Africa 2006 Little Vumbura Notes: Because we have a group of five traveling together we have been lucky and gotten our own Land Rover for all of our drives. This has really made this trip super customized. We all pretty much enjoy seeing whatever crosses our path and studying it for a while. We were never rushed and feel like we saw so much! What we saw:
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Today we decided that we would take our lunch with us and do one long safari drive. The last two days some interesting stuff was spotted in the afternoon just as we had to come in. We thought a longer day might just get us a look at something cool - like maybe a cheetah. Left, elephant |
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Above, green-backed heron and a sausage tree. The fruit from this tree is so heavy it could kill you if it dropped on your head. Right and below left, sable antelope Below right, Tsessebe |
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Above, Tsessebe and elephant family. The baby elephant didn't seem to know quite how to use it's trunk yet. Right, baboons drinking. Below, saddle-billed stork and ostrich |
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| Above, marabou stork and hamerkop. Below, this area only recently filled with water, but it quickly is filling with water birds. Far below, a pink-backed pelican scratches its head. Right below are marabou stork. | |
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| We don't know how Kay spotted this leopard in the grass. It was very well hidden. It was really nervous when we stopped and quickly left the area. | |
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Right, giraffe Below, steenbok and ostrich. |
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Upper right and right, hyena and hyena pup. We saw the den and then found a group of about five pups hidden in the grass. The pups look so playful and fun. The adult hyenas walk with their heads lowered and have such a thick neck they look threatening just standing there. Below, a long-tailed shrike, and an elephant playing in water. |
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| We were hoping to see a cheetah, and staying out late gave us that opportunity. It was close to mid-day and it was getting hot. Kay thought that this guy hadn't eaten yet since he was still active (usually they rest or sleep mid-day). | |
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Giraffe are a cute mix of cautious and curious. We stayed back so that we didn't frighten them off from drinking. A giraffe will come to a watering hole and hang around for a long time to be sure it is safe to bend down. They can out run most predators, but are most vulnerable when bending over to drink. It is easy to knock them over and then just sit on their neck to suffocate them. They often stare at us as much as we stare at them. |
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Above, red-faced mousebird Upper right, kingfisher Right and below, purple heron |
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Left, male kudu |
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