Friday, October 28, 2016 (Serengeti Wilderness Camp, Serengeti National Park, Tanzania)

Steve woke early this morning with an emergency run to the toilet. When he came back into the bedroom, he asked me "where's the Imodium?" Oh dear...that doesn't sound good. We both got ready for the day and walked up to the dining tent for breakfast. He seemed fine...but decided to forego coffee, opting for a cup of tea instead.

As we were talking about the leopard we had seen in the tree with his kill yesterday, the manager of the camp said that there was the remains of a gazelle up in a tree not far away. So off we went down a short trail to the tree which was only about 75 yards from the dining tent! Not much of it left  now...but apparently the day before, it had been hardly touched...






We all had breakfast and then about 7:30, we climbed into the Land Cruisers for our morning game drive. Thompson Gazelles....

Dik-dik...

 We first saw this lone Hyena resting in the shade by the side of the road...

 ...and then realized there was a whole pack of them...

Grant's Gazelles....

And of course, a magnificent Giraffe!

 A a cute little Warthog (LOL)...

A Topi with her young...

With close-ups of both...

 And more Hyenas...

We went past the tree where we saw the Leopard with it's kill yesterday...

He's still there, "hanging out"...

 A herd of Zebra...

 And then we came across another Leopard having a snooze in a tree...

We watched him for quite some time, hoping that he would wake up...and he did. Time to turn around...

 Time for another snooze....

He finally woke up again and Steve took a ton of pictures until the big guy decided to look our way...Perfect!

Rock Antelope Klipspringer...

I think this is a Dark Chanting Goshawk...

 A lone Elephant...

And then a herd...

 ...with their babies...

So darn cute!

 Lots of Elephant pictures...they are so cool to watch!

Pushing the branches over with it's foot...

 A female Ostrich...

And then we happened upon these 4 Lions laying under a tree. We had no sooner stopped to take a look when 3 of them got up and started slowly walking (can  you see them...they're hard to see because they are the same colour as the dry grass)...

A Topi cautiously watches in the background...

The 3 of them split up and it wasn't long before we saw where they were headed...

...to a herd of Topi and Zebra...

Follow that lion!

This was absolutely a "National Geographic" scene as we watch the Lions stalk the herd. This one is leading the hunt...

 Oh, oh...two Topi are separated from the group...

The Lions really couldn't care that we were there...they paid absolutely no attention to the vehicles...

...waiting for the signal to "go"...

And then it was time!

The chase was on...

We missed the actual take down as they both disappeared down a gully...

Hey...save some for me!

We drove around trying to find the lions with their kill but were unable to locate them...

Then we noticed the fourth Lion (still resting under the tree) starting to make her way over. We figured she had sent her kids to get lunch. We followed her for quite some time but she seemed to be heading in the wrong direction from the kill...hmmm...maybe the kids decided to hide and keep lunch all to themselves!

African Fish Eagle...

Some burning is taking place on one section of the park. The next day we were told it had been accidentally lit by poachers....then others said it was a controlled burn, So we're not exactly sure which is correct...but it was a massive area that was burned...

Marabou Stork...

Another couple of Lions were spotted in the distance...

...so we got closer for a better look...

 Hippo...

And then look what we came across! A pride of Lions...Mom with her babies relaxing in the shade of a huge tree. I took this picture on my cell and didn't realize until I looked at the picture that the male Lion was in the background! Steve took virtually the exact same picture but with no male...he must have been laying down and popped his head up as I took my picture. Amazing! I think this is my favourite picture! (I had accidentally deleted this pic from my phone and was heartbroken...then I thought maybe I had been seeing things! But when we got back to camp in the afternoon, I managed to find the 'trash' box...and there it was! I quickly restored it!)

A close-up of the kittens...so cute! Doesn't it make you want to cuddle them? LOL

It was about this point when I noticed Steve really wasn't doing well. He told our guide that he was going to be sick...so we were all frantically trying to find a bag or something for him. But he ended up sticking his head outside the window and "tossing his cookies"...much to his embarrassment he apologized to the group.  He felt better after that but we started heading back to camp. Then Steve started getting the chills and feeling very tired.

More Marabou Storks, one with a fish...

We were back at camp at about 12:30....only about a half hour before the rest arrived back. Steve immediately went to our tent...and to bed. I left him there and went to join the others for a late lunch. The cook made some chicken broth for me to take down to Steve. The thought of food was not appealing at this point so it remained untouched.

At 4:00 everyone piled back into the Land Cruisers for another game drive. I left Steve in bed...he wasn't doing well, but there really wasn't anything I could do for him and the workers at the camp promised to check on him.

I decided not to take a camera with me...instead relying on my cell phone. I took a few pictures. A Dik-dik...

Topi...

A Leopard not in a tree this time! But very well camouflaged...

Jackals...

Now, this is when I really wish I had taken a camera. We spotted this Leopard relaxing on a cliff-top and then he started moving toward a group of Warthogs. We witnessed the Leopard try to take the baby Warthog but the mom wasn't going to let him. The momma Warthog succeeded in fighting it off sending the Leopard up a tree to sulk. I took a bunch of pictures but none of them turned out...my cell seems okay with near, still photos but not for any distant or action shots.

We came across another Lion...I love them!

When we got back a few hours later, I found Steve still in bed and burning up. Of course, it didn't help that it was very hot outside...and that much hotter inside the tent. I gave him some Tylenol (thanks Joanne!), put a cool facecloth on his forehead and encouraged him to drink water.

I joined the others for dinner...and when I got back (escorted), Steve said that he had been vomiting and when he got back into bed he heard this low guttural growl of a male lion next to the tent for what felt like 10 minutes.
(This literally could have scared the crap out of me if I hadn't already been doing that all afternoon. Everyone was at dinner about 150 - 200 yards away, the wind was blowing the tent flaps around making a lot of noise so I couldn't tell if the lion was trying to get in. All they give us for protection is an air horn, but after my workamping experience using one on black bears and seeing that it had little to no affect I thought I might be a goner. I held onto it anyway. After all I was the weakest one in the herd!  Steve )