From Andrew: We left about 45 minutes later than usual this morning because of the rain. At first we felt a little dismayed that some roads were closed and off-roading was impossible, but the rainy conditions brought us some amazing opportunities that may not have been possible or that we may have overlooked in sunny weather. After passing impala, zebras and giraffe we came across the Styx pride of lions. They were just finishing off a young zebra, and we stopped to watch the interactions between the four lions. As we watched the mother zebra came closer and closer to the lions, searching for her foal, and when she approached too closely the lions started to hunt her, causing her to turn and flee. Undeterred, however, she came back many times and as soon as she was close enough the lions gave chase and again and again she trotted...
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Blog posts tagged in Zebra
From Andrew: We left about 45 minutes later than usual this morning because of the rain. At first we felt a little dismayed that some roads were closed and off-roading was impossible, but the rainy conditions brought us some amazing opportunities that may not have been possible or that we may have overlooked in sunny weather. After passing impala, zebras and giraffe we came across the Styx pride of lions. They were just finishing off a young zebra, and we stopped to watch the interactions between the four lions. As we watched the mother zebra came closer and closer to the lions, searching for her foal, and when she approached too closely the lions started to hunt her, causing her to turn and flee. Undeterred, however, she came back many times and as soon as she was close enough the lions gave chase and again and again she trotted...
Andrew Reports: We were determined to find Salayexe again this morning after the great viewing that we had of her yesterday, so we headed straight to the area to search for her. It was a cloudy day again, meaning that the light was wonderfully diffused and the heat from yesterday was gone. While we were searching for Salayexe we heard from one of the other vehicles that while they stopped for an early coffee break Salayexe wandered right into the clearing where they had parked, almost inviting them to accompany her. We headed straight there and were delighted to find both Salayexe and her cub. The remainder of the morning was spent taking shots of the two as they strolled around, hunting one another, chasing each other, pouncing and playing in the open plains. The two stopped their antics to enjoy a drink at one of the...
Andrew reports: We woke up this morning to a cloudy day with intermittent drizzles. The cool weather meant that the animals were quite active and we passed numerous Impala, Giraffe and Zebras, and a large herd of Buffalo. We did not stop for these animals because our aim was to try and find Salayexe and her cub, so we made our way to the den where we had last seen her, but there was no sign of her or her cub. We were following her tracks when we came across Shadow – another stunning female leopard. She had been pregnant earlier in the year, but had lost her cub, and we were delighted to see that she appears to be pregnant again. Shadow was busy patrolling her territory and we followed her on her patrol as she demarcated her boundaries. In fact we spent most of the morning with her,...
Wim Reports: Sometimes communication from the bush can be a bit haphazard so here is our news from our last two days at Kichwa Tembo. On Friday morning we went straight to the main crossing points on Mara River where we could see huge buildups of animals on the far banks. We positioned ourselves and waited for the inevitable crossings to take place. Unfortunately some vehicles arrived on the opposite bank and their sudden and indiscreet approach frightened the animals away. We moved off and found a pride of lions hunting wildebeest. We watched them for a while, but they are so overfed at the moment that they gave up the hunt after a halfhearted attempt, and lay down for a siesta under nearby bushes. After lunch overlooking the Mara River we returned to the crossing point. As there were no other vehicles in sight...
Ben's Update: We left extra early again this morning so that everyone could make the most of the day before they had to depart at mid morning. Last night was a Blue Moon, and the full moon was still visible this morning, creating lovely, mysterious landscape shots for us. There were thousands of animals on the Plains as dawn started to break, and the sight with the lovely skyline in the background together with the beautiful sky was quite breathtaking again! We meandered along to try and locate a leopard that is resident in the area we were driving through, but while searching we were diverted by the sight of some active hippo in the Mara River. When we approached we saw that they had a tiny baby hippo with them, not more than a week old at most. We were ooohing and aaahing and taking photographs when...
Mara news from Wim: Last night as we were relaxing we were told that a cheetah with four very small cubs had just started to hunt when a thunderstorm interrupted her, leaving her hungry overnight and likely to hunt gain this morning. It was also unlikely that she would move four cubs during the night – especially in the rain. With this in mind we made an extra effort to leave early and drove straight to where she had been sighted. We could have had blinkers on, hardly looking to the left or right in our excitement at being able to catch up with her. When we found her she had caught a Thomson’s Gazelle and was preparing to disembowel her kill and to enjoy her meal. We spent most of the morning with her as she ate, then suckled her cubs, then rested and then ate...
The weekend started with our usual morning. Up early, on the vehicle before dawn and cameras at the ready, knowing that the early mornings are more likely for cat encounters.Sure enough, we were hardly out of the camp when we saw two sets of fresh leopard prints walking in a straight line and indicating a determined goal. We followed the tracks until we arrived at the goal - a fresh impala kill. However, hyenas had stolen the kill from the leopards (who had disappeared by the time we arrived). We got many great photos of the hyenas enjoying their stolen breakfast!We continued our search for the leopards and whilst searching came across the two large male lions from yesterday. More great photography from the duo as they slept, rolled and lazed about in the sunshine.Not far from the lions, zebras kicked up a cloud of dust creating a lovely scene with...
From Brendon Cremer at ChitabeLast night we heard the lions calling for most of the night and they were particularly vocal just before dawn. We set out in the dark as early as possible to go and find them. Shortly after, we found lion tracks very close to camp and followed these for about half an hour. Just as the sun was beginning to creep over the horizon, we spotted two huge black maned lions lying on termite mounds. The rising sun created a beautiful light behind and around them and they started to wake up and rubbed their heads together in greeting. To make the photography even more spectacular, they started roaring and the mist issuing from their mouths created a very dramatic scene.Once up, they started walking and we followed as they patrolled their entire territory. During this time, we also photographed more wattles cranes. Following on from yesterdays...
Today the group decided to split up, with two vehicles going to Serengeti and two to Ndutu. The Serengeti group were delighted with the antics of two honey badgers, while the Ndutu group caught up with the cheetah mother and her four cubs. The cheetah hunted, going right up to Thomsons Gazelles, but not taking any. After spending a few hours with her and her photographic family, the group decided to take a break for tea. Of course, while they were away, the long awaited action occurred and as they returned from their swift break it was to find that the mother cheetah had killed a scrub hare, and was carrying it to her cubs. She carried the hare right under the shade of one of the ODP Safari vehicles, providing an excellent opportunity for the photographers to capture the family interactions really close up. They were as close to the...
Everyone was up and raring to get to Serengeti. The vehicles left the lodge promptly at 0600 and off to the Serengeti. (Oh, Serengeti means 'endless plains' or 'vast vista') The ODP Safari group caught up with the migratory animals at the Serenera River in central Serengeti. Thousands of zebra and wildebeest, in an out of the water. Imagine hundreds of animals drinking thirstily. All is peaceful, with animals aj19rtling for a drink. Then suddenly one is spooked - by what? Who can tell? Whatever the reason, the result is chaos. Hundreds of animals storm away in panic, leaving devastation in their wake ... small calves are injured as the herd stampedes blindly, trampling whatever is in their way. This scene repeats itself time and again. Calves are separated from their mothers and bleat pitifully to find them. And the dust! The stampedes raise so much dust that the scene becomes...
