Safari #2

We had our wake-up call at 5:00am this morning for our 5:30 morning safari! It was chilly out (low 50s, perhaps) but we were prepared with many layers, and comfy blankets in the Land Rover (which I keep calling a "jeep").

I was really hoping we would see Elephants today, and BOOM - it was our first animal sighting!


look how close those elephants are to the jeep in front of us!


Mama and baby elephant


yep - walking right in front of that jeep!


a pack of Impala (type of antelope)

Our guide, Lucian, and Tracker, James, tracked a couple of leopards. He explained that the lineage of the leopards in this area goes back to 1992, when they first started to track them.


Lucian, showing us the family tree/lineage of the leopards in the area

We found a mother and daughter leopard. The mother is the darker of the two.


This photos gives you an idea of how close our vehicles are to the animals. Usually, the vehicles are all on their own, but they radio each other to let each other know when they've found something of interest. If that happens, then 2 or 3 vehicles may converge on an area.

These leopards had recently made a kill, and had stored the remaining carcass up in a nearby tree. As we were observing the two leopards, the Mama leopard hopped up to the branch to check on her leftovers. Nature is a pretty amazing thing to witness.


Mama Leopard checking out her leftovers


stretchy cat, coming down


Photographer Dick, capturing the moment


another shot of Mother and Daughter Leopard

As I said, it was pretty chilly. After a couple of hours, our guide brought us to a secluded spot for refreshments. We were treated with Coffee (and in my case, Hot Chocolate) with a shot of local African Amarula


James and Lucian, preparing the refreshments


enjoying my Hot Chocolate

After our break, we headed out to try to track the pride of lions that we saw yesterday. We never did find the lions, although we found a flock of vultures who sure did seem like they were leading us in the right direction.


picturesque water hole


Tree 'o Vultures

We did find a Zebra! He was hanging out with a group of wildebeest.


Zebra!

We returned to our lodge at around 9:30 to a beautiful and delicious breakfast. We've got some down time until we meet at 2:00 for lunch, then head out for another safari at 3:30.

Dick took some really great shots with his fancy camera. I'm going to see if I can upload some of his shots to my blog.