Anyway, this morning's schedule was the same as yesterday. We would be out all morning and have a bush breakfast. We had no particular plan to start the day so we just waited for Africa to throw something our way. We didn't have to wait long...
Once the sun came up, we encountered a pride of lions. It was nice seeing these cats in prime morning light.
As we were watching the lions, a herd of elephants came crashing through the brush close by:
There were a couple little elephants in this group and that fact was not lost on the lions. One of them crept close:
And eyed the elephants with intent:
Then it stalked even closer:
And closer still:
I thought for sure we would see some action but the lion let the elephants pass. It seems like this was a juvenile and it wasn't that serious about hunting elephants after all.
We continued on and received notification over the radio that the mother cheetah and 3 juveniles were spotted. That was enough info to cause us to hustle over to see them.
They were as beautiful and regal as ever:
It was great to see them on the move:
Soon, it became apparent that something was causing them to move. See the lion behind the trees in the distance?
The cheetahs were looking stressed at this point and began trotting away faster:
They looked back once in a while to keep tabs on the lion:
The lion was getting closer. You can see that this cheetah is now on high alert:
This was for good reason because all of a sudden a lioness comes running at us full speed which caused the cheetah to take off. A chase was on!
I managed to get a few pictures of the chase itself but it's hard to convey the speed of the cats in these pictures:
The other cheetahs watched from a distance:
The chase continued:
Was the lion gaining ground?
Nope, not a chance. We all know that the cheetah is way faster and eventually the lion admitted that and stopped running. However, our guide told us that a lion could catch a baby cheetah so they are vulnerable when they are small.
Is the cheetah gloating at all?
"Hmm, I wonder if my man saw that defeat?"
Yup, he sure did...
At that point, the lioness retreated back to the male. It was likely there was a full pride back in the trees somewhere and they might have had cubs so the lioness was most likely protecting the pride by trying to drive the cheetah away.
We continued following the cheetahs as they walked quickly away from the lions. They were no longer on alert now and stopped once in a while:
But, they didn't stop long and seemed to still be walking with a purpose. Were they trying to put more distance between them and the lions or could they possibly be in hunting mode?
There certainly was a lot of prey within reach:
Mama cheetah was aware of the prey as well:
But, the juveniles were content to stop and smell the roses so to speak:
They were even comfortable enough to lay down and rest for a bit:
But then, it was back on the move:
Once it became apparent that the cheetah weren't hunting after all, we all decided it was time for breakfast. Tipa found the one shady spot around and that's where we stopped to eat.
Here's a shot of George and Tipa getting everything ready. They wouldn't let us lift a finger so we took the opportunity to stretch and "check the tires" (Bush talk for go pee pee). Today, they had bananas so Karen was very happy.
We had a lot of fun with George and Tipa. Tipa didn't talk much but every once in a while he would say something in a deep voice emphasizing every syllable. For instance, we would see some Impala and he would say "Im-Pall-La" in a deep voice. Or we would ask to move the vehicle a little bit and he would say "Ha-Kuna-Ma-Ta-Ta". I was very amused by it and Karen gets to hear me re-enact it every once in a while at home. Pity her...
This topi wanted to see what we were eating:
After breakfast, we moved on again and that's when we found a small group of elephants:
The little guy was really cute:
But, it wasn't moving fast enough for mamas liking so she nudged it along:
As if the early four cheetahs weren't enough, we found two more. They are brothers and were once again doing what cheetahs seem to do best.
Ahhhhh...
What a beauty!
Since the cheetahs were doing nothing we moved on. Good thing we did because not soon after we saw something new and amazingly were able to drive up right next to a......
leopard..............................
Leopard Tortoise that is...:
And with that big tease, the morning drive was over. Pretty nice right?
At around 4:15PM we headed out again after a nice rest and filling lunch.
This young giraffe has yet to learn about the wonders of "shade":
Little Bee-eater:
Some more of the great trees in the conservancies:
I finally got a picture of a Banded Mongoose that wasn't running away:
Even though they are huge, these eland were quite shy and this is one of the few decent pictures I got:
However, this next animal was not shy at all. It was something I had really wanted to see. A leopard...............................
Tortoise:
Damn you Alan! Stop doing that!
Next we stumbled upon some Black-backed Jackals that had just caught a Scrub Hare. Rather than fight over it, they each grabbed an end and pulled. Make a wish...
They each got their wish, half a Scrub Hare:
I don't think they cared for the onlookers however:
A little while later Karen yells out "Lion!". Sure enough, there was a beautiful male lion laying down in the shade surveying his kingdom:
There was another not too far away and he looked hungry:
That second Lion led us to a rather old eland Carcass. The body was all bloated and covered with insects. It was not fresh and the stench was horrible when downwind from it. Of course, the only opening in the foliage for pictures was downwind.
We only managed a minute or two before Karen and I called the photo session due to major rotting death smell. Tim and Andrea had much stronger stomachs (or weaker senses of smell) and could have lasted longer but relented as well. It's weird but even when I look at that picture I swear I can smell it still...
Even the lion couldn't stay there long as he was soon walking towards us and away from the eland:
Next up was bathing time for the first male and a chance to nurse some fresh wounds caused by who knows what:
A vervet monkey and baby kept tabs on us as we watched the lions:
As we were wandering around in the vehicle looking for wildlife, Karen offered up some caramel hard candies. George and Tipa jumped at the chance and seemed to thoroughly enjoy them. Karen said they were both smiling as they sucked on them. Sometimes it's the little things in life. "Car-Ra-Mel"...
With the sun going down, it was time to find a spot for a sundowner. This was the only day that we actually stopped and had a sundowner outside the vehicle. All of the other days we had them in the vehicle or skipped them because we were watching something interesting. Even though the sunset was nothing special I had to capture the moment as best I could:
After dinner, we had another night drive. Of course, that meant more Spring Hares:
We also found a lone lion that was covered in bugs:
Interestingly enough, even with all the bugs on most of the animals we never had any issues. Sure, flies would buzz us once in a while but I only got one bite the whole trip which is by far a new record. Karen had a couple more bites than that which is also a record low.
Dusky Nightjar:
The biggest excitement of the night happened when George spotted some eye shine in the distance. Unfortunately, he then said "Aardwolf!" which got us all excited...but a few seconds later he said "No, Bat-eared Fox". I was never so disappointed to see a fox in my life!
So, today's drive was not as eventful as last night's but we still had a good time. And you definitely won't see anything if you stay in your tent so it's good that we gave it a go.
No comments:
Post a Comment