Anyway, this week we saw our first cheetah, a pride of 14 lions, a number of elephants, a few rhinoceros, numerous new birds...plus a variety of other smaller wildlife. All-in-all a great way to spend some time...much better I think than sitting at home watching Dr. Phil on the tube.
It's been brutally hot for the past few days...probably into the mid-to-high 90's. This means that you'd be wasting your time trying to find animals during the day because it's just too hot and the animals will all be hiding from the sun. That's why we start our first game drive at 5:30am...before it gets hot...then usually come back around 10:30...then back out around 4pm when it's starting to cool down again.
My friend, Pat, made dinner, fresh garlic bread, and muffins several times this week. Not only was the food excellent, but it was a big hit because most everyone else here don't know how to cook. Pat and I usually also do the dishes...just to make sure that they are done correctly. I think you'd be surprised at how many people we meet who don't know how to wash-and-rinse dishes properly. Some people are saying that Pat's cooking ability must be the reason why I convinced him to join me here...which just might be true...ha, ha.
I also want to take a moment and thank you once again for all of your support and comments on my images...I appreciate it.
So let's get to some images:
I caught this zebra just as she was taking a dust bath.
So how can you tell when an elephant is warning you not to get any closer? Well, one sign is when he starts shaking his head at you...just as this bull is doing. He was taking a dust bath and didn't appreciate us interrupting him.
They will also do this...that is, raise their trunk and show you their tusks...basically the same thing as a rattlesnake "rattling" at you. This is a pretty clear warning sign that this bull is agitated right now.
Several people have asked me..."How close do you get to the animals"? Well, this images will give you a pretty good idea of just how close we get. This bull not only walked over to us, but he also stuck his trunk into our vehicle to smell us. That's pretty close. By-the-way, if this happens you, just sit still and everything will be alright.
The good thing about being able to get so close is that you can get some very nice close-up images of the animal.
The Great Duckling Kidnapping Caper
I am always amazed at the new things I see here. In this case it was what appeared to be a "ducking kidnapping". I had never seen anything like it before...so let me explain it to you.
One day I saw this Knob-billed Duck and her brood of 18 chicks swimming in a pond. Other than being amazed that so many of her chick were still alive, it was a cute scene just watching them swimming around the pond together.
But then a couple of days later I was back at the pond and saw this White-faced Duck and her mate swimming off with the chicks.
All of a sudden the Knob-billed Duck came frantically swimming after her chicks.
In the end she chased off the White-faced Ducks and got her brood back. Now the interesting thing to me was wondering why the White-faced Ducks had swam off with the Knob-billed Duck's chicks in the first place? Was it because her chicks had been eaten and she just wanted a new brood to take care of? Just some type of maternial instinct? I'll be going back to this pond later this coming week and will keep you updated as to what happens.
While at the pond I saw this dragonfly and decided to take its photo.
Spotted Hyenas
When we drove up to the hyena den, this little guy was laying in the last rays of sunlight and just waiting for his momma to bring him some food.
A Few Landscapes
Everything in Africa has to struggle to survive...and how this plant got established on this old dead tree is beyond me.
As I've mentioned before, the sunsets here can be absolutely gorgeous.
What's Pat up to this week?
Here's Pat helping to get our vehicle unstuck. He jacked the vehicle up about a dozen different times...put rocks and palm fronds under the tires...but still it wouldn't budge. Eventually we gave up and had to get the tractor to pull us out of the sand.
...And on to a few bird images
Most of the time this is the type of bird image I get...because they take off flying as soon as you get close to them. But this week I did manage to get a few images for you...
European Bee-eater
Grey Hornbill
Laughing Dove
Purple Roller
Crested Francolin
Burchell's Coucal. This is called the "Rain bird" here and supposedly if you hear it calling...then it's going to rain.
Dark Chanting Goshawk
Long-tailed Paradise Whydah. This is a male and once he's mated he'll lose the long tail feathers...but he'll regrow them before the next breeding season rolls around.
A zebra close-up
Lions
This lioness was peeking around the tree to make sure we weren't posing a danger to her cubs.
A sneak-attack by a brother...
I watched this lion cub trying to get one of the other cubs to play with it...but none were interested.
So finally he quit trying. Doesn't he look dejected?
A giraffe image for Bruce...
I caught this giraffe just at sundown. It was such a nice silhouette and so different from the typical giraffe image that I usually post that I decided to include it.
And My Favorite Image of the Week:
I caught this cub just as he peeked around the tree to see what we were doing. It was just too cute to pass up.
So that's it for this blog. Hopefully this next week I'll have some leopard and cheetah images to share with you. Until then be safe and enjoy your days. Out...John.
These are awesome, Uncle John! I love the lion pictures, they're always my favorite. :)
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