New Territory

[PJL]

A wonderful lion sighting with everybody moving around.....mostly

They kind of stopped moving at that point... but fortunately it wasn't the end of things

I love that curious face where the kiddo is looking at the plane

Nice lion sighting anyways

Doesn't the latest of Josie's litter have names yet?

We haven't named them yet... they're still a bit young for very distinctive features. We should probably name Aardlams youngsters as they're really big now

Beautiful studies again, Peej!

Trains, planes and automobiles!

Thanks RP

You really got some lovely shots!

Thank you Flutts... some more favourites to come

WoW PJL,

what luck you had with this stunning sighting - Needless to say that your shots are incredible

Thanks Pumbaa

[PJL]

The southern loops had some general game milling around, but we stopped for a while to enjoy a close sighting of an elephant family



They had a really little chap who seemed intent on copying everything his older siblings and parents were doing





As we made our way back towards the lions, an ostrich family caught our attention... I think we counted about 7 youngsters but they were quite hard to spot in the grass



Back at the kill Dawn was the only one still active, with Duffy fast asleep hugging a bush. The others were totally out of sight.







Dawn then wandered off to lie down which triggered a bit of activity from Duffy. First moving the carcass to a different spot, then going for a wander. The sun was just starting to appear, providing some amazing evening light to the scenes







Duffy eventually sat down next to her sister



And after she had flopped down we thought that may be the end of the days action... full lion tummies would be sleeping for quite some time.

However there had been a herd of buffalo grazing in the distance on Mbotyi loop, and as the afternoon had wore on they had been slowly meandering in our direction. They were now only a few hundred metres away on the other side of the road from the lions - blissfully unaware of the cats due to the wind direction!



With the lions fast asleep and the herd continuing to approach we waited to see what would happen next

TBC

[Lisbeth]

[Flutterby]

Love the little ellie's fluffy head!

The ostrich chicks are really well-camouflaged!

Lovely lion pics!

[Richprins]

Well done, young man!

Love the little hairyphant!

[Pumbaa]

Again incredible sightings and shots, PJL,

that little ellie is to cute for words - The ostrich chick are indeed very hard to see

[Mel]

Good to see that the girls got a bit active! Nice photos of them

Wonder if the boys moved in for a luxury dinner

[PJL]

The proximity of the buffalo herd eventually had a few heads popping up on the lion side... first the boys showed some curiosity



Then Dawn & Duffy went into stalking mode





We could see Duffy hidden in the long grass, but Dawn had dropped entirely out of sight somewhere near where the boys had been. The buffalo herd continued in our direction and a couple of big bulls crossed the road seemingly without any idea that there were lion about 50m in front of them. The rest of the herd followed across right in front of our car and then started to fan out in the space between us and the lions

Most of the herd were very relaxed... gently chewing on the grass in contentment



One of the bigger bulls was a bit suspicious and kept looking around and sniffing the air



However the herd kept on moving directly towards the lions. At one point we could see the boys looking longingly at the buffalo passing before them



We didn't have to wait too long before the explosion of movement started. Dawn had made the first move, but we couldn't really see her as she was the other side of the buffalo herd. They came stampeding back across the road - narrowly missing our car - with the lioness in hot pursuit



The noise and vibration of the herd in stampede was incredible, and I was very thankful that none of them had collided with our car. The herd had a number of big bulls who turned to face Dawn and without much support from other lions she stopped her attack in frustration just next to us before wandering back towards her family.









The buffalo bulls then decided that they weren't finished with scaring the lions and despite a snarling warning from Dawn the tables were suddenly turned as she had to quickly duck out of the way of a charging set of horns









More of the buffalo herd had moved over the road again in the direction of the lions, following their lead bulls. A short stalemate followed...



Before the buffalo spooked again and we had the herd charging at our car once again with lionesses chasing them along



Some of the bulls weren't so easily scared this time round and a longer lived truce kicked in. With the buffalo between us and the lions it made for some fun shots of the lions framed by the buffalo







After a while the buffalo herd moved off and we were treated to the last rays of the sun catching the lions as they settled down again after all the excitement





It was almost closing time so we had to duck out the park, but we would be back the next day after a morning excursion to see whether the lion and buffalo battle had any winners

TBC

[Flutterby]

I've been waiting for these pics!! Stunning!

[Lisbeth]

They still need a bit of experience

Great pics with and without buffalos