Tanzanian Saturday Critters

What with being ill over the past two Saturdays, I've missed joining Eileen's Saturday Critters Party! I've decided to post some of the beautiful and interesting birds and animals we've seen over the past month.

Dwarf Mongoose at its nest hole near the boom gate!

I'm always thankful that I'm able to capture these critters on camera. (I don't seem to see things immediately in the bush, LOL!) Last week we spotted many small groups of dik-dik. At one point, we saw four of these dainty deer bound across the road from one side of the bush into the other. Grant stopped and I focused on where we thought the dik-dik had gone. Nothing. Then suddenly a little female reversed from the left to the right and stopped.  She was soon approached by a buck, coming from the place where she had been!  We watched as the second deer ducked its head towards the first one. And then he (we saw he had horns) turned his head into the bush away from us, pawed the ground and snorted. She moved forward towards him. This happened two more times when suddenly the female darted off into the bush with the male following. When I downloaded the photos, we saw the the second buck's hair on its head was standing up in a tuft. Grant reckoned it was probably a form of courtship that we'd witnessed! Amazing!

The female dik-dik reversing from left to right in our line of vision

The male dik-dik with a tuffted forehead which we think was a form of courtship!

 Along the airstrip on our way back, we stopped to photograph a Monitor Lizard waddling across the road

I would love to be able to post umpteen more photos of critters here, but I'm loading this post before we leave camp on Friday and just have to finish up !

I'm linking my post to Saturday Critters Party by Eileen. 

 Next time I log on, will be from my home in Marquard!