Africa Safari Day 11: Serengeti Lion Cubs

 

The inquisitive stare of a new baby lion.

    Today our group woke up in the most beautiful tents, with the sunrise streaming in as our butler laid out our coffee platter. We were eager to get out and see what else the Serengeti had to offer so we opted to have our breakfast out in the bush during our extra long morning game drive. Our driver/guide, Godliving, yes that was his actual name, took us first to these beautiful rocky outcroppings called kopjees.

A brief glimpse at a mama lion with her tiny, month and a half old cub. We only got this glimpse for a second, then they disappeared back into the bush.

    The kopjees are a different environment that what we had been in during our Kenya leg of the safari. We found rock hyrax and klipspringer antelopes using the rocks as a habitat. Then we got word that a lion was up ahead. We could just barely see her moving around, catching the flick of a tail here, and the movement of an ear there. I was able to see her face for just a few moments, and much to my surprise, when I reviewed the photo, a tiny lion cub could also be seen peeking out from the bushes. Shortly after the mom and cub laid down and disappeared from our view, so we continued on.

    Even though there were very few wildebeest around, thanks to the rains coming early and the majority of the migratory herds heading south early, we still wanted to give it a chance to see a river crossing. We went off towards the famous crossing areas to see if any wildebeest or zebras were gathering and thinking about attempting to cross the crocodile riddled Mara River. On the way we were treating to some great bird of prey encounters, including four different kinds of eagles (bataleur, tawny, long crested, and martial eagles.)

    Our best chance for a crossing came from a small herd of zebra. We watched as more zebra filed down towards the river, growing the size of the herd. A couple of brave zebra ventured down the cliff, to drink from the river. Godliving didn't seem to convinced though, and he was right. It seems the sighting of a few large crocodiles was more than enough to deter the zebras from crossing. Even though the herd on the far side never crossed, we were quite surprised when two zebras from our side crossed. Maybe they wanted to show off just how brave they were.

    Another lesson that I have learned while on safari, is that when you are surrounded by so much animal life and diversity, that if you just sit in one place long enough, you are bound to see something. And don't you know, while we were waiting for the zebra to cross, a huge martial eagle soared into a small tree near us. He was scanning the area, turning his head almost completely around like an owl, looking for small mammals to eat. Then, all of a sudden, a scrub hare (a nocturnal rabbit), burst forth from a bush and raced across the landscape away from the martial eagle. It reminded me of a few days ago when the lion cubs chased out the serval cat in the Masai Mara.

Martial Eagle taking flight. It is amazing that you can see so many different species of eagles here in Africa. We get excited about seeing just one species back home in Ameirca, the bald eagle. We saw four species on just this one drive!

    After a wonderful lunch back at Serengeti Under Canvas, we had a short break before heading back out for our afternoon game drive. We went back up into kopjee area to see if we could get a better look at our lion family, and I'm so glad we did! Godliving got us incredible close to where mom was resting and nursing, but not one cub... she had three young cubs. All three were nursing, then playing, then checking us out, then nursing again. During our entire encounter, mom rolled over once. Otherwise she hardly moved at all, totally care free about about closeness. Everyone in the group was pretty shocked how close we were able to get, without disturbing their natural behavior.

    After a quick stop back at camp, we kicked the tires and lit the fires, because word came about a possible leopard sighting. We covered ground fast and made it to see about ten safari vehicles peering towards a bush. This was the most cars we had seen all day. We couldn't see much, having the 11th best viewing angle, but our luck came through again. Just as we thought about moving, the leopard got up and walked right towards us. We followed it across the field for awhile, which led to another surprise serval cat sighting! We finally left the leopard, high atop a termite mound, which a final beautiful shot, before racing back to camp before the roads closed for the night.

Our last sighting of the day. This leopard came out of hiding to go hunt. It was very dark, and I had to bump down the shutter speed to 1/30th of a second to get this shot. Luckily I could brace the camera against the roof of the vehicle, and the leopard held still as well.

    Four more people showed up at camp tonight, so we no longer had the entire place to ourselves, but the exclusive feeling still held with a mere ten total guests out in the wilderness. Our butlers, Richard and Elicante, made sure the wine and dawas were flowing, as we all had another beautiful dinner under the stars.

    Janet described the Under Canvas experience as, 'Upscale glamping to the extreme, with every amenity and service taken care of.' Not bad when you're deep in the African wilderness, listening to the sounds of hyena, zebra, and elephants from your tent.

A secretary bird showing off during a mating display.

This was our only look at the Long crested eagle

Martial Eagle on the hunt!

Speaking of different species, there are three species of vultures sharing this tree top perch. Ruppel's griffon vulture on the left, white-backed vultures in the middle, and a smaller hooded vulture second from right.

Zebra, working up the courage to cross the famous Mara river. The animals of the great migration have to cross this river once on their way north to the Masai Mara, and then again on their way back down to the southern Serengeti.

A rare view of a klipspringer not on a rock.

This is what the kopjee environment looks like. It is ancient granite exposed by the intense weathering of the Serengeti.

Another look at the beautiful klipspringer antelope.

Cutest baby lions ever. Mom was exhaushted, she just slept. The cubs would nurse, sleep, and play just a bit. I contemplated taking one home in my backpack for the kids.

How could you not love this face.

These are the youngest cubs I've ever found. Hopefully their mom does a good job keeping them safe, and they can grow up to strengthen the pride.

Fighting for the best nursing spot.

Baby lion cubs wrestling! You can go an entire safari without seeing baby big cats.

Little baby lions being cute.

It was hard to tell if these cubs were just as tired as mom, or ready for her to wake up and play.

Three little cubs, all nursing at the same time.

You can still see the black nipple of the mom, just after it popped out of this young cubs mouth.

Sleepy yawn from one and sleepy stare from another. Just unspeakably cute.

Our Serengeti guide, Godliving, fixing up an amazing bush breakfast.

Diane, up close and personal with a family of sleepy lions.

The driving here in the Serengeti can be.... advanced.

But wow! The views can sure be surreal.

Our butler, Richard, was always there to meet us as we returned from a game drive. Here Kevin joins him in front of the camp common space.