but many do. Elephants? Absolutely. They do not live in marital bliss like, er, humans or more accurately maybe, swans, but their family structure is strong and bound by bonds every bit as strong as in humans.

 

The fact that women control the families should not be seen as a negative. I'd say it was pretty normal.

Elephants seem deficient on the language front, but they communicate using very low frequency sounds, sensing these sounds through their giant feet. They can communicate over many kilometres, whereas I often cannot here the wife talking to me in the same room.

As for being mostly hairless, elephants win here too. Although born with hair, it soon disappears. 

 

In making fire, humans are a clear winner, although why elephants would want to cook their grass is a little uncertain.

Humans make war? Ok, elephants lose on this one. No wars. But other species do. It has, for instance, recently been seen in chimps.

Murder? Nah, not elephants. Chimps however... oh yes, and spiders...

Empathy? Absolutely. Elephants have been shown to have empathy. In fact, empathy is a great evolutionary power, seen in many species.

Trees don't have empathy however, but this gives me a good excuse to use this picture...

 

And then there is the soul. Exactly what is the soul? Well, it is a totally human construct, something that doesn't actually exist in any way shape or form, but gets more books written about it than, well, elephants. Have elephants invented the soul? Heck, I don't know, but why not? 

So overall, elephants score pretty highly on the 'human' scale, except for the bad things like murder and war...

But, and it's a big but, there is one human characteristic that we haven't mentioned. Humans have the ability kill off entire species. Elephants don't. Elephants are, however, high on the list of species we are successfully  exterminating. Why? Because elephants have big teeth. Read that out loud. It sounds a little silly doesn't it?

I hope that the story of Eric the Gnu in the last blog tugged a little at the heart strings. Humans can relate to individual deaths, but when it comes to large numbers, it bizarrely become more remote, more difficult. 

Don't let that fool you, these big guys need our help.

Now. Otherwise my grandkids may never get to see them in the wild. 

The elephants may not be too happy about it either.

Click here for pix of elephants.