Answers to Africa Quiz #1

We are now out of the bush, and into the falls. Victoria Falls, that is. They are quite magnificent, as you can see.

But enough about us.  I know what you really want is the answers to that first quiz!

1. Those were indeed elephant tracks.  Here’s one of the big guys in action.

As you might imagine they do quite a job on the trees. You can easily tell when a herd has been hanging in an area.

2. When a giraffe eats its leaves, the tree reacts to being over browsed by producing tannins, which makes its leaves bitter. Believe it or not, the tree communicates with neighboring trees, warning them of the danger, so they too produce tannins.  How do they communicate? Courtesy of a renewable resource, wind power.
The giraffe is no dummy. It just moseys downwind to the trees that are out of range of the early warning system. Isn’t that amazing?!

3. Yep, that is indeed a hippo under the water. Check out the dental work on this guy.

Want a closer look?  Boyd, our guide used a hippo skull to demonstrate how this behemoth protects itself.

4. I believe the warthog had a starring role in The Lion King. They definitely were the stars In Karongwe River Lodge, wandering freely through the camp.

5. Setepi, our guide at Karongwe explained that elephant dung has many uses. For example, you can burn it and inhale the smoke to stop nosebleeds.
AND if you are lost out in the savannah, without food, you can make yourself a dung sandwich (minus the bread,of course). Don’t believe me? Setepi demonstrated. No, he didn’t spit it out. I watched.

6. What he DID spit out was antelope dung. It is true that antelope dung spitting is a popular game—whoever spits the furthest wins. I’m not certain, but I have a hunch only boys engage in that sport. I’ll spare you the photo of antelope dung. It looks like little black pellets.

7. Although hippos kill more humans than rhinos, it is mainly because there are far more of them. The most dangerous animal? It’s the one in a bad mood, standing a few feet in front of you!

At one of our camps, our tent’s deck was literally a couple of feet from the edge of the river. I was sitting on our deck reading, when I heard a splash and saw the big butt of a hippo entering the water about 15 feet away from me. I can’t believe I had a book in my hand instead of my camera!

Congratulations to all who tried. If you didn’t get them all correct, well, not to worry. More quizzes in the coming days, as time and Internet access permit.