August 21, 2004
On the hunt
It would take a lot to top yesterday's drive but our first morning made it seem like it would. It's always a good sign when you see a "herd" of minivans/rovers gathered in one spot (at least in terms of the likihood that you will see something cool, maybe not for the animals:-/). We drove up just in time to see four lion cubs crossing a riverbank, one stopped and lapped up a bit of water on his way, another pair pounced on the fourth showing that the young'uns have a playful side too.
Damn these not-so-little guys were cute
Mommas one, two and three were off in the distance....turns out they had there eyes on a herd of wildebeest off in the distance. Dishin -- our worldclass diver/guide -- got ahead of the minivan pack (and the lions as well) and positioned us behind the beasties. We watched as two of the lionesses inched their way ever-so-stealthily towards the herd and turned our head just in time to spot the lead female slinking towards us on the road. She sprang towards the herd (first time we'd ever seen a cat run!) but her companions were late in encirling the herd and the narrowly escaped. Susie has a great shot of the lioness in action...J snapped her just as she gave up, panting like she'd run a marathon :-)
Huffin' and puffin'
We managed to see a ton of other stuff on our safari including a leopard tortise, secretary birds, elephants, tons of giraffe, about 50 vultures gnawing on an elephant carcass (very rare as mature elephants have no predators), a few more lions here & there, a bat eared fox, tons of hippos and a huge croc (another first). I promise to ofoto the rest of the pics at some point but this one seems most fitting to end on:
Cornelius, Jim, Janet, Susan and Deshin
It would take a lot to top yesterday's drive but our first morning made it seem like it would. It's always a good sign when you see a "herd" of minivans/rovers gathered in one spot (at least in terms of the likihood that you will see something cool, maybe not for the animals:-/). We drove up just in time to see four lion cubs crossing a riverbank, one stopped and lapped up a bit of water on his way, another pair pounced on the fourth showing that the young'uns have a playful side too.
Damn these not-so-little guys were cute
Mommas one, two and three were off in the distance....turns out they had there eyes on a herd of wildebeest off in the distance. Dishin -- our worldclass diver/guide -- got ahead of the minivan pack (and the lions as well) and positioned us behind the beasties. We watched as two of the lionesses inched their way ever-so-stealthily towards the herd and turned our head just in time to spot the lead female slinking towards us on the road. She sprang towards the herd (first time we'd ever seen a cat run!) but her companions were late in encirling the herd and the narrowly escaped. Susie has a great shot of the lioness in action...J snapped her just as she gave up, panting like she'd run a marathon :-)
Huffin' and puffin'
We managed to see a ton of other stuff on our safari including a leopard tortise, secretary birds, elephants, tons of giraffe, about 50 vultures gnawing on an elephant carcass (very rare as mature elephants have no predators), a few more lions here & there, a bat eared fox, tons of hippos and a huge croc (another first). I promise to ofoto the rest of the pics at some point but this one seems most fitting to end on:
Cornelius, Jim, Janet, Susan and Deshin
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