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Not even 10 minutes into our morning drive we came across this group of adolescents and two mature lioness. They had evidently made a kill that night and had a hearty feed as their stomachs were huge!! they all flopped down in this clearing by the road to full to even move. A really special way to kick off a game drive!!
African Elephant. A cow elephant and her two calves crossing the Sabie River. The calves are from different years. Female elephants generally stay with their mothers for life. Male elephants are generally driven from the female dominated family group when they reach sexual maturity, to prevent inbreeding.
We managed to spot a leopard on our way from the airport to the lodge as well as on my very final game drive. The tracker drove right into the bush the leopard was hiding under feasting on fresh kill: a young warthog.
This was the most special thing we were able to witness: a very rare sighting of the most elusive of the "Big Five" (the leopard) mating. The cats mate every few minutes, very briefly, over a span of several days. As you can see from the expression on the female's face, the experience is quite painful for her.
African Cape Buffalo (male). Both male and female Cape Buffalo have horns. The males are distinguishable by their "boss", the heavy bony plate that forms across the head between the horns. The African Cape Buffalo is considered the most dangerous animal in Africa, and is often referred to as "the Black Death." Cape Buffalo are one of "The Big Five," the five animals considered the most dangerous and difficult to hunt. The others are the elephant, rhino, lion and leopard.
A young male lion toys with a branch while he rests in the Timbavati Private Game Reserve, part of the Greater Kruger Park, South Africa
Evening time in Masai Mara..saw three brothers,all were asleep but woke up suddenly as we approached them...notice still drowsy,as he was disturbed.
It's really a shame,that this lioness had that collar around her neck,but I'm not good enough at Photoshop yet to make such a thing vanish...
Looking for something in the archives to post...
Inspiration mojo at low ebb at the moment.
What with Big Cat Live on at the moment and making think of how great it was to be in Africa this year, I went looking for some other shots and found this guy hiding in the long grass. This was pretty early in the morning, just after 6 just as the sun was catching the faces of the dozing danger in the grass.
Plenty of Wildebeest, an African Bush Elephant, a couple of Nile Crocodiles, and two wading birds.
(Mouse over for crocs and birds)
- Game drive #2
White Rhino at a watering hole. White and Black Rhino are both the same color. The names are misnomers. There are two species of rhinos. One species are grazers that eat grasses and ground plants. The other are browsers that eat leaves from trees and bushes. The grazers have a broad face with a wide mouth to take in as much grass as possible.The browsers have a narrow pointed face in order to reach between the branches of bushes to get to the leaves. The name given to the grazers, White Rhino, is actually a corruption of the Dutch word for "wide." To distinguish the two, the browser species became known as Black Rhinos.
...an amazing white rhyno crossing the road just in front of our car...
Taken in Pilanesberg Nat. Park - South Africa
White Rhino at a watering hole. White and Black Rhino are both the same color. The names are misnomers. There are two species of rhinos. One species are grazers that eat grasses and ground plants. The other are browsers that eat leaves from trees and bushes. The grazers have a broad face with a wide mouth to take in as much grass as possible.The browsers have a narrow pointed face in order to reach between the branches of bushes to get to the leaves. The name given to the grazers, White Rhino, is actually a corruption of the Dutch word for "wide." To distinguish the two, the browser species became known as Black Rhinos.