Big Five Reunited
At about 10pm last night I realised I hadn’t taken my Malarone. Not to worry though: I would just take it then to catch up. It hadn’t been that long since I’d eaten (finished about 8:30) right? The only issue was that I had no water in the tent, so I had to dry swallow the tablet, but I managed. Unfortunately it gave me feverish dreams all night, and combined with the animal noises I didn’t get much quality sleep.
The moon was pretty nice though
And I was up well in time for sunrise!
A Hornbill I think. This doesn’t have Patrick verification though
Shortly after sunrise the animals went out for their morning run. Nothing was chasing them so I guess it’s just a thing they do!
The balloons are very photogenic
This was easily the closest we’d seen lions!
A lot of them! No male though unfortunately
They looked hungrily at us, but the truck is impenetrable
More balloons, now with improved foreground
The head of the herd was calling, far far away~
And what a big herd it was. 33 by our count!
A Lilac Breasted Roller which we watched eat a grasshopper nearly as big as it
A Sausage Tree (called so because of the long sausage shaped seed pods) and Serenget
A giraffe and his bird friend. You can tell it is a he because of the forehead protrusion
A Superb Starling at a quick break. They are one of my favourites
A Buffalo Weaver: one of the “Small Five” which are so called because they are small but shared names with the Big Five: Buffalo Weaver, Rhinoceros Beetle, Ant Lion, Leopard Shelled Tortoise, and Elephant Shrew
I struggled to limit myself to 2 Superb Starling pictures as this little guy charged me down inquisitively and I got a ton of nice ones
Lots of lions today!
It was stalking some Haartebeest using the truck and some other jeeps as cover, but they managed to get away
Finally! The elusive Leopard
No idea which pic had the best focus here so I threw both up
The bravest Haartebeest in the Serengeti. The Leopard was with 10 meters of it, but it just stood there and stared the Leopard down using its larger size to intimidate the Leopard. Afterwards it chased the Leopard to make sure it was actually leaving!
When we got back to camp for a siesta the Zebra had moved in. We had brunch, had a bit of a nap, and then headed to the Serengeti visitor centre. It basically explained the migration of the Wildebeest and Zebra (the Zebra have better memory so lead the way, until it comes to the crossing, where they stop and let the Wildebeest go because they forget about the crocs. Sneaky Zebra!), and there were also a lot of Rock and Tree Hyroxes around!
This one loves it’s nut
Cute!
We saw some Banded Mongeese on the way back. We had seen one previously but it was too good at escape!
A better look at the Maribu Stork. Apparently it can fly the highest of all birds due to the sack under it’s neck which can hold air, meaning it can breathe at higher altitudes
Hunter on the plains
Hippos our of the water. They can go up to 40kmph apparently
I bless the raiiiiins down in Aaaafrica~
A country yokel Buffalo
We happened upon sunset on the way back. I upped the saturation a bit because the picture was a bit washed out but I think I went too far
We stopped and lined up a tree for the final setting
The moon was pretty nice though
And I was up well in time for sunrise!
A Hornbill I think. This doesn’t have Patrick verification though
Shortly after sunrise the animals went out for their morning run. Nothing was chasing them so I guess it’s just a thing they do!
We only had a small breakfast today: we were leaving at 7am for a morning game drive, and we’re going to have an early lunch. Cereal and coffee were still there though, so I was happy. And you know what a game drive means:
The balloons are very photogenic
This was easily the closest we’d seen lions!
A lot of them! No male though unfortunately
They looked hungrily at us, but the truck is impenetrable
More balloons, now with improved foreground
The head of the herd was calling, far far away~
And what a big herd it was. 33 by our count!
A Lilac Breasted Roller which we watched eat a grasshopper nearly as big as it
A Sausage Tree (called so because of the long sausage shaped seed pods) and Serenget
A giraffe and his bird friend. You can tell it is a he because of the forehead protrusion
A Superb Starling at a quick break. They are one of my favourites
A Buffalo Weaver: one of the “Small Five” which are so called because they are small but shared names with the Big Five: Buffalo Weaver, Rhinoceros Beetle, Ant Lion, Leopard Shelled Tortoise, and Elephant Shrew
I struggled to limit myself to 2 Superb Starling pictures as this little guy charged me down inquisitively and I got a ton of nice ones
Lots of lions today!
It was stalking some Haartebeest using the truck and some other jeeps as cover, but they managed to get away
Finally! The elusive Leopard
No idea which pic had the best focus here so I threw both up
The bravest Haartebeest in the Serengeti. The Leopard was with 10 meters of it, but it just stood there and stared the Leopard down using its larger size to intimidate the Leopard. Afterwards it chased the Leopard to make sure it was actually leaving!
When we got back to camp for a siesta the Zebra had moved in. We had brunch, had a bit of a nap, and then headed to the Serengeti visitor centre. It basically explained the migration of the Wildebeest and Zebra (the Zebra have better memory so lead the way, until it comes to the crossing, where they stop and let the Wildebeest go because they forget about the crocs. Sneaky Zebra!), and there were also a lot of Rock and Tree Hyroxes around!
This one loves it’s nut
Cute!
We saw some Banded Mongeese on the way back. We had seen one previously but it was too good at escape!
A better look at the Maribu Stork. Apparently it can fly the highest of all birds due to the sack under it’s neck which can hold air, meaning it can breathe at higher altitudes
Hunter on the plains
Hippos our of the water. They can go up to 40kmph apparently
I bless the raiiiiins down in Aaaafrica~
A country yokel Buffalo
We happened upon sunset on the way back. I upped the saturation a bit because the picture was a bit washed out but I think I went too far
We stopped and lined up a tree for the final setting
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