Weekend Photos: South Serengeti, Part 2

At last, I have finished editing the photos from my Tanzania safari (which accounts for nearly half of the photos from the whole trip), so I can get on with my trip report! 

So far we have Arusha, Tarangire National Park, and South Serengeti Part 1. 

Today, we get some really special wildlife moments as we continue our drive through the Serengeti--out of the Ngorogoro Conservation Area and into Serengeti National Park.

Misty dawn.

Almost immediately we headed for a mother lion and three cubs, who were hard at work on a wildebeest she'd clearly killed just that morning.

Just kittens having fun with their chew toy.

The carcass was still steaming.

Very young cubs--after a while, they headed for the milk bar.

Eventually we left the poor lions in peace (to wander off and take a nap), and headed on. Not too far off we encountered a lone male lion, and then a trio of bat-eared foxes.

Definitely one of the cuties, and not something we saw anywhere else.

More giraffes! This pair of young males were play-fighting, swinging their heads and twisting their necks together. If they were in earnest, I can believe they could do real damage.

More cheetahs!

An answer to the question of whether lions can climb trees: certainly a female can, as proven by this lady napping in the lower branches. Pretty sure she'd get in trouble if she went as high as the leopards do!

We even got a rare moment when we were allowed out of the safari vehicle, as some of us had a desperate need to inspect the spare tires. Said drove carefully all around the tree and through the brush to be sure there were no large predators or cranky ungulates hidden in the weeds, before he would let us out.

We returned to the migration camp for a very good lunch, then moved on out into the plains of the Serengeti, where we went from seeing large herds of wildebeest and zebras--to truly vast herds of them.

A portion of the herd, with wildebeest calf.

Photos, videos--none of it really captures the feeling of herds that extend to the horizon. The American West must have looked like this at one point, before we slaughtered the bison, though with fewer stripes.

Zebras were my favorites, along with giraffes and elephants and...

Just a puddle, but the flamingo was there, and posed so nicely!

Lappet-faced vulture, atop an acacia tree. Lappets are the folds of skin either side of the face.

We had to drop the roof for a rain shower, but were rewarded by a rainbow. With elephant.

Next up: hippos! Baboons! Mongoose (mongeese?)! and maybe a Masai village.

©Rebecca M. Douglass, 2024
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