What's GNU?

A Wildebeest
Some information about the wildebeest that inhabit the plains of the Serengeti: Also called the gnu, it is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved (ungulate) mammal. Wildebeest stand anywhere from 4-5 feet at the shoulder, weigh 330–550 pounds and can live for more than 20 years. The principal food source of wildebeest is grass. The seasonal nature of the grasslands forces around 1.5 million animals to make an annual migration from the plains to the woods across Tanzania and southern Kenya in a circular pattern. The plural of wildebeest is wildebeest.

During our stay at Tanzania Under Canvas we would also see the following animals:baboons, Thomson’s gazelle, impalas, African elephants, African buffalo, blue monkeys,vultures, female lion, colobus monkey,spotted hyena, Burchell’s zebra,black rhinoceros, warthog, hippopotamus, giraffe, eland, duiker, dik dik, giraffe,ostrich, dwarf, slender & banded mongoose,

..............and that was just the first day!

Early each morning and late in the afternoon we would hop aboard our jeep with our guide Didas and go looking for animals. Accompanying us was a German film maker trying to film some background material for a documentary he was making about witch craft in Tanzania for French TV. He was not the happiest of men when Didas refused to allow him out of the truck to film in areas that were not safe. You could tell the German was an adrenalin junkie. His accompanying sound man didn’t care much about anything except for his mobile phone.

I did get to see what I came for though…. The spectacular of thousands wildebeest crossing the Grumeti River. Unfortunately neither Jeff nor the German Film maker witnessed the crocodiles attacking the wildebeest. We were just never in the right place at the right moment. I guess they will just have to go back to East Africa. The best sighting of the wildebeest came when we parked on top of a hill for a coffee break and watched two long lines of wildebeest march across the plains below us.

A line of wildbeest on the plain heading west