Tags
Blacksmith plover, cape teal, cheetah, Dik dik, dung beetle, eagle, giraffe, grey-crowned crane, hoopoe, Lion, long-crested eagle, Ndutu, northern white-crowned shrike, secretary bird, shrike, side-necked terrapin, Tanzania, Thomson's gazelle, three-banded plover, vulture, Wildebeest
After lunch, a short wander round the grounds, observing this notice

Board near our accommodation at the lodge
and this Dik dik

No danger, though, from this,
and a rest, it was time for another trip out in the jeeps.

Cheetah

Masai giraffe

Dung beetles. The dung is the size of a tennis ball.
Impressed by the antics of the dung beetles, I made a video:
Vultures like being near lions, hoping to help clear up after a kill. We just liked being near lions for sheer pleasure, in this case observing adult females and cubs doing nothing very much.

Vultures in weaver bird’s tree

Just too cute or what?

Lions spend most of their day sleeping
We’d now arrived at Saturday, 13th February.

Sunrise over the plain
Lots of lions again today, but no ‘action’, despite much soliciting by the females. We stuck around them for much of the day, breaking for breakfast after a couple of hours,

Secretary birds

Long-crested eagle

Grey-crowned crane, and missis

Northern white-crowned shrike
expecting action of some sort when another male hove into view,
(but it turned out they were brothers),

Cape teal

Blacksmith plovers
We went back to the Lodge for lunch and a rest from the fierce sun of the middle hours of the day. Later we returned to the marshy area to see what was happening.

Thomson’s gazelle

Side-necked terrapin

Three-banded plover

Hoopoe

Juvenile tawny eagle

Long-crested eagle

Grey-crowned crane
But all the lions wanted to do was to lounge around, at least until the sun was going down (around 6 pm) and we had to be away. They are entirely unfazed by human presence, though it would not be advisable to get out of the jeep.
(To be continued)
Wow! What a lot you saw. I particularly enjoyed the video of the industrious dung beetles.
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Did you note that one does all the work? It’s the male, the female just going along for the ride.
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That figures!
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I was wondering about the riding beetle. I thought it seemed to be giving directions. “OK, now, a little to the right – excellent. Oof! Could you move it off me now please?”
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Nice idea, but I think the terrain had more to do with the course of the ball!
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Love the next instalment. Brilliant pics…..
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Lots to see and enjoy again in this post.
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Thank you.
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Brilliant pictures! Much as I like large pussy cats I’m not sure I would be relaxed about being quite so close to them in the wild…XX
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I’m sure you ‘d have no concerns, only delight.
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How wonderful to be able to get so close to the animals. Great pictures of the lions lounging around,
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Lions love lounging around.
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YOU GOT TO SEE A CHEETAH!! I love lions, but if I ever saw a wild cheetah I think I’d have an emotional meltdown on the spot. I’m so happy that you were able to see all of these wonderful animals in the wild.
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YES WE GOT TO SEE A CHEETAH! This was the only one, but it was a lovely observation. She was basically moving from patch of shade to patch of shade along side the trackway, and we moved with her. She seemed to be rather full…
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