Sunday, March 12, 2017

Africa- Tanzania: Serengeti & Big Cats (A Fresh Lion Kill!!!)

Good morning you bright beautiful world you.
I am so sorry that I don't often have/take the time to recognize you for who you are and appreciate all that you are. But this trip, well, it made me SEE you, for the first time in way too long. You caught all of my senses on fire, and I thank you for that.

A breathtaking sunrise

A breathtaking sunrise

The day comes alive in the Serengeti

Hyena, he was looking a bit lost

It was a little FREEZING cold

We had to stop several times for "bird crossings"

Hippo!

Lots of hippo bumps: SO MANY OF THESE ARE BABIES! I just wish you could see!!!

Baby Hippo!!!

Cape buffalo


Giraffes became one of my favorite animals on this trip!


Hippo bumps







Jackal

I really enjoyed the trees



Stragglers of the great migration

By this time, the morning had passed and we had not see ANY wild cats. This is one of the things that we (including our guide) were most eager to see, though I think I was the most content due to the plethora of other animals and the sheer volume of baby animals. But we did not give up, though you could tell our guide was getting discontented, wanting us to "SEE EVERYTHING"! And as luck would have it....

There are 4 lions here, can you see them all? Hidden pictures!

With 4 lions found, our guide was confident that the alpha male was nearby so onward we went. And this is what I spotted from the road, granted it was at a MUCH greater distance and I had just barely seen the movement as he was shifting weight:


So, we drove to be more near to him....


And he was not entirely impressed....


And, as Adam and the guide continue to watch him watch us, I turn around and see this, immediately behind the Land Cruiser. We had just inadvertently parked ourselves between the lion and his extremely fresh kill. No wonder he was panting SO hard and looking so unimpressed with us! The zebra had just been killed, a bite wound to the neck, but nothing else. The feast had not yet begun!

A lion and his fresh kill. Resting from the effort, before the feasting begins!


We (I) almost lost our minds! It was awesome. So we moved further away and watched at a distance, hoping to see him start to tear into his zebra feast. And we watched, for 30 minutes, and he didn't move. Our guide persuaded us to move on, knowing that we would pass back by this way a time later, so we reluctantly agreed. Well....I am glad that we did because we saw awesome things, and by the time we came back around almost 1.5-2 hours later, he STILL had not recovered enough to start eating.

Cheetahs!

Cheetah on the high ground, cheetah in the grass <3

A momma cheetah and her three "teenagers"! <3

Sleepy kitty

More sleepy kitties


You couldn't pay me to sit down; too much to see!

A sky SO blue!