November 15 – game drives at Tembo by Jackson
We started our day before sunrise and headed on a morning game drive. We saw a pride of lions with some cubs around a year of age and a hyena was off to the side. Our guide said that the lions were trying to hunt the hyena cubs that were in the den.
The lions gave up on the den after a few minutes and began playing with each other, pouncing, wrestling, and pawing.
We watched the cubs for a long time until they laid down for a nap.
We continued our game drive and saw a wobble of ostriches. There were two males who started a mating dance.
We continued driving and came upon another pride of lions of two lionesses and six cubs. They were scoping out the river for a place to cross. They came up the bank of the river right beside our vehicle.
We watched them cross the river at a shallow point and continue up the other bank.
Our guide got information that there was a cheetah not far away so we headed in that direction. The cheetah was stalking a heard of Thomsons gazelles and shortly after we arrived the cheetah leapt into action chasing its prey. The cheetah gave up very quickly when it became clear it would not catch a gazelle. The cheetah quickly sought cover in the shade of an acacia tree to rest.
On our drive back to camp, we found another cheetah laying the shade.
We set out for an evening game drive at 4pm. There is a coalition of seven male lions in the area that caught a Cape buffalo. We went to that area first to try and find these lions. We located three of the lions in the shade of a tree with what remained of the buffalo. All three lions were panting heavily and asleep.
In the grasses nearby a jackal skulked around. It was quite skittish and I was not able to get a good image of it.
We continued on our drive and passed by plenty of animals including giraffes, elephants, zebras, gazelles, impalas, and warthogs. I spotted two lionesses that looked like they might be hunting. We then noticed another lioness that was much closer and another vehicle that just arrived was stopped and looking at the ground. We approached the area they were looking at and saw seven lion cubs hidden in the tall grass!
We then noticed another lioness in the background in the shade of a tree.
Today was definitely a day for the cats, I saw 2 cheetahs and 30(!) lions. I have not seen any leopards yet, but hopefully that’s coming soon!
Thanks for wanseeing with me,
Julie
J Cork Photography 