It’s not only about the big, well known animals in Africa, there are
some lesser known ones that are worthy of a fair share of attention.
Impala and warthogs are a guide’s go to animals if the drive is quiet.
They are the kinds of animals you can rely on, the animals you see
every day, everywhere. When nobody else is out and about you can spend
some time with these two. They are the source of myths and the butt of
jokes. They can be the kind of animals that are overlooked but if
everyone else is hiding you can count on them to show up and they
deliver when it comes to entertainment and interest. Everyone has,
pretty much, seen impala and warthog within 30 minutes of starting
their safari holidays at the Vuyani Safari Lodge. But people never
seem to tire of them.
The warthogs inevitably provide more entertainment value while the
Impala provide the interest. At the moment the warthog sows are young
of about 3 months so a warthog sighting usually gets the following
reaction “Ah, they are so cute!” Which to be honest they really are,
Anything small gets that kind of reaction but the hoglets are
particularly cute with their bally’s attitudes and their blonde manes.
But as soon as everyone reaches for their cameras and tries to capture
that cuteness, the affectionately named “bush rockets” dash away into
the long grass, in single file with mom up front and tails raised.
This raised tail is a source of one of the cons guides like to con
their guests and entertain themselves with. People always notice the
warthog’s tails up because when they run away their tails are always
up and not just slightly raised but completely up, at a right angle
to the backs. So why are the tails up in this manner? Well, warthogs
have extremely tight skin and when they run through the grass they
need to close their eyes so that the grass seeds don’t bother them.
Due to the extremely tight skin, when they close their eyes the skin
pulls tighter and thus their tails pop up. Luckily, a side effect of
this is that it allows the little ones to keep track of mom as she
races through the grass.
But these guys and girls are not considered cute by everyone and have
the honour of being included as one of the five ugliest animals in the
African bush. They also have a pretty bad-ass reputation of being very
brave and extremely tough. Looking down a warthog burrow has been
likened to looking down the barrel of a loaded gun. The pace at which
they come bulleting out of the burrow can inflict some serious damage.
This is part of their appeal and adds an element of danger to each
encounter.
Warthogs always prove popular with young and old, first time guests or
people who have lived in the bush their whole lives. A firm favourite
with everyone which is good because they are everywhere, everyday.
Justine Brown