More Serengeti

I just have so many pictures that I want to share, but it’s so hard to choose…

Today, we’ll shift to lions.

This pride of 2 females (one wearing a tracking collar) and 7 cubs were enjoying a breakfast of wildebeest.

It was amazing how close our vehicle could come to any animal without disrupting their normal behavior. They definitely became accustomed to the large metal box that rolled along the roads next to them. We were not perceived as danger, or humans, as they couldn’t see our upright forms, or smell us. Shutters clicking weren’t distracting either, but our voices would catch their attention sometimes, so we tried to be silent when we’d stop to observe and photograph.

“awww Ma, I don’t need a bath”

And despite the gorging on fresh meat…

…some still wanted a milk top-off.

The next morning, we found the same pride enjoying the early morning sunshine.

That same morning, we had started just after dawn, enjoying the cool air with a spotted hyena family.

Babies of any species are just so cute!

The youngsters are usually quite curious -

Now, just some random, but neat shots I got on this same day.

Our sharp eyed guide saw these young lions on a kill, well off the main road, so we did a little non-sanctioned off roading to get closer.

These hyenas were hoping for leftovers:

Down the road aways, we saw our only cheetah of the entire trip, and he/she wasn’t interested in giving this paparazzi any really good shots.

Warthogs are so ugly, they’re kinda cute. (they were really hard to get pictures of, because they usually ran off, with their tails sticking straight up, as soon as they saw the vehicle, or the engine turned off.)

I liked the mud/water line on these guys:

This male ostrich (check out his feet) was at the same water hole, trying to scare off the resident hyenas…

…without much luck. (He’s in his pink breeding coloration.)

This water hole tableau was pretty cool -

The bird in the center is a Secretarybird - a “terrestrial bird of prey”.

Steve was impressed with this fact - according to the counter on my camera, I took 4700 pictures on our two week safari alone. Obviously, I kept only a small percent. Hoping to keep your boredom to a minimum, I’ll close with this Serengeti sunset (that Steve actually took!).