I had a feeling this was going to be a special day. The air felt crisp, the sun brilliant in a cloudless sky, birds chattered at us as we walked to the dining room of the Serena Lodge. The Lodge provided a strong WiFi signal, which allowed me to start working on the post titled "The leopard strolls..." It was fresh in my mind...
... the lion and leopard sightings from the Botswana safari. We met up with our guide, Steven Mziray who seemed just as charged up as we were. I think maybe being in the Serengeti does that to people. Steven's plan for the day was to head to the Seronera River, where we had seen the pride of lions the previous evening.
It
From smiling giraffes
...hiding among the trees
to hippos hiding from the sun
in liquid Bandini.
Mom and dad Egyptian geese take their brood out for a swim...
and this pair of Fischer's Love Birds drop by for a drink.
Yellow-billed Storks and a Black Headed Heron hunt for food...
...as this Common Fiscal looks on.
A little further downstream we interrupted a pair of male hippos fighting over territory. As they rampaged outside the hippo pool they nearly stepped on a lioness hiding in the grass. You can watch the hippos stomping around and startling the lioness here in this You Tube video, just click the link to view: http://youtu.be/FMx1zzvqx6Q
They paused before moving closer to the river, scanning their surroundings for danger.
The lioness was in the right position down wind of the Wildebeest, who never showed any sign of being aware of her presence.
We watched for several minutes as the lioness slowly crept closer to the Wildebeest. They finally made a dash for the river. The lioness closed the distance between her hiding place and the Wildebeest in less time than it took for my camera to focus on the unfolding chase.
My only record of the kill...one flailing leg of the downed Wildebeest.
The lioness smothers its prey by crushing the prey's airway. Once all signs of the struggle were over, the lioness dragged the Wildebeest into the bushes meaning the show was over.
Elephants were plentiful in the Serengeti. Susan enjoys baby animals so I made that one of my priorities this day.
So naturally, when this hippo family waddled into view, I had to get a close up of the baby. The adults seem to know when you are interested in their little ones and try to keep themselves between you and your target.
Sweet baby hippo...
...almost let me get a good shot.
And then what should come into view but another elephant family unit.
The matriarch, two young adult females and their babies...
the youngest one was less than a year old, according to Steven.
Elephants are just so darn likable, you could watch them for hours. The adults so attentive and protective, the babies and adolescents enjoying themselves, jockeying for position, playing tag.
Never straying too far from mom.
It becomes reflexive, you look at every tree hoping to see a leopard.
And sometimes you get lucky and actually find one. Of all the empty trees and the few we saw in trees, we understood how lucky we were to see one in broad daylight walking around. (If you haven't found the leopard in this tree, look to the right side of the main trunk, above the first branch.)
Continuing on our drive we just missed seeing a Cheetah come down off this Kopje and dash off into the flats to disappear from sight briefly.
Our Guide decided a little off-roading was in order as several safari trucks gave chase to the speedy Cheetah.
We had seen some Cheetahs from afar through our binoculars, but this was a good close-up.
And I kept taking pictures...
...until of all things my cell phone rang.
I had been carrying the phone for weeks without a single call. What bad timing. By the time I could dispense with the caller, who was calling to relay information about Susan's lost suitcase (another story for another day)...
the Cheetah had disappeared into the tall grass.
We all had to agree, it had been a fantastic day of game viewing, thanks to Steven's talent for spotting game and maneuvering the truck.
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