Out of Africa- February 14- "I'm not 'Lion', Be my Valentine"

Thursday-February 14

Happy Valentines Day.  We greeted Steven in the jeep with a gift of candy bars we purchased at the lodge gift shop.  We weren't sure they celebrated Valentine's Day in Africa but Steven assured us it was a worldwide holiday.  It was 7:30 a.m. as we pulled away from the lodge parking lot for our all-day safari.  Our picnic lunch boxes were stowed away and we were off for a full day in the Serengeti.  As we left the lodge we spotted the usual grazing impalas but also a herd of Buffalo, which up until today, we had only seen at a distance.  Although they appear to be quite docile, they are one of the reasons we had to be escorted to dinner after dark.  Evidently they can be very dangerous and the reason they are on of the Big 5 game list.  We learned today that the Big 5 were not chosen because they are the most popular animals in Africa but instead the list was made by big game hunters as to the difficulty of hunting or killing one of these animals.

Bachelor herd of Impala

African Buffalo
(formerly known as the Cape Buffalo)

Red-Billed Oxpeckers
remove the flies and ticks

Marabou Storks

  A bit further down the road we saw an elephant rubbing it's tusks on a tree.  Most of the scars on the trees are caused by the elephants.

Yellow-collared Lovebird
Happy Valentine's Day

 I may have mentioned how great our guide/driver was, but did I mention that Steven also had phenomenol eyesight. He could spot a leopard in a tree more than 300 yards away.  Can you see the leopard in the second tree from the left.  Well, Steven did!

And there he is, legs and tail hanging as he balances on the limb of an Umbrella Tree.

Now we have 4 of the Big 5
Leopard, Lion, Elephant & Buffalo

Leopards will drag their prey into a tree to protect it from lions and hyenas.
Steven spotted the remains of a leopard kill and pointed it out to us earlier this morning.
He said leopards are masters and hanging prey in the trees!

Next we see the most dangerous mammal in Africa.  The hippopotamus is responsible for more human deaths in Africa than any other animal.

Hippo Pool

Notice the bite marks on the hippo in the front

Another red-billed oxpecker

And just when we thought we had seen the best of the day, we came upon a pride of 20+ lions.  Today was our lion day!

Females with cubs, notice the cubs are heavily spottee,
even the adults have spots but they are very, very light.

Nursing cubs

The females have spotted some wart hogs in the distance and leave for a hunt

The cubs stay behind, Steven said they are still too young to participate in the hunt.

While we are watching the lion pride, Steven has seen another leopard in a distant tree.

And then the males appear.  A total of 3.

I guess they heard the girls are looking for dinner.

The last male to appear is limping.  Barb was the first to notice.

Steven explained that the pride will still care for this elderly lion.

The cubs are still waiting.

Gray Kestrel

This Lappet-faced Vulture was redecorating her nest

We watched as she flew to her nest and scolded her mate for not helping.
Happy Valentines Day

We believed that they kissed and made up!

Spur-winged Plover

As we drove through the Serengeti we spotted 2 female lions that appeared to be hunting.  Steven found a good vantage point and we had our lunch on the Serengeti observing lion behavior.  The lion went hungry, we did not!

This is the frightened prey, a Reedbuck, standing in a clearing but obviously afraid to go into the taller grass.
And with good reason!

There are hungry lions about

This lion sat on a termite mound while we ate our lunch.
She was eyeing the Hartebeest herd in the distance

I sometimes would wonder, who was watching who?

White-headed Buffalo Weaver birds

This tree was filled with weaver bird nests

Another lion lying in wait for an unsuspecting prey to come by

These lions, however, were well fed and quite content in the shade of this tree that is often used by  people as a picnic spot.  Today it belongs to the lions.

Later, after our lunch we drove around some of the Kopjes in the area.  A Kopje is a small rocky hill on the African Savannah.  The rock is mostly granite that has not eroded away.  To me they looked like islands of green in the tan grassy expanse of the plains. They provide food and protection to many birds, reptiles and wildlife.

This is a Kopje.  The Maasai have names for them and the drivers/guides also name each group of  Kopjes so they can give their location if they spot any significant wildlife they wish to share.

Can you spot the Helmeted Guinea Fowl taking flight in this photo?

This is a Hartebeest

A new raptor, a Montagu's Harrier with it's prey

And this little guy was perched very high on the Kopje.
You can see how high in the photo below.

These are Northern White-Crowned Shrike
They are insect lovers and will often use the thorns of the Acacia tree to spear the insects before eating them!
A shrike shish-kabob

This little guy is feasting on a grasshopper.

This shrike is perched in an Acacia tree, you can see the long thorns.

Two Reedbucks, and they are not alone

The Reedbucks have been spotted by two young male cheetahs.

 When Steven realized that the Cheetahs were about to give chase we quickly turned the jeep around and made a mad dash, high speed chase, Duke's of Hazzard style, to get to the other side for better viewing.  It was crazy, fun and exciting!  As we arrived the Reedbuck had eluded the cheetahs and the boys were left wondering what went wrong.  Score 1 for the Reedbuck!

Where did he go?

Our last species today was a family of baboons.  Steven assured us that we would see more.

We returned to the Serengeti Serena Lodge for dinner.  We were given champagne and a rose in honor of Valentines Day and after dinner we packed and hit the hay.  Tomorrow will be a travel day and our eventual destination is the Ngorongoro Crater.  "Kwa Heri"  Good Bye for now.