Unique Wildlife
It is no doubt that Africa's legacy, its heartbeat is heard through the animals that wonder its plains, forests and mountains. Naturally, at the mere thought of Africa, one thinks of magnificent male lions, beautifully spotted leopards or intimidating rhinos and elephants. What is often overlooked, though, are the less trodden paths where more secretive, more elusive, more rare and certainly more rewarding animals to find exist. Hidden within unique habitats all over the continent, Odysseia has made it her mission to introduce these rare and beautiful animals to the world.
Some Unique & Exciting Wildlife of Africa...
Meerkats
The character of the Kalahari
Meerkats are a type of small mongoose, generally living in the open and semi desert parts of southwestern Africa – the Kalahari being this fascinating animal’s largest stronghold. Though they can sometimes be found living in rock crevices, meerkats mostly dwell in large burrow systems. Each colony harbours a number of dominant individuals, and the adults will often share the responsibilities of looking out for predators and nursing the pups. In some parts of the Kalahari, certain colonies of meerkats have become so habituated to humans that visitors can be treated to viewing these little creatures right up close, literally running between your legs sometimes!
Desert adapted wildlife
Life in what may seem to be the harshest of conditions
Beauty is synonymous with Namibia’s great landscapes. Rough around the edges in some places perhaps, but always filled with life, despite incredibly harsh environment. Indeed, the country’s dry and arid lands appear inhospitable, impressive in their immensity and silence. Remarkably, many creatures have learned to adapt to desert-like conditions, maintaining diverse forms of life in landscapes that have made Namibia’s reputation. In the north, it is not only the ghost stories that have made Skeleton Coast a mysterious place, home to desert-adapted wildlife of all sorts – lions, elephants, brown hyena, giraffe, seals, jackals and herbivores. Ever seen lions sunbathing on a beach? Now is your chance. Moisture from the constant Atlantic fog has brought life to a place where death reigns in appearance only – a place like no other. And as we move inland into Damaraland, a place that seldom receives rain in the dry season, we ready ourselves to track more wonderful creatures. Desert-dwelling mammals have physically adapted to arid conditions. Elephants with long, graceful elongated legs, can travel long distances across rocky expanses, lions have learnt to hunt such atypical terrain, black rhinos seem to blend in so well with the region’s fascinating and rough landscapes of red dust and rocks that turn ablaze in the golden hour light. And if you go to Sossusvlei, watch out for the many springbok and oryx that will roam around the ancient sands, dwarfed by true giants.
Forest wildlife
An impenetrable place of mythical creatures
Africa’s forests, whether they be montane forest, swamp forest, rainforest, are often regarded as an impenetrable place of mythical creatures, biting insects and vanishing explorers – how exciting! This is true in so many places but what is often not mentioned is how accessible these forest environments are. Often, exploring them will require jungle trekking and canoeing channels, to penetrate lush labyrinths of fascinating fauna and flora. Ghostly forest elephants move silently between immense trees, red river or giant forest hogs rummage through the leaf litter and lowland gorillas shuffle along the forest floor. Sounds of exquisitely coloured birds fluttering through the canopy wake the forest from its slumber. A visual and emotional amalgamation exists in these ancient forests, an energy that courses over its leaves and, if you let it, through your own veins.
Gelada Baboons
The 'Simien lion'
The gelada monkeys, or baboons as they are more commonly called, are amongst the most fascinating and iconic creatures in the world, and the last remaining species of the once numerous ancient grazing ape group (along with Andrew Danckwerts). Their family dynamics are unlike any other apes’, and troops can reach up to 800 individuals. Troops are composed of family groups, consisting of a male and a handful of females, nomadic males, ever watchful for attempted conquests from rival family groups with a same troop. The young, however, ignore all family boundaries or politics, tussle, play and roll all over the Simien Mountains. Males will grow an immense golden mane of hair that has drawn photographers from all over the globe and has earned the gelada the nickname of the ‘Simien Lion’. What is possibly as strong a drawn card as these fascinating animals themselves is the habitat they dwell in. Indeed, geladas are endemic to the mythical Simien Mountains of northern Ethiopia, arguably one of the world’s most impressive massifs.
Walia Ibex
The big-horned ibex of the Simien Mountains
The Walia or Abyssinian Ibex is the most endangered of the big-horned, rock-dwelling and generally magnificent Ibex family. Today, with less than 500 left in the wild – all of which reside amongst the highest peaks of the beautiful Simien Mountains – the Ethiopian government has taken their existence and future seriously with jail sentences of up to 25 years if one is caught poaching an Ibex. Numbers are starting to rise and the relationship between Ibex and people is improving. Once spotted in the ice-capped and rocky mountain peaks, one can quite easily trail them on foot alongside experienced guides. Scenes of this immense Ibex in a backdrop of the Simien Mountains, are some of the most picturesque on earth. And the experience of finding them is seldom rivalled elsewhere!
Ethiopian Wolf
The wolf of Africa
The Ethiopian wolf is one of the world’s rarest animals and Africa’s rarest carnivore. Due to habitat destruction and diseases transmitted by domestic canids, numbers have plummeted to about 500 individuals, most of which remain in the beautiful Bale mountains of Ethiopia where they are slowly regaining their footing. A beautiful red, rust colour, they are highly sought after by photographers and travellers from around the world. Sociable canids, Ethiopian wolves can, interestingly, be seen in groups of up to 20 adults and with the right guidance one can get fairly close to individuals and even track them on foot!
Mandrills
The blue-faced wonder
Strangely famous, since depicted as Rafiki in the Disney animation The Lion King, this strikingly beautiful and large ape is highly endangered and is one of only two old world monkeys left in the world. Far from the grassland savannah The Lion King would have them live in, mandrills are actually found in the deep jungles of Cameroon, Gabon, Congo and Equatorial Guinea, yet only in small and isolated groups. Male mandrills exhibit incredible colours of red and blue along their face, arguably making them the most beautiful monkeys. One of the more sought after times of year on the mandrill calendar is July-August – their mating season. For about two weeks every year, hundreds of mandrills congregate to copulate, the colours on their faces more vibrant than during any other time of year. Records have sometimes counted up to 1350 individuals in one single area, and with the usual antics and humour that come with observing monkeys, one can only imagine how entertaining and photogenic these scenes must be…. scenes in which Alice definitely feels at home.
Pangolins
A scaley, rare and beautiful creature
Pangolins are certainly one of the more interesting animals in the animal kingdom. For the most part all covered in beautiful scales made from keratin, they resemble small, golden dragons. Eight species exist around the world, four of which are found in Africa. Pangolins are solitary animals that mostly live in and on the ground – except for the black-bellied pangolins of central and west Africa that climb trees. Using their long tongue, that can stretch up to twice their size, pangolins mainly feed on ants and termites. Unfortunately, the pangolin is the world’s most trafficked mammal, and their numbers have plummeted in recent years. However, hope persists for this little animal, as safe havens exists across various protected places across the globe and intense conservation efforts are deployed to help stabilise the numbers of this ancient mammal.
Aardvarks
The elusive ‘earth-pig’
The name ‘aardvark’ derives from an Afrikaans translation that literally means ‘earth-pig’. However, it is not clear how it earned such a strange name – some have theorised it is due to its habits or strange appearance. A strong but hunched body with an elongated snout and large tail make it easily recognisable, yet incredibly difficult to see due to their nocturnal and secretive nature. They use spade-like claws to break through the shell of termite mounds, before stretching a long and thin tongue down into the mound to scoop up the termites. Aardvarks burrow into the ground to create safe places to sleep at night and these holes can be commandeered by various other animals such as warthogs, snakes and some birds.
Madagascar's wildlife
Lemurs, brightly colored chameleons and fascinating insects
An island paradise exists 300 miles off the coast of Africa, home to over 100 species of lemurs, brightly colored chameleons, fascinating insects, exquisite orchids and avenues of towering baobab trees. This unique island experience is as unique as the wildlife and people found on Madagascar, and visitors can trek the forest to find habituated lemurs and fascinating reptiles, walk through and photograph the famous baobab avenues of Madagascar, go on history tours to learn of its dark past or simply relax in the shallows of some of the most beautiful and pristine coastline in the world.
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