Sparring

Another action packed day which started at 5:30 AM for our morning game drive.  First thing our driver found was the small lion pride and he parked us in good viewing distance while the sun rose.  The male and his two lionesses lolled around and then eventually the male got up and mounted one of the females - and yes, we all shamelessly took photos.  Lion copulation is a fast affair and is completed in about a minute.  

From the lions we continued on and found a female cheetah who was relaxing in a clearing in the grass.  She gave us a great show and more pictures were taken.  Then off to see what else we could find which turned out to be giraffe, zebra, impalas and warthogs.  These two giraffes look like they are canoodling, but they are actually two young males exerting dominance over each other by this head-weaving behavior.  It is all very gentile although adult male giraffes can get quite aggressive with each other.  These two were just practicing.

Back to the lodge for breakfast, shower, a workshop at noon and then lunch (yes, we are being extremely well fed and the food here is top notch).  Hilly, Beth and I have our last session in the overnight hide tonight so we were picked up at 2:30 and have now settled in for what will be a long night.  We've already seen wildebeest, warthogs, and a group of 4 young male Cape buffalo who seem to have settled down in front of us for the night.  Before the sun set, there were oxpecker birds picking insects off the buffalo which was great fun to shoot.

Only one more full day here in this magical place. 

xo
Debbi