Ian seems to have picked up my stomach bug (or whatever it is) and has reluctantly decided to stay behind and rest up for the afternoon. But he was happy enough to be left and I'm sure that Minnie and her crew will take good care of him.
As I've already mentioned, there is a large lion population in the conservancy at the moment which has unfortunately driven out leopards and cheetahs and this coupled, with Esther's almost disregard for any other animal, meant not a lot of photo opportunities for the rest of the day. Here's what we saw:-
Topi, although unusually not standing on an anthill.
Thomson's Gazelles
Having a good roll (dust-bathing) - Zebras roll on the ground primarily to groom themselves, remove
parasites like ticks, clean their coat of dead skin and hair and it also cools them down. It is a social behaviour too and very often once one has done it, many others will roll in almost the same spot.
Talk about "legs akimbo"
Banded Mongoose scurrying away.
And that concluded the morning. Back for lunch at camp which is also taken on separate tables, although J wasn't hungry and so when A came down for a small something, we of course invited him to join us.
Unfortunately for the afternoon outing Ian wasn't feeling very well - caught my bug - but I knew Minnie and co would take good care of him whilst I was out.
I’m not sure this one was entirely happy about us being in his space.
First time we’ve seen an Eland here.
Secretary Bird, another of my favourites. It was quite a way in the distance when we first spotted it and Esther needed a lot of persuasion to drive closer.
Not a good shot but these two are Dwarf Mongoose; smaller and more ginger coloured that the Banded we saw this morning.
White-browed Coucal. Esther certainly knows her birds for ID purposes but I've come to realise she just has virtually no interest in them so doesn't actually notice them - shame.
And our day ended as it had begun; watching lions. Esther thought they were in hunting mode as the community were escorting their cattle back to the village close by. These photos show just how bothered they are by the trucks around!
Usually one or two females are left with the younger lions until they are old enough to learn the skills without messing up any opportunities.
Incidentally whilst I was out taking glorious shots like the one above, Ian had his own close encounter with a lion. He was sitting on the deck of our tent and down in the valley was a male lion sitting under a tree, only about 100m from the tent. He then did something I've never seen him do and has probably only ever happened one or two times before - he got his phone and actually took a photo. Then, having observed it for a while he decided he should go to the main area and report the sighting in case the camp was in danger - apparently not; it was a well known lion who regularly sat there. Personally I think he was very brave to venture out in the circumstances.
