Safari - Day 3

Through the night last night, we definitely heard animal sounds. This morning our guide tol dus that they were the calls of lions and hyenas! EEEKK! Good thing I held my pee all night because I would have freaked out if I saw something walking to the bathrooms at night. Yikes!

After breakfast, we piled into the car for some more game driving. We saw some more elephants, giraffes and baboon as we exited our campsite. The first big sighting was a pair of male lions sleeping under the shade of a tree (9am). That's ALL the lions did all day. Seriously. We drove by the same point a few times during the day and they were always there, sleeping under the tree.
Now I have to brag a little that only do I have supersonic dog hearing but apparently I also have an eagle eye. As we're driving around, I spot something in the tall grass. We look with binoculars and it is 2 female lions! They are on a road that we were on a little while ago, so our guide quickly turns the car around and drives as fast as he can back to the other road (this is pretty difficult as the roads are dirt, gravel and rocks with huge pot holes). Finally we get there, and there they are: 2 female lions strolling along the road! We followed them for a while until they turned back into the grass, heading in the direction of the 2 male lions.

Since we had already seen a lion and glimpsed a leopard, the remaining big cat to find was a cheetah. Rumors were flying around among the guides about cheetah sightings. (We caught on pretty quickly that whenever 2 trucks would pass each other, the guides would talk to each other to talk about where the animals were. That was good because it helped us find more animals, but it was bad because whenever anything interesting was seen, 10-15 trucks would pull by instantly at that place.) Anyway, we kept looking for these tricky cheetahs all morning with no luck.
After lunch and a few hours laying like the lions in the shade of a tree, relaxing, we headed out for an afternoon game drive. On our way out, we passed the male lions... still sleeping under the same tree. We headed out looking for cheetahs again. This time we drove for ~2.5 hours and saw nothing more than a few gazelles and some warthogs. Finally, as were were returning to the camp, old eagle eyes here spotted another female lion in the shrubs. While looking at her, our guide gets a call about another cheetah sighting. So off we got to meet the other 10 trucks where the cheetah is. On our way, we pass the 2 male lions again, still sleeping (now 5:45pm).

We get to the area of the cheetah sighting and just as we stop, we catch a quick glimpse before she lays back down in the tall grass. Rumor has it that she is with 2 cubs! Then Justin spots one of the cubs sticking its head up in the distance (guess he's eagle eyes too). We wait and watch, seeing mom (who is missing much of her left ear) and cubs here and there popping up in the grass every once in a while. Finally, mom gives the call, her cubs join her and start moving. It is really difficult to see the cats as the grass is tall and they blend in so well. However, we soon realize that the cheetahs are heading right for the area where the 2 male lions are still lounging by the tree! Not good as the male lions would love to have those cubs as an afternoon snack. After a few tense moments, mom decides to turn around (maybe she sensed the lions) and heads in the opposite direction. Whew! she leads her cubs closer to us, and then all 3 cross the road not far from where we are standing! Finally, we have our cheetah sighting and pictures! On our way back to camp, we pass the male lions again, still sleeping under the same tree (6:30pm)!

I have to say that I have a new found respect for animal photographers and videographers. As we've seen, 99% of the time the animals are just laying around, predator and prey. In addition, at least in the Serengeti, predator and prey are always on opposite sides of the park. You have to be super patient to see anything...