three marabou storks - part 7 - preening and napping
249 بار بازدید -
11 ماه پیش
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On the way from the
On the way from the airport we came across these three marabou stork at a pond - on safari at central Serengeti NP, Tanzania.
The marabou storks practice 'urohidrosis' - "the habit of defecating onto the scaly portions of the legs as a cooling mechanism, using evaporative cooling of the fluids." - wiki. Since bird waste is 'excreted nitrogenous wastes in the form of uric acid, which emerges as a white paste' their legs are white.
A number of guides on this trip told me that marabou storks 'poop' on their legs to sanitized them - guess not....
Tips from my trip: DO NOT book with Asilia Africa! More like Ashitia - crap service from start to finish. After camp management repeatedly failed to address what should have been simple fixes, I asked to leave; yes-that bad & only got worse. They don't have a monopoly on the locations, so while the areas I filmed in were good, the camps were not. Book with anyone else but Asilia. Parting gift: COVID!! This is a 'short list' of what I experienced:
the food:
- meh quality of meals; the meat/eggs almost always overcooked
- worst packed lunches I've ever had on safari
- Got food poisoning from meal sat in warm picnic box for over 5hrs. They pack field meals in warm box because they 'don't want to serve you cold food'-hello salmonella breeding ground. Guess that's why guests often get sick. There's a plugged-in cooler but used only for soda/booze. I had them put food in the cooler & was okay after that
- They requested preferences, then refused to accommodate minor dietary requests for health issues. Managers gave me a drink-said 'it only had a little of the ingredient it in it, they 'felt that was okay for me' - even though I had explained the symptoms they caused (stomach acid shooting up into throat). Imagine if you had a peanut allergy & they served you something with 'only a little bit of peanuts in it because 'they' felt it was a small enough amount to serve to you. Hello anaphylactic shock!!
- Also gave drink preferences when booked-5 kinds of juice. Day1 to the very end of my trip-still dealing with no juice/shortage/rationing. They provided unlimited soda & 20+ alcohol for other guests-I often had nothing but water.
the guides:
- high turnover in guides/limited time as guides. Good animal knowledge, but incompetent wrt being able to position you to frame a shot. Even after explained it to them, they still stopped the jeep in odd angles & had to readjust. The re-adjustments scared the wildlife & caused me to lose a lot of shots
- lazy guides refused to leave early 'because it's dark', told me 'you might miss things leaving in the dark'-even though camps are up to an hour away from the action, that 'dark time' is valuable driving time to the action which happens during the early hours. All other companies I've traveled with leave before dawn for that reason.
- guides refused to set out in rain (wasted an hour of what could have been transition driving to the good area), or forced me to end my safari early even after the rain stopped because 'the storm might move in' - we were close to camp, no need to end safari early.
- distracted: often scrolling cell, taking their own professional pictures; pushy to move on
the jeeps:
- their open jeeps look cool, but animals can see you as individual humans-vs jeeps with doors that wildlife sees as one big box-they are afraid when they see you move & run off.
- jeeps have plastic sheeting on the sides, don't seal well, driver's area is fully open. Rained a lot, my stuff and I got very wet (even with rain jackets, when they remembered to pack them), clothes in luggage all wet, seats soaked and wet for days
- the plastic sheeting vs doors with windows (that other camps use) prevents you from being able to film/take pictures in the rain. Game drive is limited if plastic sheets are down.
- jeep never had fully working charging stations-had to ration my batteries. Couldn't use my accessories that would use up battery power. Inability to use gear decreased the quality of video & ease of use. Had to limit video recording to have enough power to last the entire day-missed out on recording a lot of things.
- jeeps are HORRIBLE-poorly outfitted & accessorized (compared to other companies' jeeps); photography jeep is the worst-& costs more!
their travel agents:
- Don't book directly through them!! I booked a month & a half out, directly through Asilia & pointedly asked their agent about the current timing of the wildebeest calving (a mass birthing of wildebeest babies)-which I told them was the sole reason I wanted to come to the Serengeti at that time of year. Agent either lied/didn't bother checking-because I found out after I arrived that the calving season had already started BEFORE I contacted Asilia for a quote. By time I booked & paid, calving process was in full force, over by next week- 1mo before I arrived.
The marabou storks practice 'urohidrosis' - "the habit of defecating onto the scaly portions of the legs as a cooling mechanism, using evaporative cooling of the fluids." - wiki. Since bird waste is 'excreted nitrogenous wastes in the form of uric acid, which emerges as a white paste' their legs are white.
A number of guides on this trip told me that marabou storks 'poop' on their legs to sanitized them - guess not....
Tips from my trip: DO NOT book with Asilia Africa! More like Ashitia - crap service from start to finish. After camp management repeatedly failed to address what should have been simple fixes, I asked to leave; yes-that bad & only got worse. They don't have a monopoly on the locations, so while the areas I filmed in were good, the camps were not. Book with anyone else but Asilia. Parting gift: COVID!! This is a 'short list' of what I experienced:
the food:
- meh quality of meals; the meat/eggs almost always overcooked
- worst packed lunches I've ever had on safari
- Got food poisoning from meal sat in warm picnic box for over 5hrs. They pack field meals in warm box because they 'don't want to serve you cold food'-hello salmonella breeding ground. Guess that's why guests often get sick. There's a plugged-in cooler but used only for soda/booze. I had them put food in the cooler & was okay after that
- They requested preferences, then refused to accommodate minor dietary requests for health issues. Managers gave me a drink-said 'it only had a little of the ingredient it in it, they 'felt that was okay for me' - even though I had explained the symptoms they caused (stomach acid shooting up into throat). Imagine if you had a peanut allergy & they served you something with 'only a little bit of peanuts in it because 'they' felt it was a small enough amount to serve to you. Hello anaphylactic shock!!
- Also gave drink preferences when booked-5 kinds of juice. Day1 to the very end of my trip-still dealing with no juice/shortage/rationing. They provided unlimited soda & 20+ alcohol for other guests-I often had nothing but water.
the guides:
- high turnover in guides/limited time as guides. Good animal knowledge, but incompetent wrt being able to position you to frame a shot. Even after explained it to them, they still stopped the jeep in odd angles & had to readjust. The re-adjustments scared the wildlife & caused me to lose a lot of shots
- lazy guides refused to leave early 'because it's dark', told me 'you might miss things leaving in the dark'-even though camps are up to an hour away from the action, that 'dark time' is valuable driving time to the action which happens during the early hours. All other companies I've traveled with leave before dawn for that reason.
- guides refused to set out in rain (wasted an hour of what could have been transition driving to the good area), or forced me to end my safari early even after the rain stopped because 'the storm might move in' - we were close to camp, no need to end safari early.
- distracted: often scrolling cell, taking their own professional pictures; pushy to move on
the jeeps:
- their open jeeps look cool, but animals can see you as individual humans-vs jeeps with doors that wildlife sees as one big box-they are afraid when they see you move & run off.
- jeeps have plastic sheeting on the sides, don't seal well, driver's area is fully open. Rained a lot, my stuff and I got very wet (even with rain jackets, when they remembered to pack them), clothes in luggage all wet, seats soaked and wet for days
- the plastic sheeting vs doors with windows (that other camps use) prevents you from being able to film/take pictures in the rain. Game drive is limited if plastic sheets are down.
- jeep never had fully working charging stations-had to ration my batteries. Couldn't use my accessories that would use up battery power. Inability to use gear decreased the quality of video & ease of use. Had to limit video recording to have enough power to last the entire day-missed out on recording a lot of things.
- jeeps are HORRIBLE-poorly outfitted & accessorized (compared to other companies' jeeps); photography jeep is the worst-& costs more!
their travel agents:
- Don't book directly through them!! I booked a month & a half out, directly through Asilia & pointedly asked their agent about the current timing of the wildebeest calving (a mass birthing of wildebeest babies)-which I told them was the sole reason I wanted to come to the Serengeti at that time of year. Agent either lied/didn't bother checking-because I found out after I arrived that the calving season had already started BEFORE I contacted Asilia for a quote. By time I booked & paid, calving process was in full force, over by next week- 1mo before I arrived.
11 ماه پیش
در تاریخ 1402/06/18 منتشر شده
است.
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