Capturing the Moment

  One of my favorite leopard photos to date! What an incredible day! We left our very comfortable confines of the Masai Mara, took two bush plane rides across the country side. Crossed an international border from Kenya to Tanzania, and made it to our rough-and-tumble camping site in the Serengeti. I'm not sure what kind of camping everyone expected, but once the group saw the ultimate luxury, in the bush, kind of mobile tent camping at andBeyond's Under Canvas Serengeti Camp, we knew we were in for a camping experience like none other. This is how the royal family does it when they come to Africa, so we figured we would give it a try as well. There are no fences around the camp, and we have to be escorted to and from our rooms after dark. Our butler wakes us up in the morning with coffee, and fills our bucket showers with hot water when we come back from safari. The rooms are opulent to the extreme, even though it just looks like a big tent on the outside. Animal noises abound...

  Shot of the day. Finding the cheetah was hard work today, but Jackson prevailed. We got an up close look at two cheetah. This one gave us a brief look at its incredibly sharp teeth during this yawn. Luckily I snapped the photo right as it happened and captured the moment.    It was a tough wake up for everyone this morning here in the Masai Mara. And by 'tough' I mean our butler woke us up with coffee and biscuits at the requested time. We may be camping in tents, but here at Kichwa Tembo Luxury Tented Camp, it feels like glamping to the extreme. After the early morning pick-me-up, the group met Jackson at the vehicle, ready for a big morning game drive. Our plan was to cover a lot of distance, maybe searching for cheetah, and seeing if we got lucky with any lions on they way. I would say lucky was an understatement. Sunrise view from our camp.    Our first big find was three young male lions, sleeping and basking in the early morning sunshine. Shortly after, ...