Africa: Day 7

We left at oh dark hundred this morning and made our way to the central Serengeti, the thing to see in the Serengeti is the Leopard, and since we didn't see one where we were staying....we drove five hours to find a leopard.  FIVE HOURS!!!  This buffalo was awake to see us off.

I avoid driving in the snow and ice at all costs.  Other then going to work, nothing can get me out of the house in in climate weather.  That being said, it had rained yesterday, and the roads were awful on our way to see the leopards.  We almost did a three-sixty while hydroplaning on mud.  It was crazy.

On the drive we saw a pride of lions...and we got sooo close to them that we could hear them breathing.  It was one of the most exhilarating moments of my life.  You could see their golden eyes looking at you.

These cubs were soooo cute!!!!

There were at least 12 different lions in this pride, sleeping and basking in the sun.

They would occasionally stand up, look at us, and then lay down again.  The adult lions were ambivalent towards us, they understood that we were not a threat.  The little cubs would look right at us, trying to figure out what we were.

Umm, so we drove over five hours and waited over an hour and fifteen minutes in line to see this sight...can you guess what it is?  After three minutes of staring at it, my father still could not figure out what it was. 

We drove up to a huge line of cars, maybe fifteen cars deep and our guide says, "we are about to see a leopard." I got really excited, expecting it to be pouncing about, doing tricks (I'm being sarcastic).  Well I'm not sure what I expected to see, but when we got there, I saw what looked to be a swatch of two dimensional leopard print fabric.  We spent a few minutes gawking at the lump and drove away.  

The guide looked at my father and said, "did you see it?"  And my father said, "no."  So our guide had the driver turn around the car.  My dad was protesting, "You don't have to do this for me.  I'm fine."  Our guide looked at my father like he was a moron.  "Peter, we drove five hours to see this leopard.  We are not leaving until you see it."  Well ok then.  :  )

As we waited for another half hour, I prayed that we would see some sign of life.  Thank goodness that the second we pulled up to see the leopard it started to lick it's fur.  We officially saw a leopard!!!!

Many people make the trek to Africa and leave without seeing a leopard.  We were lucky enough to see two in one day.  There is a Leopard in this acacia tree, can't see it?  Thats ok, neither could I.

Well here it is.  We got extremely lucky twice in one day.  After a few minutes of looking at the tree, the leopard stood up and moved to a lower branch on the tree.  What a sight to see.

Finally we made our way home after a long day of driving.  On our way home we saw our family of cheetahs again.

Aren't these the cutest things you have ever seen in your life?  I loved these cheetahs.

Love Always,

Meg

Africa: Day 6

On day six we drove like crazy through the Serengeti and tried to see a Leopard.  Apparently Leopards are really difficult to see...one of the many things I did not research before I traveled to Africa...kind of like Kenya's close proximity to Somalia and the Sudan.  :  )  

The guide called this a calcon cat, it was a very rare thing to see, and I was really excited to catch it on film.  It was hiding in the tree because a hyena was at the base of the tree.

The giraffes were waiting to great us every morning as we left the camp and every evening as we returned.  This was a little baby giraffe.  People tend to call giraffes the worst mothers of all time...they just walk away and leave the babies alone for long stretches of time.  Some may call it bad parenting, but one other explanation is that you can only tell a baby giraffe from an adult giraffe if they are standing right next to each other.  From a distance, a baby giraffe standing alone looks like a proportional adult giraffe.

Ummmm, this falls under the "I really think that monkeys are cute, but only from a safe distance" category.  This monkey was sitting right outside of our lodges.

Here are a few Buffalo eating outside of our camp.  People kept saying, "Hey look, there's a Buffalo," and I would look around trying to see a Buffalo....and my only point of reference has been an American Buffalo.  Imagine my surprise when I found out they were talking about these cattle.  Don't they look like bulls or crazy looking cows?

Love Always,

Meg

Africa: day 5

On day five we flew to Kusini, in the southern Serengeti, and it was my favorite part of the entire trip.  We got out of the plane and went straight on a drive through the Serengeti.  Within a half an hour we saw a cheetah, then within forty minutes we got to see that cheetah make a kill.  It chased a huge pack of impala and Thompson gazelle, and it caught a huge impala.  We then watched, wide eyed, as the cheetah suffocated the impala. OMG.

The actual kill was really quick, the only shot I got was of the impala running away.  I'm not sure anyone truly saw the cheetah catch the impala.  We all did watch as the cheetah suffocated the impala. It took at least three to five minutes for the cheetah to finish it off.

Then the cheetah tried to drag it's kill to some tall grass or anywhere to hide from the scavengers.  Withing ten minutes vultures were already circling, and when they start to land...the hyenas won't be far away.  Hyenas will come and scavenge dead animals, and they travel in groups.  A group of hyenas can over take a cheetah, so the cheetahs will get out of there before the hyenas get there.  We sat staring at this struggle as the cheetah could not drag the impala fast enough and had to retreat.

Then we went back to the lodge for lunch and a short rest.  We kept saying, "we could see nothing else for the rest of the day and still be happy."  Little did we know that we were going to see a second cheetah kill!!!

A mother cheetah caught a baby impala and then allowed her babies to hunt it.  We were tooo far away to get a good picture of the kill, but it was an amazing sight to see.

Here is the mother after she had been feeding on the impala baby, I love the red blood on her chin.

Here is one of the babies looking right at us, I love these big cats, they are sooo striking.

Here are the babies pawing at the little impala.  I am conflicted about putting any of the really gory pictures online, I may do an update on this post eventually.

Here is one of my favorite pictures, it is one of the babies chewing on a leg.  This was one of the craziest experiences of my life, I still can't believe I witnessed this moment.

Love Always,

Meg