Day 12--Quiet Evening and Rainy Morning

Our evening drive last night was very quiet.  When we left Makanyi we saw a bunch of warthog families.  Not sure how many there were, but I have been used to seeing solitary warthogs, so this was a treat.

No matter what you think about warthogs, you've got to admit these two babies are pretty cute.

We were heading south and got word about a fight between two bull elephants.  One was killed.  We couldn't go into the area because there were research teams there taking DNA, other groups getting the meat for animal rescue centers, and the tusks were gathered so poachers couldn't get them.  It's amazing how organized Timbavati reserve is for all eventualities.

I did get a great shot of a European Roller.

There was a beautiful sky right before sunset.

This morning started wonderfully and then it started pouring.  We did have a great day before the rain started.  We saw adult jackets and then these two babies waiting patiently for their parents to return.

We saw lots of rhinos before the down pour.  We were following this male lion in the pouring rain.  The photos aren't that clear, but it was still really cool following this fellow.  We also saw a puff adder in the road.

It's hard to believe we'll be leaving tomorrow.  What a great trip.

Day 11--Lions and Wild Dogs

Yesterday afternoon and evening, we spent lots of time looking at birds and hanging with lions.    This is the Cape Glossy Starling.  It often looks black, but when the sun hits it right it's an amazing blue.

This is the Yellow Hornbill.  They are very plentiful and quite striking birds.

We hung out for over an hour with the lion pride since they have finished eating and will likely leave the area tomorrow.  They were active for a bit--here they are playing.

This is our tracker Temba.  You can see from the photo how close we can get to these Lions.  We can do this because they've had a big kill they eat and laze around for a few days.  If they were hunting, we couldn't get nearly as close.  It's great how the rangers know exactly which animals we can get close to and which we can't.

Isn't he a beauty!!

He and his brother are always hanging together, often touching while they sleep or relax.  It was such a privilege to get to know this particular pride.

We had a wonderful sunset while we drank wine in the bush.

Our ranger, Alfred, showed me how to set my camera to use it at night.  This is one of the male lions in the light of the Range Rover.  Learning what my camera can do was an amazing plus on this trip.

This morning the pack of wild dogs needed to eat one of there two meals a day.  They were on the hunt and we followed them.

 This is a very tame photo of the them eating the kill.  I didn't want to gross anyone out, but I have some amazing photos of them devoting an Impala in a couple of minutes.

This hyena was hanging around waiting for them to leave.  The hyenas eat the bones.  We saw their poop and it's completely white.  

Leaving the Impala kill we saw this Hammerkop fishing.  It uses it's legs to stir up little fish in the water.

We saw seven rhinos wandering through the bush.  They are so worried about poachers here that they ask us not to post any photos of rhinos.   A very good day.  Instead of rushing from one animal to another, we spent lots of time with the lions and the wild dogs.

Day 10--Makanyi

We arrived at our new lodge, Makanyi, and it's quite extravagant--a bit too much.  Here's what the individual huts look like.

Not sure what to do with all the room. It's a beautiful resort, but doesn't quite seem to fit in with the bush.  On the plus side, there is a pond with hippos straight out from the rooms and wildlife (like this kudu) is easy to see.

As we took off on our 1st drive yesterday afternoon, we spotted this European Roller.  There are amazing birds here.

Our next stop was with a pride of lions--two brothers (adult males), a mom, and 3 cubs.  They were lazing around after eating a Cape Buffalo yesterday.  These are photos of the cubs.

They are really cute.  Here's the mom and two of the cubs.

Here's the Dad.

We ended the drive seeing cape buffalo, rhinos. and an elephant.

This morning we were out again and the highlights were hippos and a huge pack of wild dogs.  The ranger said there were 18 in the pack.

The young pups were playing around.  It was really cute watching them.

All-in-all a good first day here.

Day 9--Last Two Game Rides at Kambaku

We have really grown to love Kambaku.  It feels like the staff is family.  Tomorrow we'll be moving to another Safari camp.

Our evening drive yesterday was wonderful as usual.  Although I've already posted a photo of the Marabou Stork, this one was standing so tall it really caught my eye.

And you can never get enough elephants.  We are seeing them every day now.  We got really close to this one.

This is a warthog that stuck it's head out of its den for a second and luckily we were able to get a shot of it.

We've started seeing lots of baby animals.  Here a zebra baby.

And we were lucky to find 8 hippos in the same pond.

This African Fish Eagle reminds me a lot of the American Eagle.

This morning was our last game drive at Kambaku and what a ride!!!  It started with us following a pack of wild dogs.

Then we came across a big heard of Cape Buffalo.

We found a mother leopard with two cubs in den, but the photos didn't turn out well.  Right after our ranger found this gal wandering close by.

We followed her to a tree.  She is a beauty!!

Then, as if that wasn't enough for our last game ride.  Phanuel spotted two lazy male lions.

We ended with a Tawny Eagle sighting!  What a day.

It was all thanks to these two wonderful guys!  We will miss Kambaku.