One thing missing from this typical jungle scene was the noises you would associate with the African jungle if you watched any old Tarzan movies. There were no drums, no "ooo-ooo-ooo-ooo ah-ah-ah-ah" bird sounds, no trumpeting elephants or screeching monkeys. Occasionally we would hear the noise of hippos snorting and grunting or a chirping bird, or frogs making a "breeep, breeep" noise, but that was about it. At shortly after 10:30 we took this picture of a hippo in the river.


Gee, another hippo!

Then, a few minutes later a reed cormorant perching on a limb in the stream posed for us as we glided past.


Note the big, dark webbed feet.

The view below shows what the "side channels" to the river looked like, typically.


The weather was cloudy with rain showers in the area, giving us slightly cooler temperatures.

We saw a number of African fish eagles. Some of them were on tree limbs and some were flying, and occasionally we had a chance to snap a picture of one. This one was wheeling overhead.


I still say this looks like a bald eagle. The colors are different, but from a distance…

The two pictures below are of the same large bird, a goliath heron. Our guide book lists this as "the world's largest heron."

 
A VERY big bird. Don't know where the "David" heron was.

These two baobab trees were picturesque, and give another good view of the flora along the river bank.


Is there a leopard in those trees? We couldn't see one.

Just ahead past the baobab trees we saw a large crocodile sunning himself on the bank. Carol pointed the camera at him and waited as we quietly drifted closer. Just at the point that she was ready to click the shutter, the croc did what they almost always do. Moving with greater speed than you would think possible, he disappeared into the water leaving nothing behind for the film to capture except the splash.


There WAS a croc there, honest!

Every now and then, just when we thought there were no animals within a hundred miles except the omnipresent hippos, something would appear on the riverbank. Even less often it would wait long enough for us to take its picture. We glided up fairly close to a Cape buffalo with a lone cattle egret standing beside him on the bank, reminding us that we were indeed in Africa, not the everglades.


Someone in this picture had been wallowing in the mud!

The old hippo below was another reminder. He looks like he's been in some fights recently. Those marks on his flanks are scars that don't look like old ones.


Tryson pointed out several lone hippos away from family groups. He told us that sometimes a group will drive
away a member who doesn't behave or fit in. Wonder if that's where the scars came from?

It was just after noon when we took the picture below of a group of weaver bird nests hanging from vines with wicked-looking thorns.


Nice nests. Where are the weaver birds?

The birds below were yellow-billed storks. The picture following that one is of a yellow-billed egret. They're both white birds with a yellow bill, but not related!


Yellow-billed storks. Juveniles are darker than adults. The middle bird is probably the oldest.


A yellow-billed egret stalking minnows, or whatever.

At about 12:30 we found a spot where we could run the boat up onto the shore and get out to "stretch our legs." Tryson and the other staff members made sure there were no buffalo or predators around, and we were free to move about a little while they set up lunch. Yes, we had a table with a table cloth, a wicker picnic basket, and a hamper. The meal was all cold but delicious, consisting of bread, fruit, cheese, ham, chicken and cookies, and cold sodas to drink.


Notice the different tablecloth? Lunch in the jungle.


Our view as we ate. Looks like the jungle is eating Les and Carol.

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