Another early start and why not, we didn't come all this way to sleep! Actually I've taken to showering after lunch so I can have another 15 mins in bed in the morning and also to give me time to make sure I've packed my camera gear properly.
The first plan for the morning was to visit a hyena den on the far edge of the conservancy to watch them emerging at first light; probably wouldn't have been my first choice but when you're sharing a vehicle you just go with it and it was Chris and Susie's last morning.
It was quite interesting though to watch them all interacting and again the hierarchical behaviour lead by the alpha female whose daughters will inherit her status within the clan.
Like many species their fur is very dark at birth so they are less easily seen by predators.
The young can open their eyes at birth and some teeth have already fully erupted; during the first days after birth they are highly combative because they want to establish their dominance status as quickly as possible.
Interesting fact about female hyenas coming up - their urinary and reproductive tracts are fused forming an elongated clitoris through which they urinate, copulate and give birth. This clitoris can be erected to a "pseudopenis" that closely resembles the penis of a male hyena, as is clearly seen below.
Furthermore their outer labiae are fused and filled with tissue forming a "pseudoscrotum". They are the only mammal with no external vaginal opening - try dropping that fact into polite conversation over the dinner table!
Moving swiftly on .......
This is a Bat Eared Fox although you'd never guess. They are mostly nocturnal and very shy and run like the clappers when they see us.
Lanner Falcon, we think - another rubbish photo but it's the only sighting we had.
The Marabou Stork really does deserve its inclusion in Africa's Ugly 5
I'm not sure whether this is due to genetics, disease or injury and Nelson hadn't seen anything like it before.
Nothing special about this baby giraffe except that it was on a rocky outcrop above us so a slightly different perspective but unfortunately a hideous sky.
No comment.
Back to the lion pride with the varying age cubs, who all seemed still a bit sleepy.
Lionesses in general seem to be very loving and patient mothers.
Unfortunately I clipped his tail, but I feel this photo clearly demonstrates the sheer physicality (I know, I hate the word too but it's rather apt in this instance) of this male.
Isn't he just magnificent!
This is the only termite mound we've seen.
White Backed Vultures Their presence usually indicates a kill nearby and sure enough we found 4 young adult male lions with the remains of a kill. It seemed like they'd more or less had their fill as there wasn't much of the carcass left and the lions were just wandering around a bit.
These hyenas had run off with what looked like the rib cage.
But there was still the odd bit left to sharpen his teeth on.
De-lic-ious
Time for a clean-up now.
I like to put my own narrative (another word I hate) to some photos. In the first one, the lion is smelling the leaf.
Which promptly made him sneeze.
Time for breakfast - funny how watching lions gnawing on raw meat doesn't seem to put any of us off!
No particular reason for the zebra pictures, except that I love them (the animals not the pictures)
I think I may have taken ICM (intentional camera movement) a little too far! Maybe I can incorporate it in a creative piece at some point.
This guy was taking his cow to market, what we don't know is how far he was travelling or how long it would take them.
Kenya has been suffering near drought conditions for a few years now and near to camp a large earth "bund" has been created to try and collect water coming off the nearby hill so that it lasts longer. Although there wasn't much water, we followed a large herd of Cape Buffalo heading that way to make use of what there was.
Given the sheer number of animals, it seemed strange that all these Yellow-Billed Oxpeckers should congregate on this poor one. Maybe he has more ticks than most.
I just love the look on this little guy's face (bottom left).
There was also quite a few having a lovely dust bath.
They are so tolerant of the oxpeckers
These two were just play fighting.
Play or not, I wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of a jab from one of these horns; quite sharp and several tons behind it.
This old fella obviously thought he was the King of the Castle.
This is about 1/4 of the herd.
Time to get back to camp for lunch and say our goodbyes to Chris and Susie - they've been lovely truck companions for the last 2 days.
