Lions

I've been on quite a few safaris.  They are lots of boring moments of driving around interlaced with some really exciting moments.  This last safari had a really exciting lion encounter.  The first night, just as we arrived at our lodge, we heard that there were lion cubs at the entrance.  They were adorably cute but it was too dark to get good photos.  We hoped that they would still be there in the morning but at breakfast, Mbotte, our guide and driver, said that he had heard the lioness calling for her cubs during the night.  They make a sort of 'whooping' sound that the cubs recognize.  So, nope they weren't there under the same bush.

Mbotte heard that the lions had made a kill quite close to where we were.  The guides communicate by radio to let everyone know when they see something exciting.  We raced to the spot and got some good views of the lion pride who had recently killed a zebra.  I know, poor zebra, but happy lions!  There were two lionesses and 3 cubs and one male.

This photo isn't the best since it was far away but you can see the dead zebra, two lions and a little jackal trying to sneak a bite!  He was never successful as far as we could see! 

Here's another one that is a bit better.   

And here is the big male.  And the determined jackal who seems to be thinking of a sneak attack!

After watching them for probably close to an hour, we decided to leave.  We hadn't gone far when Mbotte heard that the two lionesses were walking towards the road so we raced back (at 60km/hr on the dirt road) to see this. 

Both lionesses enjoyed a drink after their breakfast of zebra.

This shows just how close we were to them. Such an amazing experience! 

I finally completed my sightings of the Big 5.  Actually on this trip we had seen 4 of the big 5 before lunch - lions, Cape buffalo, leopard, and elephant!  I hadn't seen a leopard before during my Africa trips so I was pretty excited!  Unfortunately the leopard was too far away to get a decent photo but trust me, we did see her.  There are a few rhinoceros in the area but they keep them as far away from the roads as possible and each has her own dedicated guard, who carries a gun to shoot poachers on sight. So my rhinoceros was seen on our South Africa safari.

 We did see Cape Buffalo 

And lots of elephants, including this pair who were greeting each other very politely! 

A day that I'll never forget and I couldn't resist buying myself a 'Big 5" t-shirt.  Just in case you were wondering, the Big 5 are so called because they were the most dangerous African animals to hunt on foot.  Not so dangerous in a Land Rover equipped with Wi-fi!