All Creatures Great and Small

I fully recognize that a "real" safari takes days and dedication and usually a trip to Eastern Africa. But we are not above the "fake" safari available to us in Senegal, at the Réserve de Bandia, near Saly. It is, frankly, a nice way to do a safari while in Western Africa with children: At 35sq km (compared to South Africa's Kruger National Park, which is 7,580sq km, or 217x the size), it provides a big reward for little effort and patience. Many of its star animals are imported from other areas of Africa in order to protect and nurture endangered species, and all the animals are vegetarians (except for a specific few in enclosures), so that they won't kill each other in the small space.

The ostriches:

Adorable. But what about this demonic look?

I'm guessing that ostriches have some sort of double eyelid system, and that I've caught him mid-blink. We have a private safari jeep, and as the ostriches walk right up to us, our driver pulls away quickly, and I urge, "No, no! Go back! I was getting such good photos!" At which point, the guide tells me that the ostrich was about to peck out my camera lens. At which point I understand why we need to have a jeep and a guide in the first place.

The white rhinos:

 

 

Sometimes with their friends the phacochères (warthogs). And a beautiful bird. Possibly a long-tailed glossy starling. Possibly not. I'm not exactly a skilled bird-watcher or identifier.

 

 

The star attractions -- to us anyway -- the giraffes:

 

Here, serving as the backdrop for a beautiful blue bird called an Abyssinian Roller (Coracias abyssinicus -- and isn't it amazing what I can figure out using the internet?!) :

 

The beautiful roan antelopes:

 

South African impalas: 

 

And some of the park's "also-rans": the alligators, monkeys, turtles.

  

 

 

And outside of the park, here are the also-also-rans of Senegalese creatures: mosquitos and bacteria.

 

Whether it's the garbage, the pollution, or some tropical flowers, one drawback to this trip is that Pippa seems allergic to the whole country. Really, deeply, strongly allergic. And she's reacting to the mosquito bites so strongly, she starts sleeping in socks on both her hands and feet so that not only can the mosquitos not get in, but also she can't scratch herself too badly. Her nose is red from the runny nose and constant blowing. Poor little cookie, but at least she seems healthier for the last half of the trip than the first half.

 

 

Thankfully, Hotel Les Flamboyants, which is the place we stay the longest at the end of our trip, has good mosquito netting. The girls and I sleep in the queen, and Anthony takes the twin by himself. Don't feel bad for Anthony. He's happy to be excluded from the itching, sneezing, nose-blowing, all-night-squirming-and-snuggling bed.

 

And as for bacteria, we make it through the entire trip to Senegal with no food poisoning and nothing more than a slight nod to Delhi Belly, aka Montezuma's Revenge. Near the end of the trip, Anthony is faced with lettuce on his plate and, in a moment of desperation, he cracks and actually eats it, with absolutely no adverse affects. We're supposed to like all creatures great and small, but in this case, we're pretty happy to avoid the small.