This was our last full day in the Mara. Here is a waterbuck and I love this shot because you can see the herd grazing in the background.
A male elan.
This is a leopard turtle we saw sun bathing on a hill. Our driver Patrick said he is older, and lost a lot of his spots. A pretty good size turtle.
Another Cheetah. This one looks fierce... the teeth, that face... He is laying on a termite mound. They are huge there and the cats love to lay on them.
This HUGE croc was resting on the beach. They lay with their mouth open in order to get more oxygen. The sun is kind of bright here so its hard to see his mouth. A real photographer would have jumped in the water, swam closer and got a better shot. Im not a real photographer, but I am still alive!
This young male lion was laying in an open field in great sun. He did not want to get up... I am telling you, these lazy lions don't care about our good light. Does he not care we got up at sunrise just to see him?! Even a lazy lion looks beautiful.
Poor baby is so tired.... How do you think we feel, getting up at 5:30, buster?!
Ok, I forgive him, this pose is precious. The paw.. the head tilt...
Can a lion not get any rest? You can see the battle wound on his leg behind him. Also, they are always covered in these little flies. I know how annoying it is from the few times we encountered them. We had to glisten ourselves with the bug spray.
Sunrise on the Mara... I believe this was our last day. I have more photos from both days coming soon. And I have a ton that never made the blog... which will be in the slideshow I will one day get done. Tomorrow I am blogging the closet... there is a teaser. My closet.. not an African closet. :) Jambo!
The Cheetahs. Something about their grace, the way they pose... it's like portrait photography meets National Geographic. They are so elegant, yet so powerful. The guides said many people visit and never see a Cheetah or maybe see only one. We were fortunate to watch different groups of brothers along with a few single females. The brothers stick together for longer periods.. and the females go off on their own.
So I give the Oscar to the Cheetahs for Best in Show.
They make lounging look graceful.
This boy looks skinny to me. I am sure it's the stance... but from this angle you can really see how they seem to be all muscle, not much fat.
One of my favorites... the grass was so pretty and green.
A great tree and backdrop. The cheetahs can do no wrong. I give them best dressed also!
So if the Mara was Sex and the City... this is what Mr. Big would look like. I know its a tad far fetched... but since the trailer leaked, I cant quick thinking about the movie!!!! I know I need a life... I may take out an ad.
As I said before..the lions are my FAVS!!! The first day in the mara when we saw a Lion close up, like a few feet away, I had a mild heart attack. As the days went on, I could not wait to see a full dark maned lion and this day I got my wish. Is he not beautiful and regal and just perfect?! I have more lion pics to come, but wanted to post this guy in a single post.
This is the lion who was sleeping and sleeping and sleeping... would not even budge a bit for a photo op..
As Carrie Bradshaw would say to Mr. Big.... "When your tired.... you take a nap-a, you dont move to Napa.."
Later we caught him walking with his girlfriend towards the kill I posted before.
I bathed the mutts... then took them out and attempted a couple of photos. They were not having any part of it.
Of course I over use the promise of treats to get a half way decent expression. When we came in they just stared at me, like, Hey Woman, where are our treats?! Of course I am out of treats so I had to cut up left over Al Beirnats Rib Eye. Damn dogs have it good. We went to the vet last week and Goldie weighed... I am almost embarrassed to type this.... 16 lbs! She is supposed to be 10-12. So mama and doggie daughter are BOTH on a diet. I have taken up hula hooping which I hope works. Goldie is on a diet and if I get off my lazy butt, I will start walking them this week. The weather has turned to spring, great timing!
Here are the fur kids and Goldie sporting her new haircut.
OHMYGOSHICANNOTWAIT!!!!!!! This is the new trailer released for Sex and the City.... I read they released it last night then yanked it early today. So it may change. Thanks to You Tube, here it is!!!
I will confess, I am in love with Big. I love him. LOVE HIM! Sorry Romo, if Big pulls up in his heavy tinted black town car, I am gone! Buh Bye....
" I don't really believe in marriage... but botox... it works everytime! " I love Samantha... preach it sista....
This makes me want to go buy a pair of shoes today.... I think I will.
So I will tone down on the display of animal goods. You can't photoshop them out like you can on the human babies... its just not right! No more vagrant nuts...
Hyena babies... A very young litter of Hyenas that popped out of their den for a romp around. This was at sunrise and while their mother was not here, you can bet she was nearby. At the end, they went to sleep after hearing the call from their mom to go back to the den. She is very aware of what is going on. Its amazing how much they learn and know from instincts at such an early age.
The taller one here has a small piece of bark in his mouth.. he just loved to play with that and was chewing on it and tossing it around while we watched them.
We left the Hyenas to go see a couple of lazy lions. It was one of the older males with a big mane, but he had NO interest in us. We were so excited to see the Lions ( I LOVE the males and had been wanting some good shots of the fuller dark maned lions.) but when we got there, nothing. Maybe he raised his head for a fraction of a mili second to give us a look of disgust for disturbing his sleep. We decided to truck on in hopes of a more willing subject.
Good thing we did, because next we saw a Leopard. Again, very rare to see a leopard. You know when the drivers get excited, its not an everyday occurrence.
You dot often see the Leopards on the ground. When you actually spot them, they are normally hanging in the trees. I say that as if I am an expert safari guide.. I am just passing on what I was told. :) This girl, as we were told by our WONDERFUL guides, was on the ground and kind of stressed because there were baboons in the distance. We could see them on the horizon after pointed out to us. She had a kill in the tree and she sure did not want to attract the baboons. A group of baboons CAN take a leopard. Not only can they get into the trees, they can kill the leopard. One on one, a leopard will win, but you pair more than one baboon against the cat and its not good. So she sat.. and paced and panted... maybe some of that was exhaustion from a fresh kill.
Skipping ahead.. we came back later on to find her in the tree. Here she is with Gazelle kill that you can see in the background.
Then we saw this ADORABLE guy... Im telling you Dawna.. you will learn to love Wart Hogs!!! They are So cute.
Someone in our truck named this guy Donald Trump. His comb over kept flying in the wind. Trump Hog was more of a ham than the others, posing for the camera.... (pun intended.. HAHAHAHA)
I am skipping ahead once again with this gorgeous lion. This is the guy who wouldn't wake up earlier. Well he woke up!!!!! I have a few shots of him walking to this kill... but want them in a single post. They are with out a doubt, my FAVORITE!!!! We followed him walking for a while. He went straight to this tree where two lionesses were feeding on this. They promptly went to the side when he made his intentions known. They took a snack with them, as he sat front and center for a feast. Hope this doesn't disturb anyone, but its how the cycle of life continues here.
This week was back to work full steam. I will try to post a few from all the sessions this week over the next few days. For those of you sick of wild animals, you can go back to the cute babies.
Many of you have seen Lilli on my blogs with her cute chubby face and rolls! This is her sister Lola.
They look alike in so many ways, but they are so different!
I love Lola! 6 months and going strong, she is full of personality.
The most viewed angle of Wart Hogs. These guys are fast, and more often than not you see them running. it is not always easy to photograph them.
A Mara elephant. Might be the only one we saw in the Mara. A silly lion who wanted to be left alone.
The silly part... showing off
Lilac breasted roller... A GORGEOUS bird that is also hard to capture at times. I know some in our group got very close with full frame shots. You can see why that would be a treat with this beauty, her pastel colors just jump out.
Another serval cat. This guy was looking for food and didn't stick around.
No Pictures Please!
What we crossed almost everyday. Rivers etc... love the rovers.
This may not look like much here. The hungry hippo in the prior post... was lounging on the beach. Actually more like hiding on the beach from the pissed Hippo in the water. The pissed hippo blasted out of the water, charged that hippo, she ran back into the water and swam away from him. They are SO fast. This is all I got. I promise that is what happened! So now you know why this is one cool shot. This is the second hippo lunging into the water after the first one.
I dont think Steve Erwin would have even come near this guy. He is a croc resting on the beach and I bet he was 30 feet long. Not really. But he was HUGE! They store fat in their tail to survive on.
Dearest Laura,
I am so whooping your butt in Hungry Hungry Hippos. I am a master player! Bring. It. On.
Quick captions.... update more details manana.
A huge pond of cabbage lilies FULL of Hippos. They were almost on top of each other.
I love the leaves on his hard... look at all the eyeballs around him!
A serval cat. More of a rare sighting. They eat rats and rodents. We watched him catch one. He played with it, tossing it in the air a few times and chasing after it before eating it for breakfast.
Chow Time!
A pretty portrait.
Another of my Beestie Boys. I love them, even though when you dont wear your glasses they look like Zebras. ( Shut up Lois, I can hear you! haha)
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