[This is post #13 of 21 posts about our 2024 trip to Africa. To go to the first post in the series CLICK HERE. At the end of the last post there is also a Directory with links of all 21 posts.]
It was now Day 7, September 16, of our trip to Africa. Unlike the previous two days, we did not change camps so there was no long distance driving. We were still up early in hopes of catching some of the nocturnal animals (primarily lions) before they settled in for the day.
As it turned out there were two places where we spent considerable time, a marsh which was home to a large pride of lions and a small group of trees close to camp which was a leopard hang out. We visited each once in the morning and again later in the afternoon/early evening.
Cheetah. As has been so often the case during this trip, we started to spot animals almost immediately as we left camp. First were a few elephants in the distance. Then there was a cheetah on a kill in the tall grass.
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| Cheetah. Note the blood on its mouth and chin. |
The cheetah was very well hidden except when she raised up to scan the surroundings. We would probably never have noticed her without Fazal having been alerted that she was there through his contacts on the radio. Even then, it took his sharp eyes to spot her.
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| Cheetah in the grass |
She scanned the entire area for quite some time. I am not sure if she was concerned about scavengers challenging her for the kill or if she had just been bothered by our arrival. She finally settled down and turned her attention to the kill, but then she was nearly invisible.
Once we got closer we could also get a glimpse of the kill.
She seemed content to eat her breakfast, so we decided to move on in search of the lions.
Marsh Lion Pride. Our destination was a marshy area which was home to a large pride of lions. Shown below is a view of a part of the marsh. Several lionesses with their cubs are among the reeds in the foreground. The kopje in the background reminds me of Pride Rock in The Lion King. The lions do in fact often perch on the rocks.
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| Lionesses among the reeds with their cubs at the marsh. |
This pride is known for its large size, with multiple lionesses, lots of cubs, and at least three male lions.
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| One of several lionesses with cubs |
We had so much fun watching the little ones.
We noticed that the cubs seemed much younger than those in the pride that we had seen further north yesterday. According to this site, newborn cubs are born with blue-grey eyes. They begin to turn amber or brown when they are 2-3 months old. Of those we could see well, we did not see any with blue-grey eyes. We therefore assumed they are at least 3 months old.
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| One of the many lion cubs we enjoyed watching |
While the cubs played and the lionesses mostly slept since they had probably been hunting overnight, the males just acted like they owned the place--which they mostly did.
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| This guy really did look and act like the king of beasts. |
The male lions always moved at a slow pace and were very calm, but I would have been terrified to have had to confront them outside the vehicle. We could tell these guys knew they were at the top of the food chain. They went where they wanted when they wanted.
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| Lion next to another Africa Dream Safari (our safari company) vehicle identical to ours. |
A highlight of the entire morning was when some of the lions went to the waterhole for a drink. I think there were seven cubs with the two lionesses.
When one of the moms started to leave, the little ones fell in line behind,
except for one slow poke.
Cuteness Overload. Here is a video of the cubs and the lionesses at the waterhole. I know it is too long, 2 minutes, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave anything out. It was definitely a highlight of not just the day but of the entire trip.
Male lions are thirsty, too. The males also eventually wandered over for a drink.
However, they stayed by themselves and used a different waterhole.
Other marsh critters, While watching the lions we could also see a variety of birds, including a large family of Egyptian Geese.
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| Family of Egyptian Geese |
We thought it was interesting how one of the adults always stood watch. I am not sure what they were watching for, but it is clear that the Serengeti can be a dangerous place.
Back to Camp. The lions seemed to be settling in for the day, so we decided to head back towards camp. As seen on the gps track below, the marsh with the lions was to the south about 7 crow miles from camp. We continued on around the marsh area counter-clockwise to see what we could see.
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| Aerial view of September 16 gps track in cyan. |
As seen in the video below, this part of the Serengeti is different from where we had been on previous days. It is almost all tall grass with very few or no trees. However, one thing is exactly the same--the rough roads.
Despite the apparent emptiness, there were still lots of things to see. There were birds of various kinds
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| Secretary Bird watching something in the grass |
and there always seemed to be a new type of grazing animal.
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| Grant's Gazelle |
Unexpected Leopard Drama. We had made it almost all the way back to camp when we came upon an unexpected sight in a tree. There was a leopard high up in one of the trees. Although rare to spot, leopards in trees are not rare
What was unexpected was a male lion at the base of the tree. Fazal was nearly beside himself. He said in his 20+ years of being a guide he had never seen a lion sitting below a treed leopard.
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| Leopard in the tree (upper left) and lion below (left of trunk) |
Lions are a natural predator of leopards. Even male leopards, that average about 100 pounds, are no match for lions, which are much larger and stronger. A female lion averages 260 pounds, while a male lion averages a whopping 380 pounds. Male lions will fight leopards to steal their kill or to protect their territory. Lionesses will fight and kill leopards to protect their cubs.
We don't know what was going on here. The lion was awake but did not seem particularly bothered by anything.
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| Lion lounging at the base of the tree |
The male leopard appeared to be sound asleep high in the tree.
We could not see any cached kill in the tree, although it could have been there. Likewise there could have been something in the grass, but we couldn't see anything.
Whether this was a stand-off over a kill, the end of a dispute over territory, or just a random coincidence, it looked like nothing much was going to happen anytime soon. We decided to leave them to their naps and head back to camp for lunch. Since they were so close, wee could check back on them later. Stay tuned. That is the topic of the next post.
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